Studio Notes

A Whole New Mind!

2012-02-09T11:50:00.012-08:00


Spiral Zentangle I so love doing spirals lately!

Good news! The right Brain is no longer the ugly step child of the mind! We are now in "the Age of Art and Heart", according to Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, where things like intuition, anecdote, art, and other right brain skills are no longer shunned or scorned, but very much needed.

Daniel catagorizes (uh oh--left brain activity) right brain skills into six "senses":
*Play (which included humor, games, and just plain joy)
*Design (the marriage of utility and beauty)
*Symphony (the ability to put different pieces together into a new creation)
*Story (gathering meaningless facts into a meaningful context)
*Empathy (I call it Divine Love)
*Meaning (includes spirituality)

I'm not sure I would divide things out quite this way, but I sure do find it encouraging to find that some of the ways of thinking I have struggled to find recognition for, and which I am quite good at, are on his list. He even has stories about why and how they increase a business's profitability!

Silk Scarves--Meaningful or Just a Luxury?

2012-02-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

I've been struggling with how to make my art meaningful and of real service to people. Somehow scarves, even hand painted silk scarves such as I make, don't seem ....well, they seem like just a luxury. How can they REALLY make a person's life better or help her through life challenges?

Amy Wilson Cavaness gave me these encouraging words:

Take it from me---sometimes a beautiful piece of fabric wrapped

around my body means a great deal to me----the colors touch me

in some emotional way, I feel beautiful, I feel special, I'm able to express

something about myself by the way I wear it----a beautiful scarf

isn't necessarily "just a luxury". Even plaques with words on them

really have no meaning unless those words mean something special

to an individual at that moment.

Thank you, Amy.

The Jump!

2012-02-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

The other day I took a flying leap onto a wet driftwood log--and now I have a big purple bruise on my thigh! My feet slipped out from under me, and I did go flying, with a rather abrupt landing!

I thought the lesson was "don't be in such a rush!", as I was hurrying to join friends on the beach for our morning Qi Gung. Emiliana Torrini got me thinking about this jump --or jumping in general--in a new way, with this song and video.

On Fear

2012-02-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

First I thought, I’m not afraid of anything. Then I realized my stomach has been out of order ever since this class started, which triggered fears of cancer. Then I realized my stomach is out of order due to excitement and–yes–fear!

I have wanted to be an illustrator since I was 14, but have never quite been able to get it together. I freeze up! And here I am again, with an illustration project for a friend (after putting illustration aside for 2 years) at the same time I’m taking this ecourse that I’m pinning my hopes on–and I’m freezing up!

So what am I really afraid of here? I am afraid of not being able to express what I came to this earth to do–and at the same time, I’m afraid of expressing it. I’m afraid I won’t get to do it and afraid that I will do it! Weird, huh?

I’m not so much afraid my work will not be accepted by others; I’m afraid it won’t be good enough for me! It won’t come out the way I see it in my head/heart.

Looking at the World through a Heart Shaped Hole

2012-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

I'm looking at the world through a Heart Shaped Hole.

I was at a Silent Retreat last weekend. It takes awhile for the words to leak out of one's mind and to reach the place of silence, of before words. What treasures there are when one finally does reach that place!

This little zentangle came from that place. In the Silence, I put pen to paper until this came out. It is called "Looking at the world through a Heart Shaped Hole". I am looking at the world through a heart shaped hole, through eyes of Loving. If "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", then the whole world is so beautiful when I look at it through eyes of Loving!

I'm working this into a painting on silk, using both raw silk and silk charmeuse. I'm using soy wax(batik) and pebeo gutta (serti technique) for resists. I plan to applique the heart flower (painted on shiny charmeuse) onto the geometric background (painted on raw silk). I plan to show it at the Vashon Tea Shop. The show opens February 3rd--this Friday!

Who is my business in service to?

2012-01-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

Deana bought one of my scarves

I've been doing a lot of thinking and journaling about my "who": who do I want to work with? who do I want to be around? who is the customer I want to work with? And I'm having a bit of a conflict. If I draw to me people as customers who I enjoy being around, that would be creative, fun people with integrity, compassion, an appreciation for beauty.

In truth, this does seem to describe the people who buy my hand painted silk scarves. But what do they need? They seem to have it all together.

I have a strong desire for my art to be of service, to reach deep into people's pain and sorrow and do a healing. I want my art to lift people up and to connect them with the Source of All Joy. However, I have been told-- and part of me believes--that art is a only luxury, for people who can "afford" it.

That perception, that art is a luxury, is in direct conflict with my desire to be of real service to people who are hurting.

The truth is that we are all in service to Divine Source. Since we are expressions of the Divine Source, that's where guidance, wisdom, truth, love, and the ability to act comes from.
Mark Silver, Heart of Business

What the world needs...

2012-01-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

I woke this morning thinking, why am I creating more "stuff"?? Don't we have enough "stuff" in this world?? As an artist, I do create stuff, beautiful stuff, stuff that is both useful and beautiful, but stuff, never the less. Even if I sell everything I make (what artist does? Even the most famous have tons of paintings that haven't sold!)...even if I sell everything I make, I'm putting more stuff into some one else's world.

And how can I make a living as an artist, if I don't make and sell art stuff?

Why do people want stuff? Tara Gentile has some ideas on this, in her Biz Women article "7 myths that make earning ugly". She says:
One thing the recession has taught us is that “stuff” is not enough. People want more than another bauble for their neck or a tchotchke for their shelf. They want something with meaning. They want an experience of your art that changes their perception or triggers a feeling or memory.

asllsls

Portrait of my Business

2012-01-18T17:25:00.001-08:00

Who would have thought to draw a portrait of a business? That's what Kelly Rae and Beth Nicholls asked us to do on the second day of Hello Soul Hello business class. I kind of let go just to see what came out, and here she is. I think her name is HeLaDi--Salish for "having things just right". I wasn't surprised that her power stick (spear? staff?) was heart tipped, or that her hair/head is flowing with ideas and images, but I was surprised to see the super cape-- and where did the dog come from??

I have been feeling very watched over lately. I mean when my car was totalled, I wasn't even scratched! A fraction of a second either way would have been disasterous! So may be that's where the dog protector came from; he is my guardian Angel. He puts me in mind of my beloved, who liked to think of himself as Bob-Dog.

The very next day we had to identify our superpower. I think mine is the ability to connect with the good in people.

I'll try to link to blog posts showing what my classmates have done with this assignment, as I become aware of them.
Lori Moon
Rachel Payne

Singing Road: phase 2, colors

2012-01-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Time to decide on colors. Sometimes I try several versions, but this seemed right the first time.

Next step apply resist so that I can paint the silk in reds and golds, then steam it.

OK, now how do I put on the black?

I'm having trouble with my computer, uploading my photos, so I can't show you how it looks with the golds and reds over the leaves, but it is stunning!

The Path Unknown

2012-01-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

I've been really really spacey lately. I think it is because my car was totaled and my computer crashed. My transportation and communication systems were down and my world is still shaking. Email messages have disappeared. And I feel a bit lost about my path from here out. It looks dark and vague from here.

Kelly Rae's Soul Business Class is just what I need now!

Singing Road Phase 1

2012-01-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Some pieces need to age like good wine in the making. This piece, Singing Road, is like that.

I enlarged the 2 1/2" zentangle by 500% early last summer.
The maple leaf background I did on silk in the heat of summer, when cool shadows were welcome (thence the cool blues and greens). I wanted to give the effect of dappled shadows on a road.

I used big leaf maple and Japanese maple leaves from my own trees, capturing their images by brushing resist on the leaves and silk. Where the leaves blocked out the resist, I brushed on dye. The dye traveled up to where the resist was brushed onto the silk, filling in the shape of the leaves with color.

All fall and through Thanksgiving and Christmas, these pieces hung on the wall, waiting for me to get back to them, while I created lovely hand painted silk scarves for the market.

Next, the design will be traced onto the silk with washable blue fabric pen.

The Path not Taken

2012-01-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

"two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

These words from a Robert Frost Poem, "The Road Not Taken", have been a...mmm...touchstone for me since my teen years. I was already taking "the road less traveled", and I still do--at least sometimes.

Problem is, the road less traveled is often the road less maintained, the one with the most pot holes. Heck, sometimes the road I've taken turns out to be a deer trail that peters off in the wild! Then I have to backtrack and find the my way again. Sometimes I feel like I'm bushwhacking, and boy is THAT frustrating and time comsuming! Or the road disappears and I have no idea where I am going!

That's what I've been feeling like lately, like the road has disappeared, or maybe it's lost in the darkness and I just can't see it.

The Song Inside

2012-01-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

The Song Inside

"Singing Road" zentangle
It will be enlarged 500%
for the finished piece

I’m not a singer; people keep asking me not to sing because really, I cannot carry a tune. But I sing. I love to sing. On the beach when no one is around, in the car when I’m driving by myself, in the house alone. I sing bits of old songs that fit my current life. I sing parts of hymns, songs of praise, made up songs, even made up words (sh, don’t tell). It’s as though the songs sing themselves inside me and sometimes burst out my mouth.

In the fall, I sing “Thank you for the glorious trees, the reds and golds, and the evergreens.” In the winter I sing, “Thank you for the wind and rain.” When my beloved was dying, the song that sang in my mind was, “got along without you before I met you; I can get along without you now”.

I sing prayers, deep prayers without words in any known language. I sing prayers of love, songs of joy…

I am traveling on a Singing Road.

Singing Road is the signature piece for a show of my silk paintings at the Vashon Tea Shop in February. It started several months ago as a 2 1/2" zentangle, a small ink drawing of patterns and lines with no definite purpose in mind. It isn’t finished yet, and I want to share with you the process of it’s development in this blog.

If you would like to follow this process, please subscribe to my blog (become a follower). I will post as the painting develops.

Taking Time at New Years

2012-01-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

I do a three day retreat every year. I take time to review the goals I set last year, check to see if my vision is the same, set new goals. I can get quite detailed. Some goals appear again year after year.

This year is different. I set aside time OK, but I have not even looked at last year’s goals. I cleaned house instead! What? Me? Clean house?

I’m clearing the decks for…what?

I don’t have a clear vision of what I want my business to look like. Illustration? I kinda gave up on that when the traditional publishing industry started going belly up and Kindle began to take over. I moved away from watercolor landscapes years ago; I have no faith that wall art will create an income for me. I love painting on silk, and again wonder if there is really a market for lit. I love creating hand painted silk scarves, yet that has never felt like the whole picture.

How can I bring all that I am, all that I have experienced, all that I know, into my art in a way that speaks to something deep in people, that tells their story as well as my own? How can I create art that meets a need deep enough to exchange it for the material things I want in my life?

I keep thinking that if I dig deeply enough, the answer will come, and I’ll have a complete vision to work toward. Instead, my future seems hidden in a slowly rising mist. Little by little, through trial and error, little bits and pieces are revealed.

There is a Quaker saying, “Proceed as Way opens.” I think that applies here.

The Birth of the Sun/Son

2011-12-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Nativity Story has taken on new meaning for me. It is no longer a stale old story of something that happened long ago and far away, of concern only to those people who call themselves christians.

Ever notice how the Christmas songs speak of the Birth as happening right now? "Away in the manger...the baby lord Jesus lays down...", "We three kings of Orient are..." and so forth. Ever notice how dark and cold and cave-like the days are, like the cave the Babe is often said to be born in? And the way Jesus is often referred to as the light of the world?

He was not born in December, you know. Not the historical Jesus. Some say he was born in August. So why do we celebrate in December?

On December 21st, the sun goes into it's lowest point--and stays there for three days! It starts back up on Dec 24th or 25th--Christmas! The day the Divine Light is born in the baby Jesus according to Christian tradition.

the Golden Pheonix
rescues the sun

In celebrating the birth of Jesus on the same day as the birth or rebirth of the sun, we are celebrating not only the return of physical sunlight, but also the beginning of new Life, a New Year, and of the Divine Light that brings us out of soul darkness.

So is the Nativity story just another Solstice story?

In my mind, there is a definite connection between the solstice stories of the sun being returned from darkness to give light to the world, and the Nativity story of the Divine baby being born "to save us all" from spiritual darkness.

In this Chinese story, the golden pheonix pushes the sun up from the dark depths of a cave at the bottom of the sea where it has been held captive, so that it can break free of its watery grave and once again light the earth.

At any event, just as we celebrate the birth of new Divine life and the return of the sun, so, inside of me, I feel a newness being born out of the darkness.

heArt From a Friend

2011-12-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Early last December, I think it was--the world has turned upside down and righted itself again a few times since then--I participated in a HeArt exchange sponsored by Louise Gale. Here is the delightful card and charm Shell sent me:

I love Shell's bright colors and bold designs! Her newest is a butterfly girl (BronteFly Girl) painted to honor her niece, Bronte.


Winter scene on silk

The "Heart Moon" I sent Shell, painted on silk, has much more subdued colors, although the white line around the moon and tree remind me of the white lines she sometimes uses to outline her images.

Oh! This is the image to use on my winter greeting cards!! (Too late to send Christmas cards or "Holiday Season" cards!)

Living in Interesting Times

2011-12-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

An ancient Chinese curse says, "May you live in interesting times!" Well, I don't feel cursed. I feel blessed. My car got totaled with me driving it--and I didn't even get a scratch! Now I am driving a sweet friend's car while she travels. My computer refused to work for a week--then miraculously started working again!

Meanwhile, I've been making Christmas with my grand daughter and her Dada, my son, as well as participating in local holiday traditions.

One Tradition I was pleased to be a part of for the second year in a row, is the December Vashon Island Art Studio Tour (look for HiLaDi Studio). My studio was festooned with scarves! There were about 40 studios on the tour this year, my signage on the road could have been better, and few of the people I sent cards to came. As a result I didn't have as many visitors as I had hoped for, and didn't make any money. But oh! the delight of a couple of friends who bought scarves for themselves or for gifts was so heart warming!

And! I joined the newly forming Vashon Fabric and Textile Arts Cooperative! We have a retail space right next to the coffee shop (Cafe Luna). Now I have some place to send people when they want to see more of my work or if they aren't ready to buy now but may be later.

Christmas is What You Make It

2011-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

"Christmas Is What You Make It"
card available on my etsy shop

Santa was broke that year--as he was so often during the years my children were young. We gathered wind blown Douglas Fir branches and tied them together to make a tree. I found a box of Christmas cards that said "JOY" on them in a house I was cleaning, and festooned our tree with them. We wrote Christmas wishes on slips of paper, put them in walnut shells, and hung them on the tree for friends to take.

Our favorite story was "How Six Found Christmas", by Trina Schart Hyman--still is my favorite! In this story, a little girl sets out to find Christmas, joined by several animals, each with his/her own thoughts about what Christmas looks, smells, feels, and sounds like. In the end, the girl decides Christmas is where you find it, and what you make it. We've been making Christmas ever since!

How do you make Christmas?

Christmas Mania or Christmas Magic?

2011-12-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

last year, my 50 year old Barbie doll
became a Christmas Angel.

Some people don't like that Christmas is too "pagan"--but that's one of the things I LOVE about Christmas. I love that even before Christ walked the earth as the man we call Jesus, people dreaded the dark and celebrated the return of light. I love that we celebrate the birth of the Son within days of the return of the sun. To me it's not an either or situation; it's not Jesus in the manger or the Yule log and the Solstice. It is both and.

It is not joining the mad rush to "save the economy" by spending lots of money on manufactured gifts.

My friends are making ornaments and hand made gifts, or buying gifts from local artists and artisans. Melanie Wiedner, an artist friend with a commitment to living her spiritual guidance, is choosing to "occupy the holidays" by living her values deeply and consciously.

How shall I celebrate? What shall I make? How shall I make this season special and meaningful?

How do YOU celebrate (or not) the winter holidays?

Some wow designers!

2011-12-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Oksancia's new scarf pattern as it might look on a scarf

Kaffe Fassett is known for his colors!

I've been visiting some really fantastic designers on line, recommended by my classmates in the Surface Design class I am taking.

Oksancia is not only a wonderful designer--she has a nice online presence I can learn from.

Susy Pilgrimwaters sketchbook page

Look at the colors surrounding Kaffe Fassatt! He did a workshop on Vashon Island last year that was an instant sellout!

Here's an inspirational sketchbook from Susy Pilgrimwaters. Check her out for more visual treats!

The Priceless Sketch book

2011-11-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

zentangle sketch book
I keep this one in my purse.

OK, so I've always sketched. Not every day, mind you, but often, especially when traveling, or when waiting for a ferry or some such thing. And yet, I've never really understood the value of keeping a sketch book until today.

So, why keep a sketch book?
We know it is a record of what you've seen and where you've been.

Angelwing Begonia done with ball point pen

It's a good way to take notes about something you've seen, to refer to later.
A place to doodle, to while away the time.

But more. Much more.

It is a place in which to develop ideas and dreams. A place where the seed of an idea can sprout and grow until it is ready to blossom. It is a living, breathing -- not just a record, but a tool, a....growing, changing, and very individual companion where your work and life can develop before it is ready for other eyes.

Angel wing Begonia
detail with brush and pen

Take a look at the sketch books of some very accomplished artists here.

Beatrice Alemagna

2011-11-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a new love: Beatrice Alemanga.
And here are some treats from her work.
Her work really sets me free to try some new things, as does the work of Priscilla Jones.

Celia Birtwell Designer

2011-11-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

This little lady really inspires me! She is such a dear! A British designer with gray hair and wrinkles--older than I am, even--she is still going strong.

Oh, and here is a really delightful designer!! Libby McMullen's work really inspires me! (It's the wanna be children's book illustrator in me).

Circles, Circles, and more Circles!!

2011-11-17T23:32:00.000-08:00

Our assignment in Surface Pattern and Design was to find and photograph a shape: circles, triangles, squares, or rectangles. What I found was circles. And more circles. I had no idea I had so many circles in my house!

Angel Wing Begonia

2011-11-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

After days and days of rain and dark skies, my angel wing begonia glows in the morning sun!

the art and business of Surface Pattern Design

2011-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

I think I shall still be signing up for classes when I'm 103. I really LOVE how easy it is on the internet! Tomarrow (This is not spelled wrong. This is an old way of spelling this word; just look in any good dictionary!) I start a 4 week class: module 1 of the Art and Business of Surface Design and Pattern with Beth Nichols and Rachael Taylor.

I am absolutely blown away by the other people in the class! People from England, Australia, Canada, Sweden, SOUTH AFRICA! ESTONIA and more! I've gone from knowing no one else who was an artist to knowing artists from around the world!

(I wish I could figure out how to put a button for this class in my sidebar)

Welcoming the storm

2011-11-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

Qi Gong on the beach this morning before the predicted storm--how can I describe it? Three human friends, some crows, two seagulls, and several ducks enjoying the morning light. How very blessed I am!!

We welcomed the storm, thinking about how it will wash away debris. Do the storms in our lives have the same cleansing effect?

Another joyful thing; on Monday I hung several of my silk paintings in the office of a friend, Dr. Pamela Smith, of Sundance Natural Medicine, in Kenmore, WA. She painted her walls yellow to bring cheer to everyone who enters, and I think my paintings on her walls express that joy as well.

Serti Sorti: painting on silk using resist

2011-11-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

We produced some amazing work in my class Sunday November 6th, using the Serti technique to paint on silk. Serti is French, meaning fence; the resist line makes a fence to keep the dye in. Ideally, the dye goes up to the resist line and stops, making a sharply defined image. Without the resist, the line is soft, and if there is a hole in your resist fence, the dye will escape!

Sharpie permanent pens can provide a resist effect, though not as effectively as the Pebeo resist that comes in tubes from Dharma Trading. In this piece, Maya did the roses and butterfly first, using the Sharpie to outline before applying the rose colors with a brush. Then she outlined them with the Pebeo resist before painting in the black background color. The effect is stunning!

Ariel's Rainbow Dragon, done with the Sharpie pen for resist, is wonderfully enhanced by using salt to give texture to the background. Ariel and Maya both used Jaquard Red Label dyes, which are quite wet and wick through the silk quite a ways before "striking"--that is, stopping the onward march of color through the fabric.

The Sharpie pen is permanent; it will not wash out.

Dharma Pigment Dye seems to work better with the Sharpie pens as resist than the Jaquard dyes do, I think because of the solid pigments in it; it doesn't wick through the fabric as quickly. Even so, the Sharpie doesn't hold as well as the Pepeo resists do.

The white lines in this piece are the Pebeo resist. I use the clear, and it washes out easily in water. If you look closely, you can see where the dye escaped my fence! (hint--the green water lilies pads in front)

Shibori Joy

2011-11-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

We started with pure white scarves,
such as the one Ariel is modeling.

Such fun teaching shibori to lovers of silk and beauty! Classes October 30 and November 6th
were very much enjoyed by all participants.

Shibori is a way of folding and twisting silk, then dropping dye onto the fabric to create wonderful patterns. We use the vibrant Jaquard Red Label dyes from Dharma Trading Company.

By the way, Bruce Goff has an interesting story about how and why he started Dharma Trading Company here. Seems he was way ahead of me with the idea that business can be grounded in a spiritual practice!

Flora Bowley

2011-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an incredible artist! Flora Bowley's vibrant colors, the way her shapes and colors fade in and out with each other--I don't know how to describe it! Do take a look!

Pumpkin Cat

2011-11-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

I do love Halloween. Even though no one comes to my door. Even though I am too old to trick or treat--and too lazy to dress up. Even though my kids are grown.

This pumpkin is 4 feet in diameter!

Last night I went uptown to Vashon, where most of the parents of young children and teenagers gathered--in costume and not-- to trick or treat at the local businesses.

Oh the wonderful costumes! Oh the haunted houses, the pumpkin carvings, the feeling of celebration and community.

Some people dressed as role models. There was an old wise woman, some princesses and some brides. One girl of about 6 or 8 years rode dressed as a prairie girl in a covered wagon pulled by her pony.

My grand daughter was Amelia Erheart. Her grandfather made her a bi-wing airplane that fit on her wagon so that she could fly from treat to treat.

Some people dressed as mythical creatures. fairies, star wars characters, and such. There was even a satyr, with long horns, on tall springy legs, leaping across the street!

Some were scary! Witches in black or purple. zombies. A headless bride. Scariest was a couple of ghouls with a wheelbarrow full of bloody brains (cauliflowers)!

What did you do last night?

Journaling for wealth and health

2011-10-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

I started journaling years ago, when I lived in the desert, struggling to raise my sons while remaining true to my vision. We lived in a shack which eventually had running water and an indoor toilet (the septic tank was an old refrigerator). With three sons, their father, his brother, and two of their male friends --none of whom had jobs--I was very much outnumbered!. Even the cat was male! I decided that someday I would have my own home near the water in a place with trees.

Has journaling helped me to live the life of my dreams?

Yes. Before my sons were grown, I had my own home less than a block from beach on Puget Sound. I met and married my soul mate, joined an artists co-op ( a print studio), and began to show my art work publicly. Along the way, I finished college, wrote and illustrated a children's book, and got a "real" job, teaching children with special needs.

Atom's Monster is available from:
Twice Sold Tales on line
Amazon

I still journal, and I still have dreams I am working on. Journalling helps me to clarify my thoughts, to think through my goals, and to stay focused. It helps me to work through mental blocks and obstacles that at first seem insurmountable. Journaling helps because, as MacIver of Heron Dance says, there is

the need in this fast-paced world for each of us to get away from the day to day chatter and distractions that dominate our surface mind and travel deep inside the long term trends and potentials of our lives.

Here are some ways journaling helps create mental health, according to Cherrye S. Vasquez, Ph.D.:

Journaling will give you an outlet for pent-up emotions as youdeal with day-to-day life issues
Journaling will allow you to dream as you give your ideas a name while moving toward success
Journaling will allow you to gain insight with a clearer vision of issues you've gone through during daily blunders and mishaps
Journaling will allow you to remain honest with yourself as you sort things out in privacy, while becoming renewed and changed

Do you journal? What are some ways you clear your mind and focus your thoughts?

heART exchange and 7 days of JOY.

2011-10-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Just downloaded a mini-gratitude book from Louse Gale. What a fantastic idea for chasing the winter blues away! She's founded a heART exchange, to "raise the consciousness of the world, one by one through practicing self-care, love, kindness, forgiveness & gratitude through creative expression."

Surviving the Dark with Art

2011-10-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of October, the blue sky suddenly turns a dark forbidding gray. The relentless rain washes my mind into a dark hole. Sadness settles in, and all I want to do is hibernate. And that’s OK…for awhile…until the gray fogginess in my brain makes it hard to keep my life together. Until the bills become due and there’s no way to pay them.

Over the years, I’ve learned a few ways to beat back the dark. Friends help. Stepping out of myself to do a good turn for someone else helps. Most of all, creating a bit of beauty helps. My favorite surviving the dark images are bright yellow or orange flowers or butterflies with a blue or dark blue/gray background. The image can be primitive or stylized—even abstract.

I hang the image on the wall, and it lifts my spirits all winter long!

What are your favorite ways of beating back the dark?

True Riches--Enduring Joy

2011-10-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

An eagle flew over our heads as we performed the Qi Gung movement "fly like an eagle" on the beach this morning. Outside the harbor, a north wind kicked up whitecaps against an outgoing tide. Inside my body/mind, a sense of peace feeds a song of joy.

A broken stock market cannot rob me of riches such as these. The joy in my soul is like the pearl Jesus speaks of, or like the ecstasy Michael Mead was referring to in this quote:

Happiness, like happenstance, can come or go on a whim; but joy is an exaltation that remains in the soul, an opening to the realm of spirit that alters our nature.” – Michael Meade

An Opening to the Realm of Spirit. Enduring Joy. Yes. That's it. That's what I want to give you through my art. True riches.

This scarf, inspired by a madrona tree at a local beach, is for my friend Joy. It isn't finished yet; you can see the salt crystals that will give the tree the texture of madrona leaves.

These scarves are among those I will offer for sale at Saturday Market tomarrow.

Chaos is not the Enemy

2011-10-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

silk scarves in the making

That black liquid in the back of the refrigerator? Don't throw that out! That's extra strong coffee for dying cloth. The can opener? I think we're keeping it on the counter by the bread maker this week. That yogurt container labeled "Fish Stock" contains spaghetti sauce.

Every room in my house is part library, part studio, and part whatever it is supposed to be. Yes, I have picture frames stacked in my bedroom, paints and watercolor paper in the office, good reading books in the bathroom, and more art supplies and books by the washing machine. Sound chaotic?

Although my sons play computer games where the bad guys are from "Chaos", I never considered chaos to be the enemy. Imagine my delight to find this quote!

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I must be giving birth to dancing stars!

Still----it would be nice to be able to find the spaghetti sauce when it's time to make dinner!

At the Market

2011-09-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's because so many people know me from other work I've done in the community. Maybe be it's a more affluent neighborhood. Maybe people here just love beauty. Maybe it's because I'm not all worn out from taking the 6:25 am ferry to any other market I've been to.

Whatever the reason, I have consistently sold more at the Vashon Farmer's Market than at any other venue I've tried with my silks and my cards. And had more fun!

This little girl was so excited about my scarves, she wanted to try on every single one! She wasn't satisfied until her mom offered to take her picture wearing one and I told her I would post it on my blog. Then she picked out my two almost matching scarves and insisted that I wear one in the picture too!

This is Celeste, grandmother of two former students.
Isn't she beautiful?

Sometimes former students stop by with their parents; the kids and parents recognize me, but the kids are twice as tall and some of the boys are close to sprouting beards! The sweet little girls have turned into beautiful young women!

I love to see the smiles when people walk away wearing one of my scarves, or with a gift of a special scarf tucked away and parting words like, "You have made someone so happy!"

Learn to Paint on Silk; for Non-Artists and Artists Alike

2011-09-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

I will be starting an new series of silk painting classes soon. I want to give people a way to make beautiful gifts for their loved ones this Christmas. Wish me luck! And come if you can!!

Upcoming Classes

Silk Painting for Christmas Giving

October 23, 30, Nov 6th

at my studio on Vashon

These classes are for artists and non-artists alike

to create beautiful wearable art and home decor.

Sunday Oct 23, 1-4 pm:

cost $55 including materials

Create wonderful patterns by printing with found and natural objects, a technique that can be used for scarves, clothing, pillows, table runners and more.

Sunday Oct 30, 1-4 pm:

Cost: $55 including materials.

Use a Japanese tie dying technique called Shibori to create 3 beautiful scarves.

Sunday Nov 6, 1-4 pm:

Cost: $55 including materials

Use a water soluble resist for a batik like effect to create images on silk.

Open Studio

Sunday November 13 1-4

Cost $10

For anyone who has taken a silk painting class from me

To play with color and cloth and to create beauty to share

I supply the dyes and the space and answer your questions; you supply the silk

Emerald Spiral Expo Fall 2011

2011-09-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Isirdro Nilsson won my scarf for Joannie Vogel as a door prize

The Emerald Spiral Expo:
I didn't know quite what to expect. A line of tents with gypsy fortune tellers? Tarot readers? Crystal balls? Energy Healers? Astrologers? People channeling their spirit guides? Regression into past lives? Sellers of Crystals and magic potients? Would my booth partner, Michele of Hurrikayn Natural Soaps, and I be the only ones with products you can touch? Would we feel out of place? Would anyone buy our wares?

Well, yes, there were astrologers and Tarot readers, crystal balls, and spirit channelers. There were energy healers and Reiki practitioners, people doing spirit cleansings and healings of many kinds. The energy of all the venders was for healing, helping, and loving.

There were several people I would like to meet again:

*L'aura Grace told me she was healed of a 17 year chronic bladder infection when she connected with energy healers using light. She now channels this light for others with the help of an Angel (whose name I've lost). I had just read in Ode Magazine of the light that transmits healing messages to our whole bodies. Sounds kind of woo woo, but I have used this concept and it works!

*Dolly Mae wrote a book: Choosing Joy in the Midst of Crisis. Her premis is that one can choose to live in fear--or to live in Love. Living in Love leads to a joyful life. She is teaching "A Course in Metaphysics" Wednesday Evenings in Everett. Choosing to respond to life with love rather than fear has been my path for awhile now.

*Robin Ritter is a "Certified Oneness Master". She practices I'O Mastery Healing, a form of healing founded by Laurie Keako'a Grant of Hawaii. What I saw her doing reminded me of Reiki, which I used to help my husband when he was sick with cancer.

And no, no one bought my scarves or cards, but I did have fun! Michele did sell enough soaps to pay the booth fee and perhaps a bit more.

Japan now--what the news media doesn't tell

2011-09-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

I honor my friend Maki, who has recently visited Japan to see the effects of the tsunami and earthquake.
Please read her account here.

Finding the Soul in These Times

2011-09-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Golden Pathway
My Etsy Shop
Print
Card

I had the nicest compliment from someone who stopped by my booth at the Vashon Farmer's Market yesterday. She was admiring my cards, and said, "Your work is lovely. It looks as though it really comes from your soul."

She was right, you know. "Golden Pathway", for example, was inspired by a magical walk in the forest with my beloved. It was July, and the Madrona trees were dropping golden leaves on the ground. We had just spent a week sailing together, just the two of us, in perfect harmony.

This image and the phrase, "walking the golden pathway", has come to mean living in joy, in love, when life is good, when you are in just the right place.

"Grandfather Moon"
My Etsy Shop
Print
Card

This one, "Grandfather Moon", was inspired by the story Goose Moon by Carolyn Arden. It speaks to me of the bond between grandparents and young grandchildren--something I was just beginning to experience when I created this.

Dragon Lady was inspired by my courageous daughter in law, who gave us a beautiful baby boy in spite of her ms, and by all the women I know who have faced cancer and kept on living with joy and purpose.

Dragon Lady
My Etsy Shop
Print

The dragon symbolizes both what one most fears and our own inner strength. The Dragon Lady has made friends with both.

All these paintings are done on silk, and are available at my etsy shop as cards and as prints.

A Show of Silks!

2011-09-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

getting ready for the show
"Sunflower " painting

Thank you to everyone who came to see my show at PSCCU! Your support means a great deal to me.
The paintings will be up through the end of October, so if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, and you happen to be on Vashon Isl, WA during that time, do stop by!

an admirer of my silk painting
"Sky House"

For folks who live too far away to see the show in person, I'll get it up on Flickr as soon as I can, and post a link here and on Facebook.

Dance in Ecstasy

2011-09-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

A sweet friend gave me this card for my
birthday.

I wish I knew the artist of this lovely card! This image expresses the joy I want you to know, the joy that sings in my soul so often these days, as I spend more time in my studio and find more ways to bring my own images to you.

This isn't about ignoring the painful bits, stuffing them inside and pretending they don't exist. This is about acknowledging the pain, and being able to step out of it. It's about opening the window to the beauty of the world, and allowing that into our deepest selves. It's about allowing ourselves to experience moments of pure joy and to be healed by them, to experience ecstasy.

Michael Meade says, "Even a little ecstasy can provide a sense of liberation that renews both the body and the soul."

What makes your soul sing out in joy? How do you allow yourself to access and express this joy, this ecstasy?

Sometimes my work is really awful!

2011-08-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

I used to think we only had one try at a painting, and it either worked or it didn't. A good artist just has fewer failures. If it didn't work, I could cut it up and make postcards or paint over it--you can do that with work on paper. Neither option works with paintings on silk.

I'm on my third "draft" of "A Soul Flies". Maybe I tried to paint it too soon, too soon after my father died. My father was flyer and a sailor. He taught me to sail wing on wing, in perfect balance with the wind. This spring he sailed on without me, right out of this life and into the next.

second attempt and first attempt for
"A Soul Flies"

I tried to paint that--that sailing through the gap between life and death, into the sunset, like all heros in end.

But I was so busy being angry with him, that I forgot to be thankful for what he gave me, what he taught me, and I guess that anger showed up in the painting; the bird in the first painting was mud.

Ira Glass has some encouraging words on work that doesn't come out the way you want it to:

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Fearless Birthday!

2011-08-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Eight Daisies

No, I'm not 39 for the 25th time. At 39, I still didn't know who I was. I am 64.

I am an outrageous, courageous, Dragon Lady of 64 years in this life. I am 8 squared. Riding the Beast . com says eight is the "Number of the balance and of the cosmic order, according to the Egyptians." and "In China, the 8 expresses the totality of the universe".

I think this is going to be one really fantastic year!

A Hero's Journey for Artists

2011-08-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Starting out on a new journey

The Hero's Art Journey by Mira Reisberg looks to be exciting, fun, and just what the doctor ordered! As Artists, we ARE on a hero's journey. We have left the safety of accepting the Status Quo and are exploring new territory, testing our limits, learning to trust our intuition, facing our demons.

Especially facing our demons. And they do come up! I think the Hero's Art Journey will give us tools to handle the demons as well as techniques to expand our art.

My childhood hero was a pirate queen!

2011-08-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

When Sherene asked me to think of a hero I held dear as a child, all I could think of was one I created: the Pirate Queen! My pirate queen doesn't raid and burn, though. She is an adventurer. She is captain of her own ship and crew, and she braves the storms and sails the seas in search of treasure and excitement.

Many an adventure my pirate queen had, in the quiet of the night during my teen years. My sister Jeannie and I would lie awake immersed in the stories I made up, as we waited for sleep to catch us.

After my husband died a few years ago, I did become captain of my own boat, the 32' sloop Sea Change we co-owned. I taught my son to sail, and we sailed the "high seas" of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands while I faced storms of fear and grief as a new widow.

It was the best thing I ever did for myself. I guess I am becoming my own hero.

Today I Was a Dragon

2011-08-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Dragon Emerging from the Sea
inspired by a Qi Gung image,
available on etsy

I flew around the room, breathing fire, sometimes swimming like a sea dragon, sometimes walking dragon-like. Why was I surprised when Kara as a rabbit and Sara as a ferret were frightened of me? I'm not a ferocious dragon! I don't eat my friends! I decided to give my rabbit friend a ride, so that she could experience flying as well.

In this Hero's Journey workshop with Sherene Zolno, Kara Jones, and Jane Velencia, we were asked to become--to act out-- our totem animal, then to list the attributes of that animal. I was a dragon! That is a a bit of a shift from my old image of being a dragon rider!!

Grandmother Dragon
My Dragon is nurturing!

When we went to the wall paper to write the qualities we found while being our totem animals, I remembered giving some of my friends "rides" as a dragon, and wrote, "empowering others" as one of my dragon qualities, along with "ancient wisdom" and "flying above the world".

I think my dragon can breathe flowers as well as fire!

What is your totem animal, and what do you admire about it?

Hero's Journey

2011-08-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Three of my high-powered, deep-hearted women friends have teamed together to offer a day of Transformation based on the archtye of the hero's journey and the work of Paul Rebillot. How could I NOT go? Tuition was out of my reach, though so how COULD I go? I pondered this for awhile.

"Empty"
painted on silk
print available on etsy

I know each of these ladies. Jane Valencia is a harpist and an artist. Kara Jones, who recently lost a baby, is active in the grief healing work of MISS ( formerly Mothers in Sympathy Support), and Sherene Zolno, who does work with the non profit The Leading Clinic, has the most wonderful collection of art on her walls!

This is what I offered:
For Jane, tuition in my silk painting classes.
For Sherene, a hand painted silk scarf with the colors and image from a painting of mine she admired.
For Kara, the first draft of a painting on silk I did inspired by her loss of Mizuko.

They accepted!
Today is the day... I AM excited! Already, I feel my life changing.

What the World Needs

2011-08-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Swimming with my grand daughter makes me feel VERY alive!

Do not ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive, because what the world needs is more people to come alive.
Howard Thruman
Thank you, Lafiorevida for this quote!

Art in a New Economy #2

2011-08-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

New Life in the Forest

I did it! I did it! I did it! I did it!
I wrote and submitted an article for the Vashon Loop, a local newspaper, to let people know about my show coming up at PSCCU (Pugest Sound Cooperative Credit Union) and about the silk painting class I am offering in September!

This is the article:

Art in a New Economy

We are in a time of change. Oil is running out, and increasingly our quest for oil damages the environment. Everytime I go to the grocery store, the prices are higher. The climate is changing. Old ways of doing business don’t always work anymore, and the traditional way of putting profit first has damaged our environment, our culture, and now our economy.

These are turbulent times. For many, these are harsh times. Where can we stand, with the ground shifting beneath us?

During World War 1, when he was asked what he would do for the war effort, the Impressionist painter Monet said, “I will paint”. Monet’s paintings of the pond, the gardens, the bridge at Giverney, offer the soul a place to rest. His paintings still turn our eyes toward beauty, toward that which is good in the world.

This is where I choose to stand: in Beauty, in Compassion, in Trust. Will you join me?

Suzanna Leigh

www.suzannaleigh.net

A Stand for Beauty; Life in the Puget Sound

Paintings on silk by suzanna leigh

Opening at PSCCU Sept 2

Reception 6:30-8:30

Silk Painting Class series September 11, 18, 25

Sundays 1pm-4pm

Suzanna’s Studio 20733 87^th Ave SW

For more information: 206 463 5255

(darn this text box, would not do what it was supposed to do!)

Art in a New Economy

2011-08-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

painting by Monet

During World War 1, Monet was asked what he would do for the war effort. He said, "I will paint."

There is something about that, about taking a stand for beauty in harsh times, that is so healing!

In 2008, while the stock market tanked and my bank failed,

I painted sunflowers
--and had my best year yet financially!

Sunflowers at Night

This week, while watching the stocks fall yet again, hearing about the dwindling oil reserves, reading about climate change and the heat wave in the rest of the country, I decided to follow Monet's example. I will paint. I will take a stand for beauty and for that which comes from our deepest heart.

I would like to invite you to join me.

Zentangles from Art 42

2011-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

With a name like Zentangles, there must be something deep or witty I can say about them. Or do they speak for themselves?

Top left: by Strawberry (Art 42)

Top right by PYRO kathleenstitches from Tualatin, Oregon

Flower on lower left: R.E. Yang (?)

Bird on lower right: JoAnn Reichert of Butler, Pensylvania

Inspiring Words

2011-08-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

This thing about following your heart; It ain't easy, as Jodene Jodi Shaw put it very nicely in her blog Opened Door.

The Bridge
available on my etsy shop

That time of uncertainty, of wondering "Is this what I am meant to be doing?" can be so painful. So full of "good" advice that conflicts with what we know--or suspect--in our hearts.

This past week has been about letting go and just loving where I am. I have relished the joy of introducing my grand daughter to the swimming pool, of helping my brother launch his sailboat, of joining friends and family in potluck and music. The little voice in the background that says, "but you should be working on your business, the business of making money", was washed away with this thought:

This is what I live for. This joy of family and friends, of enjoying where I am. Don't people work for money so that they can enjoy times like this?

Monday morning, the rest of the world has gone back to work.
Work? What is my work?

When Eternity Breaks Into Clock-time

2011-08-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Clock time is when it's nearly 10 pm and I haven't got everything on my to do list done yet.

Clock time is when lunch is at noon and dinner at 5 pm, and everyone in the family expects it.

Clock time is deadlines and appointments and payments due.

Clock time is everyday....

....Except...
when Eternity breaks in and calls you to swim with your grand daughter in the sunshine

or to wander in the magical woods and eat red huckleberries.

or to paint sunflowers while the financial world crashes down around you.

Then you are living in God's time, and all will be well.

It was Jane Valencia's article that got me thinking, remembering, what it is like to live in God's time.
When Eternity Breaks Into Clock-time: Reflections on a Traditional Irish saying
by Jane Valencia

"God made time, and plenty of it!"

Surrounded by Beauty

2011-08-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Sunflower, Octopus, and Crab scarves,
as well as others,
are available at Ventures store
314 First Ave S, Seattle, WA

My silk scarves seemed right at home among the beautiful paintings at Art with a Heart Gallery in Seattle. It was a thrill to be represented by a gallery on First Avenue, which has always seemed to me to be the heart of the art world in Seattle.

All my scarves are one of a kind, beautifully hand painted, with hand rolled silk hems. Ventures store, 314 First Avenue S. in Seattle, carries them. I am particularly excited about the sea life scarves I've been painting, all inspired by sea life I've seen around the Puget Sound area.

Maria Ritaron took these photos with her cell phone camera!

It's All About Marketing

2011-07-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

Marketing is an art. Like any art it takes skill, but it also takes a certain degree of natural ability. There is a learning curve that can be pretty steep, if one hasn't got the knack.

Strawberry Festival was definitely one of those not so easy learning times for me.

I shared a booth with Marj Watkins, an 87 year old writer and self publisher, whose cooking column in the local paper has created a bit of a following for her. That's Marj, in red, and a friend Nanette Palowski (also an artist) in blue.

That's me. in blue and green. People on the Island know me by my twice yearly shows and by the preschool I used to run.

Guess who sold the most?

We both have a bit of a following. We both have attractive products. One of us is obviously more outgoing--and dressed to show up against a green background.

You guessed it. Marj sold 50% more than I did.

We both had a great time, visiting with friends, talking about our wares, and just being a part of the "scene".

Until it started raining and would not quit. No one wanted to try on wet scarves, and our books got wet. Some of mine got ruined.

Well, that's marketing!

Creating is Scary Business!

2011-07-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

mixed media by Donna Heart

Creating Art is scary business. We leave the mundane world behind, with all it's demands and judgements, to enter the creative space. Sometimes that space is a cleared place on the kitchen table where we can spread out our paints, or a favorite spot on the couch with a sketch book on our laps. If we are really lucky (or have the tremerity to demand it), we have a studio--a whole room to create in.

It doesn't matter. A lap or a room, the challenge to leave to world of unwashed dishes and meals to prepare, the world of other people's expectations--that challenge is still there. That daring to step away from the mundane into the sacred is the same, and It it can be darn hard!!

So how do we do it?

Donna Heart, in her blog Where Art and Life Collide, says:

" it seems then that dwelling on the mystical side of our art can bring us undone, and that has been key for me. "

The trick, she says, is to just begin. Do it. Once you start--wether or not you are "in the mood"--the muse will come. The fear will vanish.

I think it's like shifting gears (does anyone else drive a stick shift anymore?). It's tricky. It takes a bit of technique. I have my body trained to do it well after years of practice. Changing gears from mundane to creative takes practice too, and is a bit of a trick.

My favorite trick is to fix myself a cup of tea and drink it in my creative space, with my sketch book at hand.

What is yours? How do you shift gears from mundane to creative?

Spider Woman Story

2011-07-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

It was Spider Woman who created the World.
"When the Universe was still so dark that not even shadows could be seen in the night, Grandmother Spider sat in her web in the Sky World"

so begins the story
The Goddess Speaks ...
THE WEB OF LIFE
by Spider - Taino Ti

I was searching for inspiration for an image of the web of life when I found the story.

The image I'm working on honors a women's prayer dance, a dance which honors and nourishes the unseen spiritual community we are all a part of.

One Who has Truly Mastered Life

2011-07-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

a Zentangle

Long ago, I came upon something like this quoted from a business magazine. I changed it a bit to suit my own ideas (my gender, for example):

One who has truly mastered life
does not think wether she is working or playing
She simply pursues her vision
and lets others decide.

Zentangles

2011-07-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Spiral Flower Power

Some zentangles. They are part of a project with Art42; I'm supposed to send 3 to Strawberry to exchange for zentangles by someone else.

But I LIKE them! I don't want to let them go!

Especially the last one. It really expresses the time I had trying to get an important paper from the county last week!

Heartangle

A BAd Day in the City

Is is the Devil, or Just Plain Tiredness?

2011-06-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling so Turtle-ish this week. So in my shell, reading instead of creating, not even trying to sell my art, to take the necessary product photos, or to apply to shows. Just can't quite figure out what is wrong with me.

Oh, wait, I did finally take some product photos today--93 photos of a dozen scarves. And Saturday I spent all day at the Saturday Market and sold two scarves and a card.

Still, when my business mentor at WACASH called yesterday to check in, I had been spending all day on personal business and most of last week as well, so I felt really......um.....like I've been goofing off. Mentally fogged. Overwhelmed by what I have not accomplished.

Mark Silver's post,

Is It The Devil, or Do You Just Need a Nap?

really hit the spot. He points out that sometimes tiredness is resistance, and sometimes, it is just tiredness, and he gives some pointers on how to tell the difference.

SOMETHING is missing. I do feel unfocused, unmotivated.
Like I just haven't quite figured it out yet.

I looked at Diane Kappa's web site. Diane is someone my mentor suggested I contact, as she is a painter on silk, as well as a designer who licenses her work. Oh, my heavens, this woman has it together! Her web site alone gives me some ideas on how to proceed, even while showing me how very far I have yet to go!

A Prayer to the God/Goddess of the Green World

2011-06-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Madrona at the Beach
hangs at the Green Spot Tea House and Gallery

Dear God of the Green World, come into my being. Open my eyes to your beauty, my ears to your voice. Fill my belly with your love; My heart is filled with gratitude--but also with sorrow for the violence we do to each other. Guide my hands, my voice, my being, to express Your Divine Healing Love in all my actions.

***

This morning the birds were my chanters, as though leading a prayer of thanksgiving. And when the birds were quiet, the trees seemed to sing. The green world was alive and I could hear it, feel it --SO alive!

A Trip Back in Time--China

2011-06-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

I didn't find the photo I was looking for, but look what I did find! This was taken when I went to visit my brother in Huzou China in summer of 2009.

Huzou is a city of canals and willows. The lucky people live in those new apartments in the back ground, with heat and air conditioning, but I think the older homes are much more beautiful.

I need to do some silk paintings inspired by the China that is fast disappearing under the "more convenient" pavement and cement.

Clown Angel

2011-06-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

There is just TOO MUCH for one person to deal with sometimes:
*The lawn needs mowing; the grass is taller than my grand daughter
*I never did get the chicken house made.
*The deck rail needs replacing before some one falls through it
* I need to make some new frames for the silk scarves so that I can use another technique or two
*My fig tree and a rhodie have died and need to be removed.
*My son fixed the toilet--and now it doesn't work at all!

Clown Angel

*A doe sauntered across the yard and headed straight for my garden, ready to eat anything I had dared to plant; I need deer protection for my garden.

Man! I was feeling so overwhelmed, I was on the verge of tears! Then I picked up a pen and this little guy showed up.

I think he was inspired by the zentangles.

" Really, silly woman," he seemed to say, "would you trade your troubles for any one elses?"

I think I laughed so hard, I cried!

Zentangles

2011-06-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

Danial and Sandy introduced me to zentangles. Zentangles are kind of like doodling, kind of like meditation. The term was coined by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. One source suggests they were inspired by Buddist monks to express the way life has different threads that weave and interweave. You just draw a square about 4" on a side. Then you draw some random lines in it and fill the spaces with different patterns.

I was impressed with Sandy's zentangles and wanted to try it.

It is fun! I wanted to learn more.
Zentangles have been used in education for:

Handwriting
Eye/hand coordination
Creativity and personal expression
Problem solving
Cross-cultural understanding, using various cultural symbols such as Indian henna patterns, Celtic knotting, Zuni pottery, Maori tattoos or Islamic tiling.
Relaxation and focus

I found these, and these, and these, just for starters.
And I joined a project at Art42, to make and exchange more.

Zentangle by Maria

zentangle by Maria

The Artist's Creed

2011-06-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

I don't remember where I found this....

The Artist’s Creed

I believe I am worth the time it takes  to create whatever I feel called to create.

I believe my work is worthy of its own space , which is worthy of the name sacred.

I believe that when I enter this space, I have the right  to work in silence, uninterrupted, for as long as I choose.

I believe that the moment I open myself to the gifts of the Muse,  I open myself to the Source of All Creation, and become one  with the Mother of Life Itself.

I believe that my work is joyful, useful, and constantly changing,  flowing through me like a river with no beginning and no end.

I believe that what it is I am called to do  will make itself known when I have made myself ready.

I believe that the time I spend creating my art is as precious as the time I spend giving to others.

I believe that what truly matters in the making of art is not what the final pieces looks like or sounds like,  not what it is worth or not worth,  but what newness gets added to the universe in the  process of the piece itself becoming.

I believe that I am not alone in my attempts to create,  and that once I begin the work, settle into the strangeness,  the words will take shape, the form find life, and the spirit take flight.

I believe that as the Muse gives to me,  so does she deserve from me:  faith, mindfulness and enduring commitment.

Silk Paintings at the Green Spot Tea House and Gallery

2011-06-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

The spiritual journey is one of continually falling on your face, getting up, brushing yourself off, looking sheepishly at God, and taking another step.

- Aurobindo

After hanging my silk paintings at the Green Spot Tea House and Gallery on Wednesday, I was fried! The show didn't look right. Silk paintings that were ironed when I left the house were wrinkled by the time they were hung. Silk paintings that hung well in the studio looked all wrong on the Tea House wall--at least to my eyes. And I forgot labels.

But, the show was hung, and it was too late to iron. I went home and made labels and hoped for the best, knowing that about 8 people had promised to come out of the 500 email invitations I had sent.

Today was the opening. No one showed up, at least no one I invited. Thank goodness the Tea House owners friends came!

silk painting, Madrona by the Beach

Now I know the kind of panic I was feeling is natural, the pre show jitters, and the post show depression, but today after the reception, I was in tears! Do I even go on? Eighteen paintings on silk represent a year and a half of work, and none of my friends came to see it! Not even the ones who live in Tacoma!

And yet, I have a show scheduled at the credit union here on Vashon Island in September. I started thinking about the new large silk paintings I want to do for that show, for their big bare walls. It's the place so many Vashon folk took their money as soon as it opened up. We were fed up with Chase, that mega bank that took over our Washington Mutual Bank. My work will be seen there, and people will come to the opening on the first Friday of September, because that's what Vashon folk do.

Bicycle of Love

2011-05-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

Just love this little image by Elizabeth Gonzalez! The more I look at it, the more I like it.

Elizabeth is a fellow Flyer from Kelly Rae Robert's e-class on developing a creative business. She makes "Borbolitos--Art the Makes You Smile!"

So many of us have made huge steps since we began the class just one year ago May 30th! Some of us started blogging for the first time, some have written articles for magazines, or been sponsored on other's blogs, or set up at art fairs. Kelly gave us a kind of road map, and lots of hope. Out of the class came a fantastic group of artists who still get together and give each other support, by way of a face book page set up by one of the class participants.

Some things really do change one's life, and Kelly Rae's class was something that changed mine.

Tea House Show

2011-05-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

I still have a lot to learn about putting together promotions about my events. This flyer about my upcoming show neglects to mention that the show will be up all of June and July!

My show will be at the Green Spot Tea House and Gallery in Tacoma: 3318 Bridgeport Way W, Suite B
University Place, WA 98466
Phone: 253-565-2832

It's a great place to relax with a cup of fine tea or a bite to eat while you enjoy the art work. Do stop in if you are in the area!

Crystalline Clouds

2011-05-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

Crystalline Clouds by Virginia Lloyd-Davies

Look what I found while looking for images of chinese clouds to inspire one of my silk paintings! This incredibly beautiful painting by Virginia Lloyd-Davies is done in a technique called Po Mo.

Po Mo, translated from Chinese, means poured or splashed ink. It was developed in the Tang dynasty in the 7th century. Virginia has brought the technique up to date with her vibrant color. She also does more traditional Chinese brush work that is absolutely exquisite!

The impossible garden: Chickens in Thomas the Train

2011-05-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Will Thomas the Train make a good chicken coop?

Thomas is left over from when Suzanna's School and Studio (my official business name) was mostly school and where I now want the garden was the playground. We had mostly girls in the school the year Thomas was created. Bob asked if we would like for him to build us a playhouse, but the girls opted for a train.

Thomas took us all over the world, including to the north pole. Sometimes we climbed up on his roof, and a few brave 5 year olds jumped off with wonderful flying leaps. Sometimes we pretended he was a dragon we were riding up over the trees and into the sky.

Thomas has been sitting empty now for about 3 years, except for the friendly wasps who built a nest inside last year,

This year, some neighbors and I decided to have chickens together. Not "raise" chickens, exactly. None of us wants baby chicks in the bathroom, or to wake in the wee hours to rooster crowing, but we do want eggs. With three of us to care for the chickens, we figured we would all still have the freedom to travel at times, and none of the chores would be too onerous. Also the expenses could be shared.

We spent days researching possible chicken houses that we could build for next to nothing and looking at different places we might put the chickens. We only want 4 hens to start with.

Eureka! What about Thomas the train? Several days more of researching what exactly chickens need, and measuring, and I think it just might work, with a little bit of modification. We can build windows with plexiglas--Lynn and I both have some. We need to make a door in back and put in some 2 x 4 's or branches for the hens to roost on. The space inside is 3' x 2'--just room enough for two roosts 2' long and 1' from the walls. We can pull Thomas's front out and put nesting boxes there. Feed will have to be somewhere else, safe at night from raccoons.

Tree patterns

2011-05-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Kimberly Mystique, quilt by Gloria Loughman

I was so excited by these tree trunk patterns! What a unique way to show them! Now if i can just figure out a way to do this in silk!

Gloria Loughman is a teacher, quilter, and artist working in Australia. I've been studying her book, Luminous Landscapes, Quilted Visons in Paint and Thread.

This piece is particularly stunning! Maybe I should take up quilting?

Grow, watercolor by Barbara of Embrace
Tiger, Return to Mountain

Did Barbara see this image in a book or on line? Is that what inspired her lovely watercolor/ink drawing? Barbara's piece certainly inspires me!

Two Small Cranes Winner

2011-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to George and Sharon Howe! They have won the drawing for this beautiful 10" square silk painting (by yours truly) offered at the Banking on Dreams Showcase on May 4th.

Banking on Dreams is an event sponsored by Washington Cash, and it takes place yearly at the Seattle Convention Center. This year I was one of about 30 small entrapreneurs who participated. I had lots of fun and met some great people--some of whom graciously bought my scarves!

It's Time....

2011-05-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

Grandson Sebastian Danger Powers at one week old

Birth of my grandson,
Death of my father,
Awakening the garden.....

It's time for reflection, and possibly for redirection. Laura Otero created a list of things it's time for in her life.

What is it time for in my life? What is it time for in your life?

In my life, it is time to celebrate family,
Time to seek out mentors for my business,
And time to get some chickens!

The Impossible Garden Rises Again

2011-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Putting my father to rest; awakening the garden.
There's something about digging in the dirt that is therapeutic, especially if the sun is (finally) shining too.

I think I'll do better with a little structure in the garden. Last year's garden looked good in the spring, but the deer ate more than I did, and the strawberries got lost in the weeds.

This spring we built beds for the plants we want to tend closely. The beds will make the plants show up better, separating the garden from the yard.

So sweet to see that my little apple tree
survived! My little accidental apple tree
sprouted after an apple pressing
on this spot!

My business could use some more structure, too, some little forms to protect and nourish it, where it can grow.

Where my garden needs sun, my business needs appreciation.
Where my garden needs some kind of boarder to make it show up better, my business needs ....a place to be where people can see it.

Sunday I took my scarves, prints, and silk paintings to Loretta at the Ballard Farmer's Market in Seattle, to be juried for several markets. "You're In!!" she said,"but there is no more space for venders in Ballard. You are welcome at the Fremont, in Wallingford, and at Georgetown, though."

I plan to begin showing in these markets regularly starting the Sunday after Mother's Day. I also have my scarves at Ventures Store on First Street in Pioneer Square, Seattle. Having a place to show up where people can appreciate my work will give my business more of the structure it needs.

Lost in Grief--and A Way Out

2011-05-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Not quite 2:00 a.m. The rawness of my grief struck home, deep in my belly. The fear I had not allowed myself to feel in the hospital with Dad engulfed me. I felt the tearing of my heart as I tried to care for my father, prepare my brother, console my mother--and keep my commitments to my fledgling business. Hardest was the sense of failure, failure to be there for my Dad in the way he needed me, failure to communicate with the hospital staff and arrange for my 86 year old mother to talk with the doctor.

Daylight now, and I came across this idea from Kara Jones, a grief counselor who is going through her own grieving process:

When you feel yourself lost in grief stuff -- especially when you feel it physically like, feeling it in the pit of your stomach or when you have a gut instinct -- try mapping your body. Take a large piece of butcher paper and have someone else do an outline of your body. Then you take your time and fill in the body outline with words, collaged images, sketches. Focus on the places in the body where you were "feeling it in the pit of your stomach" or "seeing red," that kind of thing. Let yourself see the reflection of your body and feelings in the body outline. Play, experiment, let yourself write words and then collage over them, then write more words. There is no right or wrong way to do this. It's just a way of getting outside endless rounds of unanswerable questions or the hooks that have you stuck feeling one way or another.

I think I might make a paper doll instead of a full sized body outline. Maybe dress her/me in ... not black.... Tulip colors, White sail against Blue sky colors, colors of the adventures we had together when I was growing up with my father..

A Soul Flies Away

2011-04-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

A soul flies into the night
And we do not know, we do not know...
Free at last of the body's decaying
Where did he go, where did he go?

This is my first art since my dad went into the hospital a week ago. He died last Friday. I'm trying to let the emotions rise, to allow the grief, the emptiness, to express and to be. To acknowledge the anger and to treasure his blessings.

Fremont Sunday Market

2011-04-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Nichole and Bobbi, my neighbors.
check out Bobbikin's jewelry

Panic hit as I set up the booth. You know, that feeling that my wares won't sell, that they aren't good enough, that I don't have enough to make a good showing, etc. It will rain. No one will come. I'll freeze my buns off.

And some of it came true. I sold two cards and a print. I froze until I figured out how to put up one of the tent walls and had a good hot meal. I couldn't figure out how to hang the silk paintings, and the scarves got all bunched together because of the wind, so it didn't look like I had much. It poured for the last two hours of the market.

Karina of the booth of HolieBowlies,
and Tim Fantastic

And I had a BLAST! It was fun! I made new friends, studied the people who walked past, took lots of photos, got new ideas for designs. I even found someone I may share a booth with. I feel as though I laid the groundwork for later. I will be back at the Fremont Market on Sunday. Maybe I will see you there!

The Oh GoodnesS Me Plan; a Business Plan for Artists

2011-04-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

A business plan is a fine thing. It is built of numbers and dreams, and it requires careful thought and a bit of research. Before I could create a business plan, I needed to:

Heron Scarf in process

a. figure out who my customers were likely to be (I made this up from the few customers I have had already)

b. think about where I might sell my wares (art fairs and boutiques)

c. figure out how much each piece cost to make, what I can sell it for, and what my profit margin would be

d. know how much money I need to live on

e. know how many I need to make and sell in a month to make that much money (and not go crazy!)

f. have a good idea what my monthly expenses are likely to be

Love these patterns, but I have not
been able to do it again. Every piece
is one of a kind!

It is very helpful, this business plan. It is made of numbers, though, many many numbers in neat little rows and columns--lots of rows and columns! Numbers just don't quite satisfy me. I need more.

Then my Artist Magazine arrived, with an article on OGSM, a business plan for artists. YES! OGSM stands for Objectives, Goals, Strategy, and Measurement. My brain immediately put friendlier words to the letters; Oh GoodnesS Me.

So.....Objectives.... To make money, right?
AH...if my objective is just to make money, I should go sell stocks or insurance. You and I know there is something deeper and broader. We need objectives that talk about our yearning to grow as artists and to reach a larger audience, as well as the business side of art.

I have objectives as a practicing artist painting on silk, and objectives as a teacher, as well as for the business side. Here is my beginning:

Area	Objectives	Goals
1.Professional Development as an artist--technique	1.Master using natural dyes	1.Create an inventory of at least 5 natural dyes, including tumeric, madrona, a good brown, a good green, and indigo by Strawberry Festival
	2.Master using various methods pf applying dyes and fabric paints to silk	2.Try stamping, stenciling, block printing, and various Japanese techniques by Christmas

Strategies	Measurements
1. Find partners to dye with, through the Fibernet group. Collect madrona bark and other local plants for dyeing.Try some dyes available at weaving works.	1. I will have 20 scarves dyed in natural dyes by Strawberry Festival
2.Just do it! Commit to a minimum of 3 hours a day in the studio trying new techniques	2. I will have 20 scarves displaying the various techniques by Studio Tour in December

Don't get me wrong. I need the numbers too. Numbers are how we keep score in this culture, and--more important-- numbers can tell me if what I am doing is working.

Check out Blue Sand Studio for some more ideas on goal setting. I really like Suzanne's way of setting up monthly goals for her jewelry making.

The Dragons Are Done!

2011-04-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

They have names like Smokey, Bark, Coco, Lolli, Star, and Rock.

There are sea serpents, dragons that live in caves or forests, and some that live in ice and snow.

Some have horns, some have antlers. Most have wings.

Some have eggs to guard. One has a baby dragon by it's side. One has a special place to carry it's eggs on it's back.

Some are friendly; some eat people.

Some breathe fire. Some breathe ice.

Some are shy.

Some like to fight.

Some are good sports.

All of them are very beautiful! And all of them were created by very proud first graders!

I dream of Doing Children's Illustration

2011-04-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Surprised Monster

What happened to that dream? Since I was fourteen, I've dreamed of doing illustration for children's books. I fell in love with illustrations by Kay Nielson, Walt Kelly, Arthur Rackham, Trina Schart Hyman, and others. I took art classes where ever I could, I joined the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, I took a class on Art for the Children's Market. I even illustrated a book or two, and self published a book I wrote and illustrated from a story I told my kids.

Mykah's Pet Hen

Somehow, though, my career as an illustrator has never taken off. I get caught up in the quandary of trying to find a publisher, so scared of failure, that I've never even developed my illustration style to the point where it can compete with the illustrators I love. Caught by needing to create an income with my art and feeling that the road to income through illustration is too hard and treacherous--yet not supporting myself through other art ventures either.

It's the myth that in order to do certain kinds of art, one needs to be able to pay the rent and buy the groceries with it right away that trips me up.

What if I just went ahead and did it anyway. What if I created beautiful illustrations without fear, just for the joy of it?

Back in the Studio

2011-03-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was talking with with a shop keeper who may be carrying my wares. She brought up the possibility of making scarves in colors the fashion industry has chosen to feature this spring. Have you seen them?

I googled Spring fashion colors, or something like that, and came up with the same set of colors on sites like Fashion Trend Setters, Pantone Fashion and Home, and College Fashion. Some colors I like: "Honeysuckle", for example, "Peapod", and "Regatta"--- but not necessarily together!

I thought I would give it a try, though, and see what I came up with.
Here are two samples I would particularly like your opinion on, as they are way outside my usual color choices. Please don't be afraid to be honest.

What do you think?

The colors are more electric than the photo shows.

How about this one? I brightened the photo up a bit too much; It's not quite so electric.

The Show Comes Down

2011-03-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

The show of my silk paintings at the Vashon Tea Shop drew raves! People stopped me on the street to tell me how much they enjoyed my work!

I left paper and pens on the tables and encouraged people to write their own stories of Loving and post them on the wall.

Tonight I took down the paintings and saved the Love stories. I wonder if I should put the paintings and stories together into a little book?

Here is my beautiful brave mother, out of the house for the first time in almost two months after breaking a bone in a fall. At 86, she's full time caretaker for my 87 year old father. She is amazing!

Business Plan at Last!

2011-03-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the rug pulled out from under you just when you felt like you were ready to launch a dream? Perhaps you just started college or a new job, only to find yourself pregnant, the father gone, and no energy to keep going? Or finally living in a decent house with a room for a studio, and lose your job? Or...the list goes on.

You go underground for awhile, take care of the family, and put the dream on hold for months or years. You take a stab at creating the business you dream of and even try to write a business plan, but get stymied by things like "identifying your target market" or "projecting an income".

It's like being pruned just when you think you are about to bloom.

Take heart. Like the tree that has been pruned, your root system is deepening and strengthening. The day will come when at last you have the support you need to bring that dream, that vision, into reality.

For me, that means having a business plan that helps me to define my vision, to set real goals, and to have some idea of how I will get where I want to go with it. After years of struggling, at last the business plan process has been demystified for me! I begin to understand cash flow. I know how to think about how much inventory to create, and how to project my expenses. I have a sense of who my ideal client is. I know what I need to do next and what I need to learn next.

A correction from my last post: Monique's business is

Plan Right Meeting & Event Management

(not just Plan Right, as I had it at first)

WACASH Graduation

2011-03-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

Elli Allison is sitting on the table

Eli Allison is one of the most together people I know. When she showed me her spread sheet on Excel, with all her products and when she planned to sell what for how much and for what profit, I finally understood business plans. Thank you Eli!

Thursday we graduated from the 8 week Business Development Training program through WACASH(Washington Community Alliance for Self Help). We've been on a journey together, 30 of us, defining our businesses, learning the bare bones of cash flow, learning how to put together a business plan, beginning to understand marketing, and much more!

Rene of Pueo Designs

We each had 30 seconds to tell an audience of about 100 what our business is, who it serves, and what makes it unique. I was blown away by the leaps my classmates have made, even since the week before!--and the element of service that permeated all of our business thinking.

Eli is revolutionizing auto repair by empowering people, especially women, to understand or even repair their own cars. She will offer classes, teach and advise, or do the repair.

Rene, of Pueo designs, creates one of a kind hand knitted or crocheted scarves that reflect her client's personality. Pueo is a small rare owl in Hawaii.

Monique of Plan Right Meeting
and Event Management

Monique is an event planner. She enjoys planning events for families, small enterprises, or big companies. She wants to build community by employing small local companies to provide for the events she plans.

This group of people is one of the most intelligent, creative, and courageous groups I've been involved with! I don't want to lose any of them. I want to be a part of everyone's growth, cheering when each person passes a milestone.

Print Making and Dragon Painting

2011-03-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Allyssa is painting an airplane and sun on mylar, using watercolor paints, to print on wet paper.

This child is glazing his dragon, trusting that the colors he chose will fire close to what he is expecting. They look nothing like the teacher told him they will! I can't wait to see what it looks like fired!

Sacred Moment Seminar on Marketing

2011-03-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

Carla, Sharon Rommell, me, and Michelle

One of the best things about Seminars and workshops is meeting people who are simpatico.
Here are some fantastic people who want to market their businesses in a way that serves people with compassion, rather than always asking "What's in it for me?"

Carla is an artist who has found that she can connect with people deeply and actually help them with their lives while painting their portraits.

Sharon is an amazing woman and a life coach.

Me...well, you know me.

Michelle is a recovering perfectionist, who helps people trapped by their own perfectionism to order their lives in a more relaxed and productive way.

All this wonderful input from Sacred Moment, and great tips from the WACASH program I'm taking in Seattle got shoved aside last week, as my 86 year old parents ran into some rough spots and needed more of my help. It looks as though I will be caught up in helping them to heal for awhile, and some business stuff will have to take back seat.

You may not see me here or online as often for awhile, but I WILL BE BACK!

Journey to the Sacred Moment (Seminar on Marketing)

2011-02-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

The train doesn't mind icy roads and snow. I parked the car in Tacoma and boarded the southbound Amtrak to Portland, Or, for Mark Silver's seminar on marketing with Heart, The Sacred Moment.

It was a life changing event.

Mark turned on its head the marketing jargon that so jars my soul, and gave me a whole new way to look at some of the aspects of building a creative business that have troubled me most.

Pricing for example. How do you price art? Time and materials is not a good guide; the best, most inspired art can take but a moment, while work that I struggle with forever can turn to mud. Sometimes a piece marinates in my subconscious for years before it finally finds expression. The market isn't much of a guide either; so many people under price their work, or sometimes I can't for the life of me figure out why a painting that I can't stand sold for so much!

It helps to know these things of course, to know how much it costs to produce something and how much people are asking for similar work, how much people have actually paid for similar work.

Mark taught us that the Heart knows the right price. The Heart puts all the information together and weighs it for us. Through the practice of Rememberance, of connecting with the Divine, one can find a price that one knows in one's soul is right.

Mark ended the seminar with a plea to us to help to change the status quo business practices that are devastating our planet. To build businesses based not on greed and empire building, but on Compassion and Respect for others and for our beautiful planet.

Count me in on this one!

Painting on Silk with Elders

2011-02-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

Working with elders is a little like working with children. They have a clear vision of what they want to create, but their fine motor skills don't don't quite match their vision. Their fingers don't quite go where they want them to.

Even so, look at the beauty they created on silk today! And they did have fun!

I'm off to Portland, Oregon, to learn how to market my work in a new way. ... to learn a new way of thinking about marketing. I may or may not be able to post something on Friday.

Print Making

2011-02-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Such fun! Print making has some tricky parts to it: the way the image reverses when you print it, learning how to register two different colors, learning to block out part of the image where you want the paper to show through.

Ethan was reluctant to try two color printing at first, but he worked at it, trying it several times, until he got the effect he wanted.

You can see his first attempt, the one at the bottom, did not register well.

Dragon Lore

2011-02-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Isn't he a cutie! This little guy was made by one of the first graders I'm working with.

And this Sea Serpent!

And this one with 4 wings!

A valentine for you

2011-02-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

Saturday I made valentines in honor of St Valentine, who spent his time in prison writing letters to people to tell them how much he loved them. Today I am giving them away to friends and family. I will mail some; I will carry some to give to people I meet as I move through my day. This one is for you. Just click on the image, then print it on photo quality paper for a really nice effect. Mine printed out about 7" x 9". I like the matte paper rather than the glossy.

I made about twenty valentines using a block print carved in safety cut. It is available at Dan Smith Art Supplies. I used water color paints rather than printing ink, and soaked the paper for a bit. Sometimes I let the paint dry before printing, but often I was too impatient.

Tea With My Friend, a silk painting

2011-02-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tea With My Friend

This silk painting, Tea with my Friend, is about those intimate conversations with a close friend over a cup of tea. It is hanging in the Tea Shop with several of my newest paintings.

I'm planning to get a gallery on line of the Tea Shop paintings and other painting that go with the theme Stories of Loving.

Dragon Lore: Practice dragons with First Graders

2011-02-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

Dragon Models

We made some fantastic Dragons today!

I was surprised how much first graders know about dragons--and what they didn't know. Very few had heard about St George and the dragon, or were familiar with dragons as maiden eating pests, but many knew about wise Chinese dragons, as well as many modern dragon stories that I don't know.

Children could describe many kinds of dragons; dragons that live in water, those that have wings, the many that are serpent like. They knew that not all dragons have legs, not all spit fire (some spit ice!), many spit poison.

I gave the children plastic modeling clay and three ways to make the dragon body: starting with a ball, a cylnder (snake), or a pancake shape. I showed them ways to individualize their dragons by pulling out long necks or legs, making fins for the water dragons, adding horns, drawing on scales, etc. We found the pancake shape was best for making sea dragons with fins.

Here are some of the results:

Making the eyes on a Sea Dragon

Check out the nest, complete with eggs!

This Dragon has 4 wings!

Dragon Lore: Nagas and Serpents

2011-02-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

These Nagas guard the entrance
to a Buddhist temple in Thailand.

I spent the day reviewing my Dragon books, remembering the different types of dragons and the many many different stories about them. There are the usual stories of heroes killing dragons who are eating beautiful maidens and devastating the country side. There are stories of Dragons fighting each other, stories of Dragons becoming people and people becoming Dragons. There are the saints (and not so saintly heroines like Medea) who defeat the dragon with Divine Love or it's symbols.

I'm teaching Dragon Lore to first graders; we will make clay dragons and dioramas for them to live in. Which of the hundreds of Dragons shall I tell them about?

I promised their teacher three types of Dragon body types for them to create. The most common body type in stories seems to be serpentine.

Serpent Dragons

The Lambton Wyrm
The Lambton Wyrm, caught by young lord Lambton when he played hooky from church one Easter Sunday in 1420, unnerved him so, he changed his ways and became one of the faithful. He threw the Wyrm--about 3' or 4' long--into a nearby well and went on a pilgrimage. When he got back, he found that the Wyrm had grown so long it circled the hill nine times, and was eating sheep, cattle, and even occasional people. On the advice of the local witch, he had special armor made, all covered with spikes, and lured the Wyrm into the fast flowing river. Here he chopped it up into tiny bits, which the river carried away before they could reunite and make that dragon whole again.

Jason and the Golden Fleece
You've heard how Jason and the Argonauts captured the golden fleece from the serpentine dragon guarding it? You may not have heard that Medea, a woman he picked up in his travels, sang to the Dragon and splashed juniper and other herbs into his eyes until he fell asleep. When Jason grabbed the fleece and fled to the ship, Medea stayed behind long enough to rub a healing salve in the dragon's eyes. Later, when she needed to flee her enemies, the dragon carried her away on his back. Medea was the first Dragon Rider I know of.

Naga
When I traveled to Thailand and Laos, I learned of the Naga. These great serpents live in sumptuous palaces in lakes and rivers. They are guardians of Knowledge, and they guard the stairs to the Heavenly Palace. They frequently give gifts to humans. When the Buddha was meditating under a tree and about to be drenched by a heavy rainstorm, a seven headed Naga spread his seven hooded heads over the Buddha to protect him.

As I learned more about the Naga, I realized that they were not just snakes; they are considered the same or relatives to Dragons.

After the show--Walking the Golden Path

2011-02-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

My show opening on Friday was a success, if you count the number of people who came out despite the weather, and the many who shared their stories of Loving, posting them on the wall between the paintings. Some of the stories are very touching.

The pit of my despair
has become the wings of my salvation

Even so, I woke the next morning in the pit, flooded with anxiety about my next project. I've been so focused on getting this show together and making sure it makes an impact, that now there is a hole where that intense intention was, and panic rushed in.

I lay in bed an extra hour, letting the panic play itself out, to wash over me like a wave, then recede, leaving a call for action in it's wake.

I made clay dragons with my potter friend Joy, in preparation for teaching Dragon Lore to first graders, and talked with my friend Morgan the street musician about how he feels drowned out by amplified sound masquerading as music.

Then I was bone tired, so I napped and read the rest of the day.

Does any one else experience these pits after completing a project, hanging a show, or doing a performance?

Walking the Golden Pathway: Stories of Love and Loving

2011-02-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hanging the show tomorrow and still need to photograph and frame several pieces! Bless the sun, but it does cast shadows and make it difficult to get good photos!

The theme of my show is Walking the Golden Pathway; Stories of Love and Loving. I will invite people to share their stories of Loving, perhaps inspired by my work.

This is "Love in Utero". Sometimes it takes courage to have a baby. This woman is pregnant, and the dragon is her friend. The dragon is both her own creative power, and the danger a pregnancy can involve, especially if the woman has a chronic disease. In some countries many woman and babies still die in childbirth. Even in the U.S., there is always an element of the unknown. Will the baby be OK? Will the birth be natural, or will it involve a C section or induced labor?

This image was inspired by a fellow dragon lover, who has Multiple Sclerosis, and has decided to risk a pregnancy at age 35. She is doing well so far!

My story of courage is when 5 doctors told me I should abort a pregnancy, due to what they considered medical complications. The 6th doctor, a woman, agreed to follow my pregnancy and deliver the baby, at the University Hospital.

What's your story?

Why Show my Work?

2011-01-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

Putting together a show of my work, even a small show at the local tea shop, is a LOT of hard work. Sometimes I've put up my work, and no one shows up for the opening! Last year I did sell a painting and got a commission for another, but sometimes I've sold nothing the entire show! So why do I do it?

Well, lets see.
*Making a commitment to the shop owner to show my work at a certain date, motivates me to continue to develop my skills and imagery, to expand my thinking about the work.
*It forces me to focus my mind and to be disciplined.
*It gives me a chance to celebrate my work with my friends, and to show them what I've been doing.
*It establishes my reputation as an artist in the community.
*It builds my inventory of work I can then photograph for cards or to sell as prints.
*It introduces my work to new people.

And I just MAY sell enough to buy materials for the next show!

Printing with Kids

2011-01-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

Amelia and her mom really got the idea! We worked on blocking out the parts of the image where children didn't want the background color to print, and to print in more than one color. We are working on thin sheets of styrofoam, with the lines incised with a ball point pen. Amelia blocked out the grass, the clouds, and the sun with paper cut to those shapes, then rolled yellow on the sun shaped paper and green on the grass shaped paper. She then pressed the paper shapes onto the print where she wanted those colors.

Laura didn't finish hers yet; she made her sun yellow. Next time she plans to make her horse green.

Ethan used tire tracks from a toy truck to make the boarder around his name.