Musings on the Muse

Happy 2015!
I was tickled to see that my November post was featured in PPF!!  Fitting, as it was about my show at Walnut City WineWorks as the 'featured artist!' THANK YOU for all your sweet comments!! & I LOVE the pic chosen - She Stands between the Worlds!

As I step into the whirlwind of creativity - I'm enrolled in Shiloh Sophia's 'Legend' course (6 months online), have applied for CoW teacher training (Color of Woman) AND am in her year long Red Madonna community .... I reflect on last year, & all the painting I did.

It all began with that workshop to paint my Muse with my friend Elisabeth back in February. ... who knew what a treasure trove that would unlock?! Shiloh says she feels the voice of the Muse of creativity is the voice of the Critic transformed! The Critic voice comes out when our creativity is stifled .... if you think of it, children create naturally & joyfully! 

Sisterhood of the Red Thread

I care for my preschool age grandkids 2 mornings a week, & they LOVE gluing or painting! They don't think about how purple looks next to brown, pink, orange! They might observe that all the colours make brownish swish, or show me their monster, but they just create! & then go on to something else! What happens when we create like that? 

Elisabeth's Magic Paintbrush

I love Shiloh's image of returning power to the Muse, and that transformation of the critic. When that voice of comparison begins to nag (who do you think you are, wasting all that time / money / supplies? ) turn it around! Ask 'hmm, would you like ribbons in your hair, or maybe stars?' .... & always offer her .... chocolate!! 

Pick up your magic paintbrush, & begin!!

How is the Muse whispering to YOU this year? 

Posting in Paint Party Friday

Featured Artist - Musings

My friend Brook invited me to be her Featured Artist at Walnut City WineWorks for November & December! (& on facebook)

Yarrow Rose - May 2014

In the midst of classes (another Muse painting adventure, an e-workshop with Jassy Watson on 'Painting Gaia' & Livestreams with Shiloh) I prepared for the show. 

The Gallery space includes several walls & the windows between the Tasting Room & the wine press room, so I wanted those paintings to harmonize ....  I chose a couple of canvases the same size, & opened to whom would arrive ...

Ether &  She of the Grateful Heart

She of the Grateful Heart 10-14

I chose Zephyr & Ether for the spaces on the left, & so the first new Lady is She of the Grateful Heart. She has lovely orbs done in interference paint, & a winged eye for insight.

One friend lives on a popular cul-de-sac, & always has several HUNDRED kids for trick-or treating, so we always have a little gathering, to help answer the door. After I returned home, I painted late into the night, a gateway lady, (and a bit the next day) She who Stands Between the Worlds.

She Stands Between the Worlds - Hallows 2014

 Last spring, I began Wind Horse honoring this year of the Horse, during an open studio day at my friend Elisabeth's. Inspired by Ree Altavilla's lovely horses, I finished Wind Horse during the summer ....note the Red thread on her rider's wrist ...

Wind Horse - Spring 2014

 Ladies on the left, with Mary of Magdalla (from Shiloh's Easter gifting of access to one of her courses at no charge! Thank you, Shiloh Sophia!)

Zephyr, Ether & Mary of Magdalla

Sekhmet was my summer lady, my second painting in Flora Aube's Art of Allowing online workshop. Finished on Summer Solstice, I love her fiery halo of hair & gold!  We needed permission to add a couple of nails to the wall behind the Wine Bar, so Sekhmet nestled behind the award winning bottles for a bit. She is the largest painting, 24 x 36".

Sekhmet - Summer Solstice 2014

My daughter Mary offered the loan of the painting I did in June for her & her husband Matt ... her middle daughter Kayleen suggested that the flowers represent the kids - 4 girls & one boy!

Love's Alchemy - for Mary & Matt - June 2014

Here's the line-up of Zypher, Ether, Mary of Magdalla, Grateful Heart, & She stands between the Veils! 

The Ladies

It was an exciting challenge to prepare for the show - who should I bring? How would we display them? I took a trip to the Merri Artist for picture wire & hangers (we only needed one set of those for the picture behind the Wine Bar) ... a book on nurturing our creativity suggests that one way to get inspired is to enter a juried show, or get ready for an exhibit! So true!


I'm happy with the show, and it was so sweet of Brooke to invite me to be her 'featured artist' for the winter! She has been asked more than once if she was my model for the paintings, especially when she dressed in autumn colours! 
You can peek at more of my art on my FB page Nadya's Atelier 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

October Musings and another show!

October is one of my favorite months, with its Bright Blue skies much of the time (turned rainy & overcast just this last week!) I'm not as fond of the days turning shorter, but give me a cup of tea & a good book .... It's also time for the Art Harvist Studio Tour, where artists around Yamhill County open their homes & studios over two weekends. It always fascinates me to see where other artists create, & (when available) how they decorate THEIR homes!

Sekhmet - Love is our Soul Purpose

 At the beginning of the month, my friend Brooke invited me to be her featured artist for Nov & Dec at Walnut City WineWorks, where she manages the tasting room! So I visited the tasting room (& sampled some wonderful white wines!) to get a sense of what pieces to bring/ create.

The current show, watercolours, hangs in windows between the tasting & press room, with several wall spaces. I can picture Sekhmet on the wall behind the tasting bar, & Ether & Zypher in two of the windows. Visit their FB page

The windows are tall & narrow, five in one bank, a door, & two more windows. Ether is 14 x 14", Zypher 16 x 20", so I visited Merri Artist for matching canvases, & have several ideas ... time to get out the magic paintbrush!! The weekend after Thanksgiving they will host an event, so I may take my harp & play a bit, surrounded by some of my ladies!

You can visit my art adventures on my FB artist page, Nadya's Atelier 

Posting to Paint Party Friday - what's on your easel or drawing pad this week?

Sisterhood of the Red Thread & a Blessed Transition

Last weekend I participated in another art show - an Art for Peace exhibit for our Interfaith Community 10th annual Peace Fair. 

 Two Hearts, 1 Red Thread - Shiloh McCloud

For International Woman's day in the Spring, artist Shiloh Sophia McCloud Lewis invited the Red Thread community to paint women (at least two) & donate the painting to a women's shelter or other community place. My piece 'Dancers' came from that challenge, & it now hangs at our Ballet Studio.

Late this summer, I thought of doing another piece, with women from several ethnic backgrounds, & began 'Sisterhood of the Red Thread.' When Shiloh began teaching, & was asked to teach a group of Native American women, she began wondering how to bridge cultures, & the Red Thread Tradition was begun. 

Sisterhood of the Red Thread - Nadya

The Chinese myth says that people who are destined to meet are tied together with an invisible red thread. Through the desire to connect with like minded women, we create community through power of intentional creativity.

 “How our stories live inside of us is how we live our lives. We have found it, as a people, increasingly difficult -in any culture- to change the story that we are telling ourselves…it becomes a loop: what happened, how it feels, whats going on, we find it difficult to even get out of ourselves enough to be a part of recreating what our story might be … When we put it into story, whether its audio, video, written, image, when we bring the concept into form, it changes how the story lives inside of the human being… and from that shift we are able to clear up some space in our mind and our heart to consider another possibility…” Shiloh - 2013

Red Thread Heart - Nadya

During this time of painting, dreaming, & drifting into fall, our Sisterhood has been keeping vigil with Shiloh's mentor & our Art FairyArtMother, Sue Hoya Sellars. A couple of weeks ago, after a painting intensive with Shiloh, Sue went in for open Heart surgery, .... & never woke up! Sue LOVED the cosmos, & our sense was she got fascinated in that out of body dance! 

Shiloh & her community brought Sue home to her beloved Terra Sophia, where she spent her last days lovingly tended, sung to, soothed & gentled as she prepared to drop her human suit. 10 AM Monday September 29th, she did just so, & is now dancing among the  stars!  Here is a lovely interview (2005) with Sue & the neighbor from a nearby hill, author Alice Walker. 

Sue's Cosmos - Nadya

Shiloh and Cosmic Cowgirls have begun an Indigogo fundraiser, to gather resources to fund a dream of Sue's & keep her riverside sanctuary & make it place to keep 'committing art!' 

The Red Thread Community is also honoring Sue by 'committing art' daily in a 30 day vigil .... whether it be drawing in your art journal, snapping a photo, beginning or continuing an art project, won't you join us?

Linking to Paint Party Friday & posting on Facebook
Like my FB page: Nadya's Atlier
Shiloh: Artist Shiloh Sophia

Street of Dreams

Each year, our local co-op art Gallery, Currents, hosts several juried shows, & invites submissions from area artists. 

Cityscapes show - 3 paintings on  L by Kathleen Buck

In early August, I stopped by the Merri Artist for some Golden paint (ON SALE!), then went down the street to browse the Gallery, & chatted with the Artist on duty. She brought out a canvas (8 x 16") & the submission form, & before I knew it, I was out the door with both, & on my way to paint a 'cityscape' ....

Earlier in the summer, our town was voted one of the top two Main Streets in the whole US, in the Parade Magazine contest! If you peek at the photos, Currents Gallery is just beside R Stuart Wine Bar (just beside the photographer) & we have a very sweet main street ... 
I thought of people on park benches (Kathleen Buck did a pair of those, plus a painting of the front of the gallery, which will be used in future promotions), mmm, perhaps a skyline ... & I took pictures as I walked downtown, but nothing quite gelled .... then I thought of painting little 'hobbity houses,' little round cob houses, & Street of Dreams was born! 

Street of Dreams

Mid September, I filled out the paperwork & dropped off my picture, then waited to hear if it had juried into the show... yes!! 

The opening was last Saturday, during our monthly 'Art & Wine Walk' and ... it had already sold!! See the red sticker? (a few days later, a musician friend let me know she bought it 'the first piece of real art I've purchased!'

Nadya & Street of Dreams

After our book group, several friends & I went downtown to the opening, & Ingrid snapped this picture of me with my little Street of Dreams. We decided we both wanted to live in the house with the Red Door (Ingrid actually lives in a lovely round wooden yurt, & just painted her door purple!  

I love the piece on the top left behind me - a mosaic of buttons, & little LED fairy lights on the trees! The lights go on just after Thanksgiving, & brighten up our winter streets! 

I'm posting to Paint Party Friday - happy painting!

Art for the Soul Curriculum

Several of my creative friends & I have been pondering the merits, & the drawbacks, to studying Art in schools, possibly for certification in Art Therapy or to teach; and the less defined path, following the "Soul's Curriculum." 

This is where the door is opening, will you peek through? 

"The most regretful people on Earth are those who felt the call of creative work, who felt their own creative power restive & uprising, & gave it neither power nor time." Mary Oliver

My friend Brenda posted this quote, & went on to write "Sums up my feelings after lots of soul searching earlier this year & the realization that my one regret is that I never went to art school. I looked at schools & prices, and none of it really resonated in my soul. Then I started looking at teachers I admire, classes that inspire, souls I love. ... I realized the classes I love the most are the ones that are intuitive, access the soul, invite inner listening, etc." 

My friend Jeanette writes "We are all Creative Beings. This is our birthright, regardless of our circumstances, talents or beliefs. The invitation is to discover how your creative gifts will be used to create a reality that is worthy of your Soul's incarnation." 

My co-worker Jackie Hausman is another who has pondered enrolling an official Art Therapy program, or simply continuing her own Journey of the Soul with fabulous intuitive painting, & Soul studies.
 
Over the last several months, I've been painting with several wonderful and inspirational Art teachers, after my own hiatius from doing much visual art. Taking a class with my friend Elisabeth last February opened the door, she in turn has studied with a number of artists both in person & on-line, including Shiloh Sophia McCloud & Flora Bowley. I met Brenda & Jeanette in the Art of Allowing course I took this summer with Flora Aube.

I like the concept of following our 'Soul's Curriculum,' as we open the door to our own creative path; will you step through the portal? 

Art of Allowing: Painting 2

Her face in the wash

Back in May I began Flora Aube's online 'Art of Allowing' course, where we were invited to "cultivate 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."
Registration is open for Flora's fall course, which begins in early September. 

I wrote about my process with the first painting, Spirit Dancer, here,& here

In June, we began working on our second painting, with the question 'What is asking to be born? Something beyond paint, something you are to bring forth ....' The colours that came during the meditation were gold & fire tones - "Fire, Vesta, hearth, spark .... fiery depth, Sekhmet, bringing heat for radiant life, birthing from orange & yellow, shimmer of wings, .... "

And the phrase: Love is our Soul Purpose ... Heart fire, sacred flame, blessings of the lady! 

WIP - June 12

I later realized that in a card reading at the beginning of the course, one of the cards pulled (Rainbow Earth Tarot) was Strength, with Sekhmet on one side of the priestess. I began the wash in early June, & finished Her by summer solstice.  

 After finding Her face in the wash, I began bringing out the features, & added her fiery hair. 

Like several recent paintings, (including Spirit Dancer, Zephyr & Ether) she began developing a central feathery 'crown.' I loved playing with her fiery hair, Egyptian eye adornment, & skin tones. I played with translucence by mixing Acrylic Glazing medium with Titan Buff paint (equal parts) over parts of her hair.

Sekhmet, June 14

As she is a 'lion headed Neteru,' I found an online tutorial for painting lion ears. I thought of a collar - but clearly heard "DON'T collar me!"

Sekhmet is often painted with a solar disk - I decided to use verigated 'gold' leaf around her, & found several great tutorials, beginning with Terese Nielsen (love this!) & had one of Nancy Reyner's books on using intereference paint and other fun Golden Goodies from the library.

Lucky me, I could go bug my friends at Merri Artist & find the leaf & glue I wanted, plus some yummy interference paint which I used in her hair
 .... green seemed right for the outer area, around her solar disk,  ....& I was 'allowed' to use some gold leaf 'points' on the sides of her neck (NOT a collar!!) You can see flecks of the gold in her 'crown' & in that outer green area.
And there's a great group of supportive artists on a private FB page, who offered mutual support & blessings as we each journeyed with our Ladies!

After painting her, I looked up more about her. 
Sekhmet, lion headed Neteret of Egypt is the goddess of transformation, of solar feminine fire. Her name means 'The Power, the Mighty one' - Egyptologist Nicky Scully writes: "she helps you set your course in the right direction, so you can grow & transform the seeds of your SOUL PURPOSE (!)... write what you see/feel growing & blooming in your heart." 

She was finished June 20, just in time for Summer Solstice - what a wonderful process!

Sekhmet - Love is our Soul Purpose!

 SôLsTïCè greetings!
Sekhmet: the power, the nighty one; lion GøddésS, feminine face of the sun, she brings the fire that fuels transformation.
Sekhmet helps us shape shift into our future selves, and incites us to open our hearts and receive the sees of our Soul Purpose!
Love is our Soul Purpose!
Bright BLéSSïNgS of the Lady on this Summer morn!

 Linking to Paint Party Friday. 
You can find more of my art throughout this blog & on my FB page Nadya's Atelier 
Happy PPF!