Full Moon Musings

Tomorrow my friend Sepha and I will journey a couple of hours South, to offer a workshop for new beloveds in the Eugene area! This class coincides with Muse Day offerings around the world, where we gather to share tea, Poetry and creativity! 
I've offered several Muse Days, beginning with one for my middle grandkids in February, and one last month on grief and guardians. My friend Patricia did a wonderful spirit portrait of her beloved dog Kai, who recently crossed the rainbow bridge! 

Kia, by Patricia R.

Our weekend offering is "Musé of Creative Fires," and Musés light Fuses! Today's full moon is in Sagittarius, inviting us to remember the arrows we cast in their beauty and softness,  watching them flower into wisdom. We'll share the process of creating with attention and mindfulness, and see what wisdom's fire offers our beloveds! 

Order of the Phoenix

I'll take along my Phoenix woman, and Sepha is bringing a couple, including her fiesty demo for this playshop, Rubi! 
We met for tea and an art store jaunt this morning, and are gathering our supplies. Here we go!  One of the last instructions during our events is to hand the Musé the pen, and receive a poem or missive.

I love the message from my lady, Gypsy Rose Muse in 2016, "Sweet Nadya, we bring wisdom from the stars and ancient pathways. You are so loved, so appreciated, so honored! We invite you to attune to all your senses, and enliven your spirit.
Sparkle and shine, share the joy you know deep inside. In attending to your own joy, and in doing the little things, a-tending, you will bring your beloveds hone to themselves!"
You're invited to contemplate some of our inquiries: 

• What lights your creative fire, this Sagittarius moon
• What beautiful arrows are flowering?
• What does your Musé invite you to cause and create?

When I Met My Muse 

~ Oregon poet laureate William Stafford ~

I glanced at her and took my glass off -- they were still singing.

They buzzed like a locust on the coffee table and then ceased.

Her voice belted forth and the sunlight bent.

I felt the ceiling arch, and knew the nails up there took a new grip on whatever they touched.

"I am your own way of looking at things," she said.

"When you allow me to live with you, every glance at the world around you will be a sort of salvation."

And I took her hand.

Sacred Path ladies ~ Red Madonna  (in process)

.... You're invited to meet your Muse!  
Happy PPF!!

Good Medicine

 For this week's inquiry In her year long art Journaling class, Come to the Fire, my IC SiStar Heidi asked,
"What's in your Medicine Basket?
"In ancient times (and in modern day) many cultures turned to their medicine Women for healing body, mind and Spirit. They knew certain women carried the healing wisdoms of their ancestors. Each of these healers had their own special bag or basket of medicine.  These medicine bags or baskets contained things like herbs, crystals, a drum or rattle, a chant, feather, and perhaps a red thread to help heal the people."

Medicine Basket

My grandmother Mary knew some herbal remedies, to help family and friends when we're ill, she could give a good back rub, and share a pot of tea with neighbors. 

I don't know if she spun, but she and my mama made quilts with carded wool, using a pair of the wool cards her own mama's family brought along on the wagon train, and made beads from our heritage rose.

I do spin, play harp, Native American Flute, hand drum, give a pretty good back rub, tend gardens, make herb tea and flower essences. I enjoy painting, crafts of all kinds, and sharing the creative spark with others in my art and classes ... what are some of your gifts? 

In this week's Red Thread Circle, we explored our medicine gifts, and brought them to life on paper and in our Smashbooks. It was a sweet session, with three beloveds making good medicine. We added leaves with wishes to the Witness Tree in the main gallery before our closing circle. 
I have three more events coming up this month, starting with Red Thread Reiki 1 this weekend at a water birth center. Our class Musé of Creative Fire is part of the Intentional Creativity Guild's International Muse Day series. This will held in the Eugene area with my cohort, Sepha, our first venture into that community.  

Next, I'll lead a group through creating their own Cosmic Smashbooks at the cosmic Inner Oasis! I love opening creative and healing doors! 

What are some of your Good Medicine Gifts?
How do you share them with your community?

Good Medicine

Happy Paint Party Friday, enjoy your weekend! 

Creative planning

Yesterday I saw a Facebook post by an art biz coach who advised doing a progress review at the end of each week, noting at what happened, and what goals you met. Coupled with his observation that all to often, artists let the business portion of being artists lag.

... while I appreciate his suggestions, I was reminded of why I love the whole brain, Muse led approach, which we favor in Intentional  Creativity! Our biz-coach, Stella Mac had us "Create a business plan using your winged eye – you have to know how to look with a visionary lens to craft a business that reflects who YOU are." 

And Maestra Shiloh wrote: "I answer the call to create, without feel long I am taking away anything from something or someone."

Biz-Plan

One of the biz tools I used last year was taking the year long plan we created during our teacher training, and doing a monthly Smashbook spread with my goals splashed about, "popcorn" style. Some were specific to that month, while others are ongoing (hosting monthly Red Thread Circles, painting, blogging)
I could see at a glance what I accomplished, and what I still wanted to work on. I'm about to start a new Biz-Musé journal, and will include creating these monthly goal pages! 

Red Madonna - Sacred Path

I blocked in my ladies on my Red Madonna canvas this week, and look forward to seeing where they lead! I love the little Phoenix and dragonet! 
The canvas is repurposed, from our Habitat ReStore, and is two 24x30" screwed together! (So 48" wide). It was a simple big sky landscape, and under $10! I'm one of the Hearth Tenders for this online offering, and love the rich teachings from different cultures. 

I did another of lights and darks on Mary Magdalene this week as well. She is emerging.

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

Dark Skin Tones

This week I was the Hearth Tender for Works in Progress (WIP) over in our Red Thread Cafe Classroom group on Facebook. It's such an honor, and always interesting! One of the inquiries was from a SiStar whose lady was dark skinned, and she felt the white she'd used for highlights made the skin look muddy. 

When I was participated in an online class in 2014, my lady wanted dark skin. Hmm, I was new enough to painting that skin in general  was a challenge! So I sought out online tutorials. I adapted my formulas from Eric T. Thomas. I remembered I had my notes on skin tones in my art journal for the class, and shared them with my friend.

I use Titan Buff, rather than the Titanium White Eric suggested, and tend to mix my colors on the canvas, rather than blending them on the palette. I used the first palette of colors, with Jenkins Green for some of the dark, and added red to the lips.

Spirit Dancer

Mars Black
Titan Buff
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Naples Yellow
Indian Yellow Hue
Cerulean Blue hue
Jenkins Green
Quinacridone Violet
Glaze: Red Iron Oxide, add a bit of Burnt Umber or Van Duke Brown

Foundation/blocking: 3 Naples Yellow, 3 Indian Yellow hue, 1 Burnt Umber, 1 Quinacridone Violet
Dark: Jenkins Green or / Burnt Umber (or blue, can alternate darks)
Medium: 1 Burnt Sienna, 1 Naples Yellow
Light: 3 Naples Yellow, 3 Indian hue, 2 Titan Buff, (2 Burnt Umber) 

Formula 2
Foundation/blocking/ medium: 3 Naples Yellow, 1 Burnt Umber, 
Dark: 2 Burnt Umber, 2 Burnt Sienna
Medium: 3 Naples Yellow, 1 Burnt Umber, touch Sienna
Light: 3 Naples Yellow, 2 Titan Buff, 2 Burnt Umber, 1 Cerulean Blue

Hair:
Dark 1: Mars Black/ Burnt Umber or Paynes Grey and black
     2: 2 Burnt Umber, 1 Burnt Sienna
     3: 2 Naples Yellow, 1 Burnt Umber
Any mediums and lights for highlights

Lips: 
Dark: Burnt Siena/Naples Yellow
Medium: 1 Burnt Sienna, 1 Naples Yellow, 1 titan Buff

Light: 1 Burnt Sienna, 1 Naples Yellow, 2-5 titan Buff

My friend's inquiry was timely, as my Mary Magdalene has dark skin, and I was just getting

ready to do a round of lights and darks ...

Shiloh suggested using Quinacridone Nickel Azo gold glaze/tint over the face after the lights, to give a golden glow, and I suggested my friend glaze, then go on to another layer of darks and lights. 

The tree in the picture represents one outside the cave in Southern France where Mary is reputed to have dwelt after her years of teaching...

I hope this color guide is helpful!

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

Love's Call

Three years ago, when I was just beginning my journey with Intentional Creativity, Shiloh offered her beautiful painting series "Love Called My Name" at Easter - free for forty days! I joyfully jumped on board! The Apostolorum Apostola, (apostle to the apostles), Mary was a beloved disciple and one who continued to share a message of love and wisdom over the next thirty years.

Portal

I so appreciate Shiloh's generosity, and her sharing of Mary's Message. This year we are offered a more recent set, Voyage of the Magdalene, with Magdalene scholar Kayleen Asbo. This offering is rich with photos from Kayleen studies, and story. 

Yesterday my younger grandkids helped me with the background. Keira used my large sash brush with aplomb, to paint Mary's cave in Southern France, and Z-man sprayed! He loves spray bottles! I help in their art based Playschool classroom several times a month

I intend to download the videos today, as the free access is nearly over (did I mention how I appreciate Shiloh's generosity?!)

Spray bottle! 

Last weekend, Sepha and I had a booth at the Mystical Magical May Faire in nearby Corvallis. It was fun to connect with other venders and new beloveds. I brought several of my paintings, plus flower essences and tuning forks. 

Mary, the Migdala

Today I'm finishing the pdf for my project that's one of the "bonus" offerings in my friend Heidi's year long art journaling class, Come to The Fire! I'll share some pics here after its released.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Magical May Faire

Painting panel

I love painting on wood! 

When I was in my Color of Woman teacher training a couple of years ago, I found our "Art Doc" Leslie's tutorial on buying and mounting a hardwood panel super helpful.

I painted both my Taliswoman, "Songs of Light," and my Alchemist, "Firekeeper," on wood panels my dear son-in love helped me mount. I bought and had the panels cut at Lowe's, then took it to Matt, who has the tools, workspace, and is handy. (And loves my art!)

Hummingbird from Songs of Light

I got a little sanding block depth fine sandpaper, sanded the wood, and watched a tutorial that recommended applying a couple of coats of GAC-100 (polymer, the binder for acrylic paint) before the gesso. 

The suggested drying time for the polymer is 3 hours, the gesso drys much more quickly. I sanded between the dry layers, then wiped the dust off with a soft rag. 

I was blessed to provide online support for last weekend's Legend class, "She's a Piece of Work," with Shiloh and CoW graduate Jassy Watson, and decided to paint on wood again. I didn't have time to assemble a board this time, so purchased an "American Easel" birch painting panel. These are lighter weight, and easier to hang! 

I followed the same process of applying two layers of GAC-100 (the first Thursday night), then three of gesso. I diluted the first layer gesso a bit (no more than 25% water!) dipping my brush in water, then the gesso. I sanded each coast of gesso lightly, before applying the next, and wiped off the surface each time. I paint in my dining nook, and propped the panel on my kitchen sink and chair back for the preparation!

By the time we were ready to paint Friday afternoon, the board was ready! This is (much) lighter than the panels we made, so won't be as heavy to mount. I hope to hang Her at the Gallery which hosts my work when She's complete, and I think she may want some "gold" leaf (which goes well on wood!)

Ready to paint!

Happy painting, and happy Paint Party Friday! 

Legend 2017

Two years ago, I joined Maestra Shiloh Sophia and a group of our SiStars as we embarked on a journey around the inquiry "what does it mean to live a Legendary Life? Legend is Shiloh's core course for women drawn to the 9 month Color of Woman quest and teacher training. After painting my Legend Shande'nea, I went on to join the quest, and graduated from Color of Woman, at the end of 2015.

Shande'nea© 2015

Shiloh revisits this core course periodically, and this weekend we are beginning another Legendary round. The theme this spring is "She's a Piece of Work!" (Have you ever been told that?!) Yes you are: a masterpiece, a legend, a wise woman!  
This year's quest includes painting a self portrait (lots of women artists have!) Writing your legendary story, creating a chapbook with Shiloh's mama, the poet Caron McCloud, and lots of juicy journaling and painting.

I'm excited that CoW graduate and Guild Member Jassy Watson from AU will be in the studio painting with Shiloh! I took Jassy's e-course to Paint Gaia in 2014, Ooo, was that fun!  She will also be Shiloh's guest this Friday's on Power Creatives TV, season 2. 
For our legendary journey, Mary McDonald and Jenafer Joy will be on board with writing prompts, painting and sweet support. The course is offered both in person at Musea Sophia in Sonoma CA, and online. 

Lady Gaia© 2014

I'm thrilled to be on the virtual support team, painting along with this weekend's Livestream, and connecting with the Legendary group via Facebook and group calls over the next three months. (The painting videos will be available through the end of the year, so those joining will have lots of time to complete.) I'm resetting my altar, and getting out my Legendary Essence from the last voyage.

I need to prepare my painting panel with a coat of GAC and then gesso. During the Color of Woman training I painted two of my ladies, Taliswoman: Songs of Light; and Alchemist: Firekeeper, on Birch panels, and love working on that surface. 
My son-in love Matt was a great help, attaching the cradle board onto the backs of birch plywood from Lowe's! This was quite cost effective, but we don't have time to craft panels this time. 
I'd love to have you join us; Happy Paint Party Friday!