Sunday, February 28, 2016

The Gunslinger

Spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to convince Luke that he should read The Dark Tower series today. I did not succeed in that quest but along the way I met my old friend nostalgia, got super excited about the story again, and so here I sit, cracking open Book 1 for my 4th trip into that world. I can't wait. 




Friday, February 26, 2016

My Vision Quest

Last weekend I went on a Vision Quest with artist, teacher, mentor Whitney Freya at my local home away from home art studio Art More Place.. the entire thing was just so magical and amazing that I have been trying for a full week to come up with some words to describe it.. any words.. I just can't do it.


I finally just decided that none would be right. To meet Whitney is to fall in love with her. To paint with her is to learn to fall in love with yourself.



I do not have good words to describe any of this. But I will try to show you the steps I took on my canvas along the way..



The first layer was all water. Beautiful blues and purples and teals, around and around in a flowing circle, om symbol at the center. I joked that I could take it home as is and hang it up because I loved it, but also said that I couldn't wait to paint over it (thank you 30 day painting challenge!!)









Layer 2 started with a glaring orange sun stencil which then became yellow and orange and reds all over, continuing in the round, circular pattern I'd started on layer 1. I added black arrows as marks and wrote blood & fire in large bold black letters. This was my invocation of the fire element (and also my 90s Indigo Girls).






Of course I couldn't wait to cover all of this up again!! I next drew circles everywhere and then surrounded them in white, added some black and gray circles - this was my air layer. I then started to turn the painting into an elephant. God, I wanted an elephant so bad! It just wasn't happening, no matter how hard I tried or hoped. Then I hoped she could be a deer.. She wasn't a deer. Others suggested a fox, maybe she could be a cat? I added some more black arrows around and around while I hoped and waited for some guidance, maybe some divine inspiration. Finally walked away and quickly looked back at my canvas and realized she was an aardvark. FINE, she can be an aardvark. This was the end of Day 2, and we left the studio for dinner, and I left an aardvark on my canvas.



Day 3 - I woke up down, headachy, sad, not really sure where to go with my painting or if I'd even want to, which was so unlike the energy I'd had and felt the day before. I moped around a bit, and Dave even said "Isn't this the opposite of how you're supposed to feel? Aren't you missing the entire point of the workshop?"

I finally decided to just get in the shower. While in there, I rememered the Rainbow Warrior card I'd drawn the day before - Active Wisdom - which mentioned that I need to calm my reactive energies. I had wanted an ellie SO BADLY that my reaction to that want was to be down about what DID show up. As I washed my hair I thought about what an aardvark means as a totem or spirit animal - the answers lie beneath, right? Keep digging, right? Thinking about it I realized that I hadn't invoked any element of earth at all. I'd forgotten the original flow and energy of my round, circular pattern. Realized I'd used almost no green. I'd forgotten all of those arrows I'd drawn around and around.



Suddenly I had an idea of where to go .. serenity. 

Calm the lotus mind. 

Round and round.

Like a drishti.

A yantra.





Thursday, February 25, 2016

Hooray for Elephants!

Day 29 of my 30 day painting challenge- painting on the same canvas every day for 30 days- and an elephant appeared for me!! 🐘

I had an elephant right around day 7 or so and it was so hard to let her go, but I trusted the process and let her go.. and good thing I did because it made room for this one to show up!!


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Siren Song

Siren Song- this delicate teal mermaid necklace is brand new to my shop today. I am definitely going back to have to make one for myself, too!!


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Morning Pages

Day 40 (I think?) of morning pages.. Journaling 3 pages every morning, every day, for the duration of The Artist's Way workshop. Today is the day we get together, though, and it is always, always awesome.


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Artist's Way

I am following The Artist's Way as a weekly group meeting at my favorite art studio. Some weeks are harder than others.. 
This is Week 5 - this week's chapter of The Artist's Way is promising to be difficult for me. Or perfect for me. One or the other. Or both. 


Thursday, February 11, 2016

A Long, Slow (Run?)

What do you do when you are signed up for a race but you haven't done any training at all for it? You have fun with it! What do you do when shit starts hurting? You go slower and have fun harder. It helps to have these 2 awesome guys by your side though, I'll tell ya!!
(Ran the Melbourne Music 1/2 Marathon last Sunday side by side with my husband and my brother.)


Friday, February 5, 2016

Good Karma

A: Cute shoes.
B: Good karma.
C: Both. 

The answer is C. Totally in love with my new shoes. The style name is called Good Karma and they are completely cruelty free. 


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Wordless Wednesday

Reviving this theme.. Love doing it and seeing it and letting the pictures speak for themselves. Took this at sunrise during my morning run. 


Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Graffiti Peacock

I did a bright yellow and red graffiti painting the other day, and today decided to turn it into a peacock. I am part of a 30 day challenge- every day we paint a new painting. Totally in love with how fun this one is!!