Well, my art, i find, at the end of the day, is really very much all about myself, in the sense of some former me shining a light into places I’m meant to explore a little deeper… and sometimes it takes absolute years for me to meander ’round to an earlier excavation site.
So I find myself re experiencing the Myth of Medusa. Another Teaching Story, meant, like all good stories, to capture the Imagination of the child and thus allow the latent seeds of transformation to hitchhike, and eventually unfurl, far along the trajectory of a life.
I don’t remember what year it was when I drew this particular Medusa, but hey, she’s resonating with me presently.
The journey for me is already years-deep into the Forest Primeval, apprehending an ancient wound that disfigures boundaries, self- worth and my current purpose. How else to say it? Idk. My mind, when I’m inspired to draw, typically prefers to show what it cannot say.
I think Im implying that if a picture can paint a thousand words, you can then imagine possibilities. This also is the eternal beauty of myths. There really is no ‘right’ answer. And Wonder and Curiosity are close cousins to not knowing/being open.
Like Delphi, this open-ended brand of wisdom mainly leaves you to play in the gardens of your own fertile Imagination. And is this not the unconditioned mind? The crossroads where it’s very appropriate to allow yourself to wonder “What if…and then wait for direction. It’ll come. Yours. The direction meant for you. Not what your supposed to do. The direction you’ll walk in, the very present path life is offering you. Who you will become?
So there you have it. Medusa. I wonder what she says to me now? And, the wondering itself shows me a path I haven’t explored fully.
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 gorgeouscompilation 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🩷🥂💃🎂🙏🤣🐈⬛❄️❤️🐖🖍🤪😜🤣🧸☔️🔥🔥🦄
The foundation of my teaching! A cute little infographic❤️
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.
Nothings 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.🙏❤️👩🎨
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.
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.
A 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!
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.
Latest in my Exploration of those Deep interior spaces that sustain my practice. Does Gaia dream? I think she does. In fact, I am convinced. She does. And we are her dream- contained in her wildest places, our own deeply enchanting interior landscapes – – as full of wanderings, adventure, love, leavings and comings home as they ever were… And hey! This will be available as a limited edition print along with the other Forests in this series.
The River and Its Banks: On the Art of Creation and Flow
There’s a place every creator knows — that weightless space where time folds, thought dissolves, and something larger begins to move through us. We call it flow, inspiration, communion, consciousness. Whatever name we give it, it is the same ancient current — the one that turns imagination into form, and chaos into beauty.
We talk about the flow state — that peak experience where artists, athletes, dancers, poets, and dreamers lose themselves in the act of creation. Michael Jordan on the court. Billy Elliot in his dance. You, me, anyone who’s ever forgotten themselves inside the moment of doing.
In that space, limits dissolve. Doing and being become one. As Billy Elliot says, “It’s like ’lectricity.”
Something else becomes present in us — a current that soothes the edges of our limitations. A new form begins to shimmer into being, and we are lighter for it. There is joy. Participation. Communion.
It feels like a meeting — between what we call the ego, the form-maker, and what mystics have called God, Spirit, or now simply Consciousness. An invisible intelligence, a shared awareness, an elegance threading through all things.
Evolution itself may not be the blind mechanism we once imagined. Even Darwin suspected a purposefulness, a trajectory bending toward meaning
Sri Aurobindo, Thomas Merton — mystics across centuries — speak not of an absence but a presence: an intelligence that whispers through form, inviting us to collaborate in its unfolding.
So I search for form. A structure that can hold what I perceive in my imagination — a container for the vastness that wants to speak
Without form, imagination is a flood. With form, it becomes a river.
For me, that form is often a portrait. A face. Eyes, nose, mouth — the shared agreements of human recognition. Style, medium, skill — these are my tools, my chosen banks.
Within that boundary, I wander freely. The imagination roams the open field — and when I begin to draw, it is as if something taps me on the shoulder. A nudge, a whisper, not always words — more often a feeling, a texture, like the sense of coarse cloth suggesting how a shirt should feel.
I listen. Dark here. Light there. And slowly, the formless takes form.
The ego chooses the shape — based on what feels true, what I’ve learned, what I love. But what in-forms the form is not me. It moves through me.
This is why I prefer the word consciousness to unconscious. It shifts the image from something hidden below to something vast — all around — the field of potential made visible.
Physicist Amit Goswami calls it quantum thinking: two levels of mind — the conscious mind of actuality and the unconscious (or quantum) mind of possibility.
This is the creative dance. This is evolution made personal.
Today, when the world feels uncertain, when the old music no longer fits the steps we’ve memorized, we reach for old structures — familiar hooks to hang our hats. But that won’t work anymore
What we need is not more problem-solving. We need transcendence.
Transcendence lives in pure potentiality — the space where creators walk, barefoot and brave, to bring something new into being.
Creative acts are born of limitation. A hard-won truth: I have resisted limits all my life. Yet I’ve learned — a river without banks is only a flood.
The creation process is not separate from you. It is not outside you.
It is your body, mind, heart, hands, and soul. You are the form-maker and the field, the river and the banks, the current and the course.
Hello. I hope this finds you well. This is an unusual time and place to be, and I am grateful we can share this virtual space and create a community together. Thanks technology, thanks open- hearted humans!
In my 100 mandala’s journey, and I’m on #10…I’m discovering that my artwork has become a tool for me, an actual practice in the same way as meditation.
As my consciousness is shifting and I’m deep diving in my hour+ a day meditation, I’m able to regard my work in a very different light.
I see it very much as coming thru me, not in a woo woo way, although that’s not a wrong way to describe it- a better way might be the feeling that the whole design is complete and my job is to fill it in as best I can. Which makes sense intellectually, idk- I’ve never conceived of it in this way.
The difference is in my approach. Now, when I sit down it’s as if I’m meeting up with something. Not *just* sitting down to draw. I carefully now arrange my tools, give myself enough time and space, clear my mind…and wait.
I also sense a shift in my understanding of intention setting- the intention creates a net, a filter maybe- a vibration? A field of sorts – but I FEEL it now as a resonance that I am IN when I am drawing. Very whole/holy space.
So this is what Joseph Campbell meant when he says it’s imperative that we each cultivate a sacred space…
Its real. I can feel it. So wow. It’s such a subtle thing. And I guess my point is; this works. When you are consciously paying attention to yourself, holding loving space, something beautiful begins to stir. And it IS magic!!! Much love to you beautiful souls today!!
Work in progress. Looking at the small magic all around me. A friend of a friend made his transition yesterday. I’m not sure if how, or what he ‘died’ from is even important. Certainly statistically it is. But from that place lying just beyond the need to quantify and categorize and know everything, I imagine he is simply continuing the forward momentum of his beloved being.
I want to celebrate with him, to acknowledge his passing, his having been here, collected the metaphorical t-shirt, and now on to different lands, other pastures. Adventures. And a kind of beaming back to us, the earthbound, a sense of boundless un-conditioned love. I imagine also, that this is what we feel when we are connected, when we are still, when our hearts are blown wide open. The love that surrounds us, from all quarters, seen and unseen, can wash over our usual resistance.
I’m listening today. Not to the TV, or radio or social media. I’m listening for the faint footsteps of a remarkable man, a conscious human being, who is off journeying beyond the borders of my awareness. And I’m grateful; for his life, for my life, and for the shared experience of human life that connects all of us. And I’m feeling the love. Happy trails to you♥️
The Journey 
