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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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.