Around the World Artsy Blog Hop

A couple of weeks ago, Denise in Australia invited participation in an 'Around the World Artsy Blog Hop,' about our creativity ... & I decided to play along .... then was off at the coast on a camping trip, and .... and ... time to write!! 

These are the 4 questions:
1. How does my creative process work?
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
3. What am I working on now?
4. Why do I create what I do?

1. How does my creative process work? 

"Presence" Mama Lois & She Who Watches

I've always thought of myself as 'Artsy-crafty' .... my mom Lois knit, crocheted, & took craft classes including basket weaving. She always had a great eye for colour, & I followed her lead, taking 4-H sewing, & drafting some of my own patterns, learning various arts & She also mentions  and creativity are ... I took art in HS, and a live drawing class in college, and 'always' sketched & did crafts in fits & spurts. I garden & keep garden note books, ... 
I made dolls & paper dolls, I took up spinning ....
I dance (from Ballet to Square Dance!) &  sketched kids at the ballet studio during my daughter's class, now sketch my grandkids ...Jewelry making, pine needle baskets, I tend to accumulate supplies, which tend to be beautiful all on their own! Over the last decade, I've taken classes from local artists - beeswax collage, slab pottery, & played with Soul Collage...

My mother-in law Dorothy Fender (now 98!) loved having a full collection of various art materials, & in the 70s & 80s, would often 'share' with me - when we were 'into' embroidery, she bought us EACH a full set of DMC embroidery cotton (!) later, Prismacolor coloured pencils.... she has some lovely pastel paintings she did in her earlier years, at this point, she no longer creates, but still appreciates what I bring over to show her!  

In February, I took a 'Muse Encounter' workshop with my friend artist Elisabeth Friese-Mick, who has been studying "Intentional Creativity"with Shiloh Sophia McCloud, so painting has taken the forefont!  Chocolate is an important part of the process, keeping the Muse happy while we paint! In later Spring & Summer, I've taken on-line & virtual courses with Shiloh & with another of her students, artist Flora Aube.
When I go to an art fair, or into a gallery, I often think "I could do that!"  So my creative process is stimulated by other artists, by nature, by imagination.

I'm lucky (or unlucky!) to have an Art Supply right in town, so when I want to try new materials, they're very handy! If I'm inspired, I may begin painting in the evening, with a candle lit & some music on, & paint into the wee hours! I often have a couple of pieces going .... & revisit older canvases, as the muse whispers. 
I'm a Virgo, so love tiny things - have done water-colors on 1 1/2" squares of paper!! & have made wee rugs for doll houses, so it's been a bit of a surprise to find myself working on canvases that are 2' x 3'!!

Yarrow Rose, Healer

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I love reality & fantasy .... my faces tend to be 'sweet' & people seem to find my paintings uplifting (which I strive for!) .... 
I find myself loving being part of the Intentional Creativity movement, putting intention into the canvas, writing words, saying a little prayer, before applying paint .... As a Reiki Master, I have had a number of artists study with me over the years, who also seek to infuse their art with healing & inspiration.   
Flames, eyes that speak volumes, loving kindness  spirals, art as healing icons .... 
Several of my pieces seem to 'ask' to be part of a story , that may be next! 

 3. What am I working on now? 

Zander helping Journal

I just began a little canvas (square: 13") and an art journal that has words, collage, drawing/painting. Last weekend my daughter's family & I joined a number of folks from our church for a camp out at the coast, & my youngest grandkids (3 & 3 1/2) LOVED helping paste & draw Grammie's art journal (& mom & dad were grateful for keeping them happily occupied for awhile!)
 

Green lady

4. Why do I create what I do?
Gosh! Doesn't everyone who is creative 'have to' create in some fashion or another?!! I think it's the nature of the beast ... As Denise says "When I’m creating I’m in a different world where time does not exist." YES!! She also mentions art as a good way for processing emotions beyond words ... I find that true as well. Art, any art, is therapeutic! 

If others enjoy my offerings as well, all the better!!

Blessings to all who visit & find inspiration in these words!

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, & to that Artsy Blog Hop!!

Summer of Color - week 6

This week when I was going through some of the other Paint Party Friday posts, I noticed several referred to another blog roll: Summer of Color!

So I journied over to 'Twinkle Twinkle Like a Star,' Kristen Van Valkenburg's blog to check it out!  Denthe was one of the participants, & since this is the last week of the challenge, showed the pieces she's done each of the last three years! She chose one style for each set, which is a great idea!

Kristen writes: "We have one week left to share our color creations with one another and I for one hope that this is our busiest week yet. If you've yet to join us, make this your time. After all, I've saved one of the best palettes for last. You could even say that I found inspiration from Summer itself. . . ." 

Raspberry & Tangerine

The pallet is yummy: Raspberry, Tangerine, & a "Smudge, Splash or Pop" of Lemon!
 
The last several weeks, I've been noticing clothes that are that lovely Raspberry pink (love the colour, haven't found the 'just right' piece yet!) & browsing through my coloured pencils, though I have one marked Raspberry, it seemed to dark, so 'had to' take another trip to Merri Artist (darn!! Tee hee) to find just the right colours! 


So here's my Raspberry and Tangerine lady - hope you enjoy her!! 

Check out the Facebook page for more entries 

Butterfly Dreams!

When I lived in community (Breitenbush Hot Springs), one of my favorite 'good night' blessings was 'Butterfly Dreams!' 

Wash & blocking

A couple of weeks ago, someone mentioned loving the colour Violet Oxide, & I decided to use that in my next wash .... My friend Leonard picked up a couple of canvases (22 x 28") when they were on sale at his campus bookstore, so I used one of those.  

When I was playing with paint on canvas, I found I had swirled butterfly wings ... what next?
A butterfly lady, of course! I played with lavender for her face, & for 'hair,' little spiky streeks ... antenae, and of course the wings

Fender's Blue female

As I was admiring some other lovely Ladies, I began thinking about her, that brownish violet in the wash, and realized she was a Blue - & 'not just any blue, but Fender Blue!' (Icaricia icaricaroides fenderi) As a kid, I always loved seeing a cloud of little blue butterflies fluttering above a puddle. 

 The Fender blue is specific to the Willamette Valley, was named for my father-in law in 1931, by his friend & fellow 'buterfly collector' Ralph Macy. By the end of that decade, it was thought to be extinct. Then, few years after his passing, it was rediscovered! (1989) Now a number of little 'sanctuaries' have been set up - scotch broom & blackberries mowed, & their host plant, the Kincaid lupin & favorite nectar mallows encouraged ... & the blues have returned to the valley & coast! 

Icaricia, Butterfly Queen

The males are Lôvélÿ soft blue, females tan...
So I added fringe on the edges of Her wings, (and marveled I'd already used that for "hair"!), stripes of pearl paint on her antenna, and a bit more adornment, ... a few orbs....




Icaricia, Butterfly Queen invites us to STOP and enjoy the flowers!

Their fragrances, their bright joyful colours!
Enjoy them ALL! 

Icaricia

Have favorites! 
Cut back invasive species & Plant those native to your area - see who comes to enjoy them!!
It's up to you to enjoy & nurture the garden of life!


Happy Paint Party Friday!

Painting up a storm!

This is my 50th post!! I love this little Creation Station, & hope it inspires your own creativity ....
 
Since beginning painting again last February, when I took Elisabeth's Muse encounter workshop, I have been painting up a storm!! Fifteen finished, or nearly so!  

On Summer Solstice, after finishing the second of my Art of Allowing ladies, Sekhmet, I had a 'council' meeting with 11 of the 12 of paintings I'd done, & my "star lady" wall hanging in the background ... 
The smallest paintings were done onmatt board & on a practice canvas. With 'Green Girl' I was experimenting with sea weed for hair ....

Spirit Council

Gabriella, Mary, Daffy-Down-Dilly

Gabriella - my Muse of Creativity - I've refined her face, & added ribbons to her dress ... her hair has some interference paint 'sparkle'

Mary of Magdalla - painted with inspiration from Shiloh Sophia McCloud
 & little Daffy-Down-Dilly (March)

Dancers, Wind Horse

Then "Dancers" which I began in March, on International Women's day, & gifted to my ballet teacher Emma Seth to hang in the studio July 8th. I used Flora Aube's 'scrubby technique on the Snow Queen's hair, crown & shoulders, and interference paint on the free form dancer.

"Wind Horse" is a favorite! Began this one in March (the canvas seemed big to me!) during my first 'open studio' day, painting with my friend Elisabeth. It's another I completed during the Art of Allowing course. For the horse's features, I was inspired by my friend in the course Ree Altavilla.

"Presence" was done honoring my Mom (I blogged about her here & here) & there's a little 'blue woman' on card beside her.

Yarrow Rose, Healer

 I painted "Yarrow Rose" to grace my healing room, using Shiloh's Mary Magdalene videos for inspiration & guidance. The flowers in her mantle are all healing herbs, & gases at her signature Yarrow. I finished her at the end of June, adding the purple background & Tree of Life.
(she was in my treatment room during the 'council' meeting)

Several more have 'come through' the creative pathway since this council, I'll tell you more about them later, & about Sekhmet, my fiery Solstice lady!

Happy painting!

Art of Allowing Spirit Dancer

Spirit Dancer - detail

    Spirit Dancer

The Drumbeat calls me forth
  To dance the Spirit Song
From Age to Age revealed
  in glory, in beauty, in peace.
Stars and moon, they dance through me! 
  Sea and shore, I hear their call
Mountain and River sing me home
* I dance *
Eagle & dove
  wing through my prayers
Child and maiden
  Life giver, crone
I AM ageless and timeless
  Beyond all, within all
Salmon swims and deer grazes
  Owl calls names
And still I dance

Spirit Dancer

I dance the Unborn, the departed
  The disenfranchized, the whole
I dance the captain and the king
  the minstrel and the drummer
  the courtisan and the Lady
I dance within, without
  Beyond & forever
I Dance
   I Dance
      I Dance!!
        I Dance your Spirit Home!!

Art of Allowing Painting 1

The invitation to Flora Aube's Art of Allowing was simple - "WE are on the journey of becoming, and the most graceful way through is to learn the art of Allowing; deeply listening for when to move and when to be still, when to charge against the edges and when to sit in our breath. It is cultivating the wisdom of relationship with the Great Mystery and serving as a midwife to the birth of Beauty in our lives and on our planet. This is the high art of embodying the Priestess within, empowered with full access to our divine gifts of Creativity."

Plein Aire studio

The time was right, I had just finished Mary of Magdalla, & was ready for more. The price was affordable, I said 'yes!' We spent a couple of weeks getting our studios ready (spring cleaning, painting one wall!) & sketching faces ....

We are about halfway through the course at this time - having painted one image, & just beginning a second (the class goes through June, and we'll have access to the videos throughout the summer).

"Painting happens INSIDE us, it's our job to give it birth!" 

We were invited to stay open to the mystery, tap our intuition & inner knowing as we moved into the creative - or Cre-ACT-ive process!
"This is a priactice, an unbelievable gift! Her love knows no limits!" 

Wash: Green Gold & Yellow ochre

Thursday May 15 it was a lovely sunny day, and I set up outside, taking a hazel pruning from last fall, that I'd cut low, & then noticed it would make a great bean (or other) support. A bit of time with some string & a couple of small oak branches, & I had a plein aire easel! (which I subsequently brought inside! 

Flora invited us to take a couple of hours with the wash - dilute paint & water, which we spread over the canvas ....

After the canvas dried, we could transfer a sketch from the faces we'd been drawing, or something seen in the canvas, & then begin blocking in with colour. I'd decided to go with dark skin tones, for the first time, so did a bit of research to choose colours!  

"When you invoke Her from this deep place of Soul, She is the Goddess revealed. She is birthed from the seed within you. She is a gift with a clear message!" Flora Aube.

Blocked

I used my friend Margaret Duperly's 'Rainbow Earth Tarot' to do a reading before beginning. A couple of the cards bespoke heartbeat/drum, so I brought my small drum outside, & as I applied the wash, at times I'd drum on the canvas! I spied a little dancer, & a face similar to the one I'd sketched in my wash! A fun part of having this makeshift easel, the twin sticks for supporting the canvas have a space in the middle, perfect for holding a corner of the canvas when I was tipping it to let the wash run! 

We were invited to spend a couple of days each week 'tending to our souls,' & I wrote "I intend to tend my soul with dance and art. I dedicate my creative energy to healing, wholing, & radiating Light! I was born to share my gifts & live with radical abundance! I am a dancer, a healer, a mystic & a mystery. I stand in my power & empower/inspire others to stand in theirs." ...

Lights & darks

I have been to weekly ballet class, got flowers for my office, & an African Violet for my art space. I have music on while I'm painting, & a candle lit. Sometimes incense ...

I used Yellow ochre (3 parts), Indian Yellow (3 parts),  burnt Umber (1 part), Quinacridone violet (1 part), & some of the Glazing Liquid for her base skin tone. 

One of my classmates wrote: "allowing is much softer than 'letting go' or 'giving up control,' Allowing - that asks for trust! What a beautiful process..."

Flora Asked us "What do you Love?" (about Her) 

I love Her energy, Her wisdom

I love Her emergence, coming out of a cocoon of an idea, a seed of a drawing, taking form, dimension

I love Her PATIENCE with the process, Her Willingness to allow my flow, my process, as I allow her guidance on what's next. 

I love the co-creation. 

I love listening for & discovering different elements as they emerge - Oh! She wants ...

What does she hold in her hand? A globe? A flame? it will become clear ...

Lights, Darks, details, FEATHERS!

Dance - I sketched dancers, tribal dancers, costumes...

The second week we began working with the skin tones, lights & darks on the face, 'cut yourself some slack' (My friend Candy Gordon used to tell me that!) What is she wearing? What colours does she want? 

For my first dark, I used Jenkin's Green, & light: 3 Yellow Ochre, 3 Indian Yellow, 2 Buff Titanium, 5 burnt umber, plus glazing medium ...

And rather than hair - Feathers!! Ooo, what fun, those feathers!

I'm posting to Paint Party Friday!

Mary of Magdalla

Mary, Mary!
She has emerged so beautifully! I'm awestruck and a little In Love with her (OK, a LOT in Love!)

Wee Atelier

When I last posted about her, I was just ready to add her hair ... and then finishing touches, more lights & darks, attention to details ...

In early May I borrowed a table easel from my artist cousin Wendy Thompson, got turquoise paint (Jamaican Sea) for facing wall, & moved a wardrobe that had contained a TV & it's trimmings into my wee dining nook - a space that's about 6' x 7.5'- turning it into my own Atelier, (the Room or studio where an artist creates)

Paint chip

I've been participating in several Facebook Artist Groups, & last week another artist working on her portrait of Mary Magdalene posted a link to a wonderful talk by Ana & Phillip Jones, the leaders of this upcoming (Sept, 2014) The Magdalene, the Grail & You

 I love the words that came to Ana in a dream: "Don't forget Chateau Cantal (sp?) Once a Grail Castle, Always a Grail Castle!"  Places where the Grail has been are vibrationally altered, the spiritual & energetic signature remains.

Added Hair

When Mary came to the South of France, she carried with her various artifacts (there's speculation around what she carried, was the grail a physical cup, or was it Mary's womb a vessel for Christ's Child? Did she have a copy of her gospel? ...) She is the only apostle known to have continued sharing his message,  teaching for 30 years after the crucifiction!

Ana was also given a Grail Riddle - "Forever will you journey, of this there is no doubt. The grail will lead you Inward, Upward & Out." When they visited a cave in Languedoc where Mary gave teachings, they experienced just that - going INto the cave (into ourselves, into the mystery) , then climbing UP a flight of stairs (raising our consciousness to another level) & then OUT (out of our own way, out of preconceptions, false ideals & beliefs)

A pilgrimage is a quest, whether we go physically, or in our dreams, visions, and art! We can each journey Inward, Upward & Out, any time we are ready. Shiloh speaks of our paintings being vessels for healing, healing Icons for both ourselves, in the creation, & for anyone who views them. This feels so true for Mary of Magdalla as she emerges into her shining radiance!

Lady Mary of Magdala

Ana said "Mary TRAVELLED! She didn't just sit around in one place, there are stories throughout Southern France, Languodoc & Provance, of her jourenies, her presence, the sacred objects she carried & her teachings. In the mid 90s while living at the coast, I wrote a story about Mary learning the hands on healing when she was a disciple, & I believe she did.

Through our art and stories, she is still on her healing journey ... I took her to my women's spiritual book group a couple of weeks ago, when I had finished her, & it was lovely to see reactions to her.  Several of the women asked for prints, so I guess that's a future project!

May Mary of Magdalla bless you, & may her Peace & healing presence radiate in & through you.