Intention and Hygge

I've been exploring bringing more intention into my living space, and rearranging areas. As an artist, I tend to have lots of supplies, and am of the generation that tends to accumulate paper, and have a hard time passing things on! (Are artists ever minimalistic??)

Currently, my Atelier is in my dining "nook," a space about 7 x 9' which fortunately opens into my high ceilinged kitchen...

My tall easel fits under the arch. 

The living room is the length of the house, 20', with the front section 13' wide, and the back 10'  (the stairs take the other 3'  and the whole house is  950 x feet) I'm shifting the Atelier to the back half, and will move my harps intro the nook.

I've painted part of the larger area a minty green, and the window frames white (they've been French blue) Then, moved my couch to create a Hyyge corner where these shelves were. 

Hygge (hug-ee) is a Danish term, a light in the darkness, to carry us through the cold winter months...Elements may include Candles, a warm cup of tea, good book, cozy seats with warm blankets, creating a feeling of cozy comfort. My friend Jeanine has a beautiful blog on bringing more Hygge into your home.

Hygge corner

After I began rearranging things, I received a message from the coordinator of our Art Harvest Studio Tour, asking if I'd like to apply for inclusion! I'd just been thinking of the tour, and 10 Oaks Gallery is one of the event sponsors....
It looks like my clearing and rearranging is timely! It's a big commitment of time and energy, and I need to *paint up a storm* to get ready! Fortunately, it's in the fall, so I have time to prepare - and an application to write! 

Do you have home studio?
Any goals on your list you're aiming for? 

Happy PPF! 

I am from

In the red thread Circle Guide program, Shiloh Sophia invites participants to connect with our origins, and write a I am from poem. Where are you from?'

I am from sage brush, juniper and mint in roadside ditches
   Yarrow in the pasture, that I grind between stones
        Then set in the sun to dry, knowing/not knowing
              There's something more to do

I am from songs around the campfire
    Pumping water and carrying it back to camp
       Sleeping bags and clear night skies
          Waiting for the blue flash, when the lantern goes out

I am from hikes in the woods
   Little mountain mosquito bites that
      Won't itch, if I dont scratch them ....
          I scratch them!

I am from befriending chipmunks, while my mother watches for birds
    From my father's fishing pole and tying flies
         Pan fried trout, fresh from the stream
              Calling the deer, as hunters have, time behind time

I am from lonely child only child
    Day dreams and stories read before bed, 
         myths and legends
             Fuel my dreams

I am from summer adventures with favorite cousins
    Learning constellations dancing in ink black summer sky
        Milky way, a stream across the heavens
             Orion, Cassiopeia, the weeping Pleiades
          Great and little dippers, Pegasus, Leo

I am from church on Sunday, and Grange on Fridays
    From a line of preachers, teachers and farmers
          Midwives and healers stretching back across the plains
                To the southern forests, to the Celtic lands
I am from piano lessons and singing in the choir

    From drawing the neighbor's ponies, 
        Hanging clothes on the line and polishing silver
           4-H and crafts with my mama
            Oregon vacations, Reading after dark

I am from Magpie and Red wing Blackbird
     From echoing Meadowlark's trill and singing to my mountains
        While waiting for the schoolbus
             In the brisk morning air

I am from teacher's college, 
   Honors English and Music theory
      Natural history, with ancient forests and volcanoes
          Life drawing and Opera workshop

I am from a third floor dorm room and my first roommate
        She, one of ten kids, and me, one of one!
            Music Major and minor
                 Learning to bump along

I am from romance and disappointment
      From young motherhood and marriage
           Nursing and making yogurt
                Messy houses and enough books to fill a library  

I am from art and science
     Mountains and stars
          Healers and dancers
              Wise woman and mystics

I am from astrology and tarot readings
    Color and Theory
        Living in community 
             And taking up the harp

I am from a dancing dragon tattoo
    Living by the sea for awhile
        Teaching Reiki and gathering stones
             Basking in starlight

I am from here and there,
   From the songs of my ancestors, and of my grandchildren
      From asking "is there another story you'd like to tell?
         Sharing the songs of the stars
             
.... Posting to Paint Party Friday - where are you from?
            
    

RT Circle Guide

Since she was a teen growing up in California's Bay Area, Artist Shiloh Sophia has been calling circles, gathering people, often "misfits and outcasts," inviting them to belong. In her art galleries, she often set up a station to create, and invited guests to do a project in art and inquiry. 

After a brief sojourn in art school, and resulting frustration with the focus on realistic painting, and scathing "critiques," she returned to her roots and independent study with her mentor, Master Painter Sue Hoya Sellers. (1936-2014) Sue invited everyone she knew to, "commit art," and Shiloh Sophia has taken that invitation literally.

After almost a decade of offering the Color of Woman Intentional Creativity program, which Hoya Sellers helped establish, Shiloh Sophia launched Red Thread Circle Guide training.  Around 50 women from around the world who are healed enough, and ready to call Red Thread Circles in their own communities are enrolled in the training. I am excited for these SiStars, and the beloveds who will be served. 

A Chinese Legend tells us a Red Thread connects us from before birth with those we're destined to meet. The thread may twist and tangle, but it won't break, and gradually draws us closer. We each have our own piece of the thread, what is ours to cause and create. RT circles help us identify our own piece, and to connect with others in our tribe. 

I have offered RT circles for the past three years, since my enrollment in the IC Color of Woman training, and am honored to be one of those offering support to this first RT Circle Guide training. 
Last night our monthly circle included 7 sisters and two Guides, including my 13 year old granddaughter. KK was my "guinea pig" for my first Red Thread Circle in 2015, helping me practice my first offering, a Cosmic Smashbook cover. 
Our inquiry art circle was what Renewal we are seeking this Imbolc season, what are we Devoted to? What title would we put on our "book?"

We created a small book, using 1/4 sheet of 90# watercolor paper, folded the long way and torn into two strips for a 6 page, single signature booklet. We used watercolors markers, and colored or Inktense pencils to create our covers, and red thread to tie the signatures. 

Inquiries:

•  Cover - what am I devoted to? What's my new Myth? What is my book Title?
• 1/2 - What is the challenge/ old story?
• 3/4 Middle - symbol / words of transformation 
• 5/6 - Renewal, devotion, resolution

 A Nation of Women With Wings 

These little booklets are easy to create, and could hold more signatures - here's a post on making a simple single signature booklet, and one for two or more signatures. This is a great project for any age and topic! Have you made booklets?  Post a link in the comments! 

My IC Guild cohort Sepha used three strips of folded paper for her booklet (for 10 inside pages), and painted a symbol that commonly appears in her art on each page. I love that idea, and am beginning one to contain the symbols I use. Do you have symbols, shapes orcolors you use frequently?

Though Shiloh didn't originally plan to include doing a painting in the Red Thread Circle Guide program, that's so integral to her work, we are working on a canvas "after all!" Here's the beginning of mine, the circle, with symbols for myself in the center.  ... 

HåPpÝ Paint Party Friday

Vesta and Crown

We are Legendary

For the past 10 years, Maestra Shiloh Sophia and her sidekicks Jena and Stella Mac have led a group of amazing women on a journey to discover their own Legend, and discoverong what it means to lead Legendary Lives. This course is the prerequisite for the annual Color of Woman teacher quest'
Several local RT SiStars are enrolled with over 115 others in this year's Legend. One will be going on to CoW 2018, and another is enrolled in the new Red Thread Guide course. In March, we'll host an open studio for them to paint together!

When I registered for Legend in 2015, I intended to do CoW sometime later,... But then Shiiloh opened a few more slots, and (gulp!) I was on the quest! Each year, a new group of women journal and paint their way out of old stories, and discover new pathways. We vision our symbols, and see where they fit, support each other through laughter and tears, and embracing new ah-has.

Color and shapes from earlier layers peek through, each building on the last, as our lives build on the stories of our families, and herstory, we sift through for those which inform our choices. What are we building on? Where is the foundation solid? Where does it require digging out and shoring up?

When I embarked on my Legendary journey, I gathered flower essences for a bouquet of support: Lady's Slipper Orchid for stepping out in joy, Star of Bethlehem for lighting the pathway, ... Symbols came, a dragon, dancing maid, a key in the heart of the labyrinth ...and my legend, Shande'nea Star Gate was birthed. (Read a bout her symbols and the journey here)

Shande'nea Star Gate

How can you doubt your Soul Purpose?
You were born for this!
You hold a gift, a treasure, 
a King's ransome that is such a blessing for your companions

Arise and Shine!
Do not worry, consider the liles of the field - you are blessed beyond measure
It is time for you to SHARE those blessings
The time you spend in Circle hones you for the Next Steps

Will you step through the gateway?
The dragons know the way, and hold the keys
Open your eyes and ears: see and hear
Make way for the Messages to flow
To glow and mark the spiral path

Breath with new breath
The sweetness of the journey
As you Dance Through the Stargate

Last year I participated in the journey in paint and story, holding space for the exploration. As our sistars embark on Legend 2018, my classmate Kendall Scott has assembled Legends from the SiStarhood for a Legendary SlideShow. Shande'nea is there with many others, gateways to our personal Legendary Lives!

Wisdom's Table

I'm so very honoured my Snow Queen post was chosen for this week's featured blog over at Paint Party Friday!  Our Winter Showcase opening was well attended and so fun, I especially love visiting with the other artists! I'd spent the night with galfriends in nearby Portland, so was glad to return in time for our reception. My Snow Quien is in the wall to the left of the doorway.

In the Gallery

As the year winds down, I'm finishing my Red Madonna Sacred Path painting, which has been a year long pilgrimage. I need to add gilt, gold and silver, and a bit more attention to these ladies and the world tree.

Pilgrimage of the Divine

My red thread SiStars and I are clearing our altars, preparing to join the feast laid at Wisdom's Table! This journey will take us two years, to 2020, and features several Magdalen and mother Mary scholars, joining Shiloh Sophia and her wonderful team. We share poetry, stories, laughter and tears, and receive teachings from the Hebrew and Christian traditions, (and others, as women share from their own paths) Painting instruction comes on the full moons, and we share a monthly call and beautiful meditation. 

As we prepare for the coming season, here is one of my very favorite poems! 
Blessings and love

AE  Housman (1859-1936)

A Shropshire Lad (1896)

From far, from eve and Morning 

From far, from eve and Morning

From yon twelve-winded sky,

The stuff of life to knit me 

Blew hither, here am I.

Now for a breath i tarry

Nor yet disperse apart--

Take my hand quick and tell me,

What have you in your heart.

Speak now, and I will answer;

How shall I help you, say;

Ere to the winds twelve quarters

I take my endless way.

HâPpŸ Paint Party Friday!

Holiday showcase, Snow Queen

T'is the busy holiday season, in the USA, we've shared the gratitude of Thanksgiving, and are quickly approaching Solstice, Hanukkah and Christmas, turning of the wheel toward the New Year, 2018! What a year it has been, natural disasters and those caused by humans abound, as does mulch Grace and joy. 

The gallery where I exhibit my paintings is hosting a holiday showcase of the represented

Muse of Creative Fire

artists, and I have been competing a painting which began as the demo for last summer's Muse of Creative Fire class. I have been intrigued with round canvases, so choose one for that class. 

We had a lovely group of five students at an art Center about two hours away, and spent the day bringing our Muses into the canvas. Like many of my demo paintings, she has been waiting for the next step for awhile, then began whispering. Two of my granddaughters are rehearsing for our basket studio's annual Nutcracker, which gave the inspiration for the transformation from summer muse to Snow Queen! 

The color theme shifted from the reds of summer to winery blues and silver. I darkened her background, and used plastic wrap in the wet paint for patterns, as I brought new life into her havue and halo. Both silver and interference play in the highlights, and I got silver leaf for her crown and earrings. I'm am pleased with the transformation, she's ready for the holiday show.

Snow Queen

What transformations does this turn of the wheel bring you? What treasures are nestled beneath the snow? 

Posting to Paint Party Friday

Color of Woman - Priority Enrolment

This weekend I'll be teaching "Musé of Harvest" at my friends Margot's, my third class in her space. We have 9 enrolled, and a tenth would like to come, awesome! But, can we fit one more?? (It's a garage studio, and we had 5 for our last class!) 

It is wonderful to see the interest in this mindful art practice, and I appreciate energy

RaSani Spiral

opportunity to extend the Red Thread. This fall I participated in the RaSani Body Mind Spirit fair, where Margot advertised our first class last fall, and invited fair goers to add a leaf with a prayer to a Sun spiral at my booth. 

In this weekend's class, we'll explore what we wish to harvest from this year, what's going on the "compost," and seeds we want to save for the future. We'll share the Red Thread, and contemplate what "our piece" is. We will journal and paint, and at the end of the day, each person will have a unique painting, encoded with symbols and their own process.

Last week, the Color of Woman class of 2017 gathered virtually and in person for a completion ceremony! With the California fires, we decided to reschedule the actual graduation gathering in January (Cosmic Cowgirls Ranch in Sonoma weathered the fires, but the area was still smoky and travel was challenging!) 

Nadya with Shiloh Sophia

While my SiStars in the Guild and I offer individual sessions, classes and workshops around the world, Shiloh is busy interviewing students for next year's Color of Woman teacher training, a nine month quest! 

This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who loves inquiry and creativity, and is interested in sharing those with others, as a way to process experiences. There's a free class Wed Nov 8, Consciousness and the Musé. This will include both an IC (intentional creativity) process, and more information on the training. (You can view live, or watch later) 
Women will be gathering from around the globe, the training can be done entirely online, and there are "in person" options in several areas for the painting segments. My roommate at graduation was from France, others had arrived from NZ, Canada and around the USA. 

If you're already familiar with Shiloh's work and teaching, through my blog and/or participating in her offerings, you may be ready to apply, and schedule your 1:1 interview with Maestra Shiloh!! Are you shaking in your boots at the thought?? Good!! 

With Priority enrollment, there is a significant savings on tuition, and the 2018 class is

Serena of the 7 Seas

already half full. (There are several love loans available, for those who need to make payments! I was blessed to receive one for my own training)

This is such an amazing experience! 
I did my CoW quest in 2015, ... I didn't intend to sign up, though I watched the invitational video, I didn't think I was quite ready... 
I registered to paint my Legendary Self (the prerequisite) ... and then, Shiloh opened registration got a few more students!! Dang! ... ok, I'll apply, 
... when I had my interview with Shiloh, she was in the car, with her husband Jonathan behind the wheel, and we don't lose signal in the tunnel!! ... and it was a strong "yes!!" for both of us. Who knew? 
I offered my first classes within the first couple of months, both Red Thread Reiki, and a Mystical Mermaid class with my friend, IC teacher Lora, ... I was on my way! 

Is Color of Woman your next step?? You're invited to consider the possibility!