An Enchanted Tapestry Painting for the Bedroom”…we are all badly in need for the symbolic life. Only the symbolic life can express the daily need of the soul.” – Carl Jung. I’ve been working on tiny paintings for awhile now- the ongoing Journey Totem deck ones, and my daily meditative and plein air pieces and it’s making hungry to paint bigger, braver …
Tools for Creative Solitude
Tools for Creative Solitude“There is no art without contemplation.” ― Robert Henri I’ve been feeling a hunger for solitude these days. not the kind in the studio where I’m still plugged into a hundred different ways to say hello, but the kind that allows shy thoughts and ideas buried deep in the unconscious, to bubble to the surface. Do you …
What Stops The Magic & Why We Don’t Create
(Listen To This Travelogue Entry) In my last Secret World piece, I shared a personal story about what it’s like to fall out of love with your own art-making and the important things we must do to keep the creative flame burning so we don’t find ourselves with our dreams shattered around our feet. Today I want to take a …
What Happens When the Love Fades
The picture above was taken with an old film camera, by my dear husband 8 years ago, when my art spirit was starting to awaken after over a decade of being asleep. I was in love, both with my art-making and my future husband. How could I not be? I was getting married and finding joy in hand-crafting my own …
Secret World Of the Artist: When It’s Not About the Magic
I used to think that the evocative work of my favorite artists was possible only because there was a little bit of magic involved-like the stars being aligned when they were born or they had access to a secret world of inspiration that I didn’t. It wasn’t that I doubted my artistic or creative skills, but clearly there was a …
My Year of Brave
This year took all my long-held beliefs of myself and exploded it into millions of tiny brilliant pieces of blossoming possibility. I am changed. THE BRAVE PROMISES KEPT 1. Childhood. My best friends and I made a childhood dream trip come true. Prince Edward Island was all that was quaint and old-fashioned and magical. For a week, I was Anne Shirley, charmed …
Secret Garden : Spirit of the Island Part 2
Welcome Curious Kittens! This is a special 2-part series based on my pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island for the Anne of Green Gables experience. L.M. Montgomery’s books on the stubbornly cheerful and tenacious red-headed spitfire influenced me deeply in my growing up years and this is my homage to it. I hope this private behind-the-scenes peek at the photos, books …
On Enchantment & Creativity : The Curious Nature of Curiosity
A NOTE ON ENCHANTMENT I am enchanted as much by the setting sun over a rocky horizon as climbing the ancient and mystical Tor of Glastonbury. It’s how I felt at my hilltop wedding so many years ago and watching the blood moon eclipse just last week. Enchantment is a Hudson River School painting, a Tolkien novel, a seaside dinner with loved ones. “It’s expansive, it feels like …
Secret Garden: The Symbolists
Welcome back to another edition of The Secret Garden! As part of my exploration this month into the idea of being interesting and staying interested, I’m excited to share with you a peek at a few books I’ve introduced to my library recently about an obscure, little-known branch of art and literature called Symbolism. On the heels of Impressionism, Symbolism was largely …
How to Be Interesting : On Making Darkness Count
I’ve been lost in a fog for two months. It’s tough to admit to walking on the shadow side but I’ve grown to accept that it’s a necessary and natural part of the game of life and that there are things I can do to make full use of the time I spend in darkness. As an artist and creative entrepreneur, I have …