Coming up January 15, 2025
Embracing Risk in Watercolor Art
1 Jan
So – I couldn’t wait- wanting to SEEEEEEE how this was gonna look IN COLOR. I just started watercoloring before this picture is even finished. (I have never watercolored over graphite on such a big piece. (16 x 20) Yikes.)
I always find new approaches inherently risky. And that’s why I opt for it, artistically, anyway. It pulls the rug out and makes me think on my feet. Use what I’ve got: Paint that’s lying around. Relying on my extremely rusty watercolor skill -set. Possibly ruining a picture that doesn’t really need any paint at all…
i also think- God knows that as I’ve been Arting around since forever, I’ve got a vague idea of the way forward, yet do not feel confident about my skills, this new thing I’m trying, and so I am finding myself disoriented.
(The fact that I have this gorgeous compilation of DANIEL SMITH watercolors just languishing is a huge motivator. The colors are so amazing. I got them 2 years ago, courtesy of a much appreciated Christmas gift certificate. I’ve decided to use them for this picture.)
Anyway, as I’m painting, my picture goes through my typical arc- The it sucks or crappy phase- which for me, I’ve learned, is often the most productive part of the creative act. It actually makes the risk more of an adventure as both my right and left brain come online together.
I know why I don’t feel right about it:
I dislike it because it doesn’t look like what it feels like in my mind. I don’t know what to do next. I’ve lost the plot.
What to do? I mentally refresh all the feels by re-visiting these 5 questions, the exact same ones I asked myself as I was composing this picture several months ago;
Which way is it?
Where will things be placed- and why?
What are the most basic shapes?
Where is it?
Are there any?
Wondering about the basic premises I started with allows for a kind of hyper- focusing, and I can ‘see’ a way forward, a technique, a process. In other words, I know exactly what to do next.
I’m mighty glad I sucked it up and went out on the proverbial limb and was able to catch the next neural branching. Growth, learning, and expansion become possible mainly at the boundaries. The ecotones between what I know and what I don’t know. The fertile ground of possibilities.
Which is leading to a type of NEW YEARS.
RESOLUTION.
How about this: To make it a habit of mine to dwell here among possibilities, the unknown – and then choose the courageous thing. If it’s true in art, is it true in life?!☘️
Happy New Year
May you be merry and bright🩷🥂💃🎂🙏🤣🐈⬛❄️❤️🐖🖍🤪😜🤣🧸☔️🔥🔥🦄
Capturing Hidden Moments in Art
29 Dec
Work in Progress:
I am working on another large contemplative piece- 12 x 16 inch Fluid hot press watercolor paper.
🌚☔️The mood is suiting the grey reflective December day. Funny, I started this in the late summer, and all those colorful zinnias were my models. Now, I’m compelled to add the many small hidden things that lurk around in the background, only venturing out when it’s safe to be seen, and that’s not usually in the bright light of day, summer or reason…
It’s lovely out in the woods today- 🧸🐻🧸🐻
(Haven’t counted them yet, knowing there are more on the way. Dr. Sue- you’re counting I bet.)
🖍👩🎨My intention for this is a full color, water-color, and colored pencil extravaganza. That’s my style/technique challenge for myself to improve my skills set.
❤️My other intention, the one that eternally motivates me, is the creation of a space that can quietly open a door. A space that can lead to wonder, ponderings, curiosity, and maybe a little healthy lostness. That’s my experience anyway. Entertaining new possibilities in whatever form they may take verges on the adventurous.
Embrace Your Inner Artist: Tips for Creative Expression
17 NovNothings been coming in for awhile…no forests in my head, been working on other things.
For instance, I’m turning my Graphite Toolkit class into an online course- it’s been so successful in helping other artists that I’m like why not? (Cause it’s a lot of work, that’s why not), but now I’ve got lesson plans, videos and I’m also teaching it ‘live’ on zoom one more time, to iron out the wrinkles. I really really really love teaching , so despite the hard core organization, technical difficulties, massive learning curve – this is SO worth it to me to put an effort towards.
AND! I’m putting together a draw-along video class for kids (you and your grandkids, etc,👩🎨) download and print, follow along lessons you can do free on YouTube.
I’m telling you all this because this is happening for one reason, many moons in arriving. I am (finally) allowing myself to *just* be my crazy-ass artist self. It’s been a long road to get ‘here’, which is really only a very tiny shift in my perception and allowing of myself.
I tell you this as well. Joseph Campbell was correct when he mused, “Just do the thing that lights you up. And when you do, the whole world opens up to you. Unseen hands reach out from all quarters.” I paraphrase him – simply meaning that the help, opportunities, and connections are extraordinary in the sense of their ability to astound and delight me. I believe firmly we all have this inner spark- meant to jump start us when we most need it, to leap out of us and alight somewhere out there- a reflective collaborative Muse with our name on it. Inspiration. The top-secret ingredient in a really glorious life. We’ve always known this, whispered it to each other across countless ages. Allowing yourself, as you, reach that tentative, tremored younger, gentler, more adventurous self out into this modern world
Get to know yourself again. Look around you and see what inspires you now. What takes your breath away? Stops you in your tracks. Feels wonder-ful. That sense of aliveness. This is the gift of The Muse. Not a drawing, a book, a song, or any creation, but expression. The expression. The fuel of creativity. Creativity is a hallmark of humanity.
Get inspired.
Get to know yourself again, out in the world. Your reflection. I bet you find, like I am discovering now, all my friends accept me for exactly who I am. I’m the only one denying myself here. Bet it’s the same for you.
I think of the cave painting- the handprints of our distant ancestors on cavern walls- binding us in our individual expressions. That spark that makes you, you – the differentiating part of us that allows for our individuality – our unique handprint. What inspires you to do what you do? Find that and you’re golden. No one can take it away, it’s like nothing else in the world, it’s for sure magically delicious and it’s the inner core of your be-ing-in-the-world. You can truly be none other than who-you-are.
Come act out in the world in the way that suits you best, the way that makes you happy, and the way that best nourishes your soul. The response for me has been not easy, but delightful, one I wish I hadn’t waited so long to experience.
I express myself through my art. That may not be the way you have chosen to express yourself. Coolio. Art isn’t just for artists. Inspiration is you in action. The Muse does not rest on her laurels often. She is come and gone. You’re the one that actually takes the next inspired step. She merely gets your attention with some possibilities. Then, when she’s gone, or maybe a little before, I pick up my pencils and I begin working on getting a little more of myself onto paper, out in the world, some graffiti for the collective walls.🙏❤️👩🎨
Exploring Roger Pilkington’s Spellbinding Books
24 OctOk. Roger Pilkington (related to Karl?!)
Now, to be serious
Regarding really excellent books that catch me up — hook, line and sinker. Books that really move me experientially–
Roger Pilkington:
This writing is so very spell-binding for me. His style, humor, knowledge…he captivates me. I’ve learned so much while “aboard” his boat, the Thames Commodore.
Driftless– my new read, promises this already…Rhodes dives right into the deep geology of the Driftless Region, starting with the story of the Land itself.
I’m just moving back here to my blog. It needs help- I’m working on it after much neglect. I’ve been mainly on FB and IG these past few years. Hello again(!), as I begin sweeping out the cobwebs…
G
Embrace the Last Quarter Moon for Reflection
23 Oct
My silly little way to say hello and to let you know that tomorrow is the last 1/4 moon.
In terms of the cycle, it’s that time of the month for reflection and anticipation – likened to the caterpillar now in the chrysalis or the seed buried deep in the ground. An excellent time for some quiet interior work, as a natural balance to our rather blustery out-in-the-worldness.
My questions: What’s working? What’s not.
What am I keeping? What might I be willing to exchange for something else?
What have I outgrown? What do I seem to be growing into?
Nothing is for certain, here in the metaphorical darkness — the caterpillar and the seed are in flux — becoming something other than what they had been. Same for me… Another opportunity to participate in my own evolution. Or at least, witness it.
“And when I looked,
the moon
had turned to gold.”
~Billie Holiday
Fierce Mother Love: A Meditation on Presence
11 Dec
That’s my working title anyway.
I saw/received/ had the idea for this drawing last week and sketched it out in the margin of some notes I was taking. I originally saw a bat in the central spot where the face is now. An upside down bat, like a gargoyle – I was thinking Gothic Cathedral, Notre Dame style gargoyles.
And now…a presence. This Presence. Oh my.
Certainly she’s been called a bat, a crone, a hag, an old lady. Probably worse. Most definitely worse.
All I know is that from where I sit, those word concepts do not jive with this Lady. This is fierce Mother Love. A uncompromising Love for Our Planet and Every Thing that dwells there upon. All encompassing. All devouring. All embracing. The prevailing wind.
That’s what this place, this cathedral forest seeks. Lovers of change, of motion, of life in the tumultuous moment. Those still centers that can witness Life in its endless cycling; unafraid.
Nurturing, holding, keeping, supporting, restoring, preparing, sustaining, soothing, reflecting: being with.
I am held. My new mantra.
I’ve finished two more forests and will post them soon-ish. These Forests are meditations, I think. Guides coming through? Hands/help reaching/piercing the veil. There are better metaphors maybe, but these work for now. For me, this drawing feels/confirms that I/we are not alone. And today, that is a very kind and welcome thought.
🙏❤️
Explore Mindful Coloring with a Tree Mandala
21 NovA mandala for you to color- attending to the life sustaining connection we hold with the land we live on. This coloring page was inspired by the Art of the Land show that I was in this past weekend. Art of the Land is a local art show, a fundraiser for The Land Conservancy of McHenry County.
My recent drawings have explored trees and forests and the deep mysterious and healing space that exists in these mind forests of mine. I haven’t lost my adoration for mandalas either, and I suppose, that is why this particular tree picture is circular. It also becomes a meditation when drawn in a sacred container – as you color, you can attend to your emotions, the colors you choose, the music you color along to…branches and neurons swiftly flow together and create a space of solitude that can hold everything at once. I’m a firm believer that the practice of ‘doing’ art heals us in many ways… download and enjoy!
TREE MANDALA
The Healing Power of Expression in Natural Spaces
9 Nov
So far, no one or thing is showing up in this forest. I see more architectural movements- like openings that are more-than-tree. And always the white tree, the white light, and a beckoning. But a hesitation, too. I feel like I’m standing just a bit beyond this particular place. I feel myself stopping and really sensing out what’s around me. Im actually feel my body paying attention.
I can feel/smell the air here, and I sense green, mossy, wet. The other Forests felt more arid. How weird is this? The experiencing of it?
Yet,
the more you practice, the more you listen, the more whatever is moving around in the ethers, senses your devotion to your practice, and settles in again for the longhaul.
Art takes time. SO much time. It takes time to retrain your senses, time to build strong and sustaining relationships between head, heart, and hands. It takes time to replace those old voices with new perceptions, hard won with the grief of actually letting go of people, places, things, and the notion of who you thought you were. It takes time to catch your breath. Reassure oneself that whatever lies ahead is essentially ‘just‘ your life. So journal, write, sing, draw, create – whatever self expression brings you to life. I imagine that Life Itself desires to be fully lived, fully expressed by Humans, who are crazy good at: create, express, make new magic for the world; repeat.
It’s really not about The Work, it’s about forging a life-sustaining relationship between your essential radiance and the world around you.
The magic will happen. The unicorn will appear. But first, making an opening for The Practice of becoming yourself kinda makes sense.
The Journey 
