morphing....

morphing....this painting and I are both morphing.

I am so enjoying this intuitive painting process....and documenting the evolution of a painting!  

It is so amazing how the images emerge that I have to share.

   

This the second painting I am working on for 

the Blooming True e-course  with Flora Bowley.

Flora's process of intuitive painting is feeling so wonderful.

so freeing.

so inspired!

Here is the very beginning starting with my warm colored layer...

Then coming in with cool colors and markings.

I am always drawn to the fiddlehead shape.

more layers and adding black contrast....really starting to morph here.

morphing with layers of white contrast and imagery.

Now we are in the "ugly teenager" phase as Flora calls it.

painting layers and looking for shapes emerging.

Starting to come out of the chaotic teen years.

Decided to change orientation and see new shapes emerge...morph, morph, morph

more layers, simplifing certain areas to create focal points.

here is where it morphed today....in full bloom!

Can you tell I am so in love!? 

This is just the start

I feel like I am changing/morphing as an artist forever

bold bravery...

Today I had to be bold and brave.  Not only because I had 3 out of 4 kids home sick today, but because of

Flora Bowley's Blooming True e-course !!

This is right where I am suppose to be...and I love it!!!

It is my first e-course and I didn't know how much I would be able to soak up.  All of my art "studies" began 6 years ago this month (Jack was a baby nursing during my lessons) and have been with my mentor, Deborah Meyer, whom I owe opening my heart and mind up to my creativity.  Giving me the courage to explore.  If it weren't for her and everything she has taught me and supported me, I would not be here now as an artist.

 In the past when I start a painting I have often worked strictly from a photo reference, or used a photo transfer and painted in what I see now was a "somewhat intuitive" manner.   Like many artists, I would often fight with the painting to achieve what I had imagined in my mind, and not always successfully.

Instead of doing what I normally do, I really took Flora's advice and BRAVELY went into the discomfort.  This is a great technique in therapy as well.  You know you are hitting on a hot topic when it becomes particularily uncomfortable to discuss, now I am understanding this is absolutely the case in intuitive painting as well.   

I had ABSOLUTELY no idea where this painting was going...that is uncomfortable for me in and of itself.  

This is where I started today.

And I had one of my side-kicks along to explore with paint.   

Walk into the discomfort!  be brave!   When you get that nervous feeling as you are about to make a change in a painting....do it- go for it - don't hold yourself back!  I felt inspired by the peacock (see last post)  and indulged in the shapes....then felt "bleeding heart"....totally me.

Kept going...moving into the uncomfortable spots.   Kept turning the orientation of the painting not knowing which end is up.  Letting it emerge.

Today as I painted I was looking for what was working and looked away from what wasn't.  I came in with new images and markings.  I let myself indulge in my favorite colors.  It was simply wonderful.  

It morphed and morphed and morphed again.  (my lighting isn't great in this shot...gotta work on that)

It was when I started to completely let go that it really started to emerge.   

I am incredibly excited by the outcome thus far, but more than anything this process is so natural to me.

I am one happy art-filled lady.   I don't feel like this piece is complete, but I am excited about the process and where it is going.  Still not sure which end is up!
Sounds like life.

Imagine just exploring, being free, being bold, being brave with paint.  

If I practice and can do it here, perhaps I can do it anywhere!!

intuitive painting

Recently, I came across my very first painting.  I painted this while I was pregnant with Jack about 6 years ago at an art therapy class that was about expression.  I remember the many steps  in creating this painting.  I wasn't given any direction and was just told to paint whatever felt right.  I did....and it wasn't easy.  While I really enjoyed the process of playing with the paint I was much more interested in producing something beautiful.... a "real painting".   I remember in the end feeling frustrated with the result....I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.

When I look at my paintings I remember the experience of creating it....some are effortless and full of joy, others have stumped me, frustrated me and had many evolutions.  But I am always left with a feeling(s) for each one.

Over the last 5 years I have grown so much as an artist.  I have found both a love of painting from a reference as well as painting intuitively.   Letting the painting lead me.   The Message from Swaziland series was a very intuitive process, one I truly loved and felt passionate about.   Knowing how much I loved this process I know it is something I want to explore further.

Soooooo,  I am indulging myself in an on-line e-course called Brave Intuitive You by artist Flora Bowley, an artist whose work I really love and admire.  Her work is so inspired!

This course is all about connecting within, preparing your soul to express itself intuitively.  No expectations, there are no mistakes just the process of creating.   This feels like right where I am suppose to be....indulging in intuitive painting, not being constrained, just loving the paint and the process.....

I am so happy to be an artist, to be able to be free to create and share this intuitive part of myself on canvas.

Here are the first couple steps of one of the paintings I am creating in this workshop....in the end it will look nothing like this! 

The 1st step was a warm colored layer....

The 2nd step involved just painting with no intention, no mistakes.  

Using various tools to create marks and interest.   

This painting has no intentions at this point, just intuition!

  

who knows how it (and the others) will evolve!  isn't that awesome?!  So excited!

click here to more about Flora Bowley

jebana

My most recent painting of the "jebana", an Ethiopian coffee pot, at the traditional coffee ceremony in Ethiopia.

below is excerpt from an article from Epicurean.com written by Emily Doyle:
Epicurean Ethiopian coffee article

Ethiopia's coffee ceremony is an integral part of their social and cultural life. An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of Ethiopian hospitality. Performing the ceremony is almost obligatory in the presence of a visitor, whatever the time of day. Don't be in a hurry though - this special ceremony can take a few hours. So sit back and enjoy because it is most definitely not instant.Ethiopian homage to coffee is sometimes ornate, and always beautifully ceremonial. The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman, dressed in the traditional Ethiopian costume of a white dress with coloured woven borders. The long involved process starts with the ceremonial apparatus being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. The roasting of the coffee beans is done in a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony. The lady who is conducting the ceremony gently washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away. When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar. Theground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as 'jebena', which is round at the bottom with a straw lid. Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is strained through a fine sieve several times. The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations. The lady finally serves the coffee in tiny china cups to her family, friends and neighbours who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour. Gracefully pouring a thin golden stream of coffee into each little cup from a height of one foot without an interruption requires years of practice

new painting

I just finished this new painting recently....and I adore it.   It isn't every day I finish a painting these days....and not everyday I absolutely fall in love with it.


It is from the sacred coffee ceremony in Hosanna, Ethiopia during our journey to adopt Tessa.  On this day, we went to met Tessa's angel, Amarech.  In fact, our entire group traveled to Hosanna  to meet a birth family representative/member....which I really don't have the words for right now, it wouldn't do it justice.   I can say it was entirely beautiful, sacred and one of the most important, emotional days of my life.  To see the post on Hossana go to:     This is Big Love   from our journey to ET in Feb/March 2010.  That says it all.


I knew the moment I took the photograph that I wanted to paint the moment.  That doesn't happen everyday.  I love how it came together and hope Tessa will treasure it in the years to come....

Not sure what its name is yet.   "Coffee Ceremony" seems far to mundane, not special enough.  Maybe I will go back and read my post to see what its name is....perhaps its name is "sacred".