Finished Piece

Dream Thyme was signed and finished this morning, and I moved onto my next project.

Dream Thyme
Acrylic Mixed Media & Collage on canvas

16 x 20 inches

“May you have warm words on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark night,
and a smooth road all the way to your door”.
– Celtic Blessing

Kuan Yin

This morning as I finished my tea, I felt inspired by the lamp on the table next to me to create a painting of Kuan Yin. This lamp was given to me by a very dear friend, who moved to Hawaii several years ago.

Kuan Yin is one of the most universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition, known as the Goddess of mercy and compassion.

As chance would have it, I already had a canvas prepared and waiting. Using the Kuan Yin lamp as my muse I began to paint.

Kuan Yin Lamp

I spent most of the day working on this painting, and feeling good about how it’s beginning to shape up. There’s still a lot more to do before it is finished, and I hope to have some time to work on it this weekend.

Kuan Yin

New Water Mixable oils

My new Winsor & Newton water mixable oil color set came today! This is so exciting because no hazardous solvents are required in order to use them.

I gave up oil painting years ago because of allergies and these new water mixable oils just may be the answer to my prayers.

Today I worked on the Collage Painting “Dream Thyme”, I sanded some areas and collaged a key to the text about how dreams heal our body, mind, and spirit. The moon and the background still need a little more work and then it will be finished.

Dream Thyme

We crave a world of either/or, but the Dream says, Both/and. We build a wall between our social persona and our inner selves; the Dream bids us, Demolish it. We wish to believe we’re separate from one another, but the Dream insists, We are in this together. We are pleased to believe Time is a one-way river from past to present to future, yet the Dream reveals, All three times flow into one. We wish to seek pure virtue and avoid all stain, but the Dream avers, The dark and the light are braided and bound.
-Marc Barasch, Healing Dreams

Reflections Of The Inner Spirit

Today I worked some more on “Reflections of the Inner Spirit” collage, I proceeded to paint, stamp, and sandpaper the surface until late afternoon, when I suddenly realized it was time to stop.

Tomorrow I will be embellishing the piece with whatever is needed to finish the work. Whew! I’m tired, and it’s time for me to kick back and relax for awhile!

Reflections of the Inner Spirit
(The Buddha Within)

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

Work In Progress

I have been working on a series of collage paintings for several weeks based on meditation, dream work, and self healing. My inner focus has been on finding balance in my own life between the everyday and the spiritual, taking time for meditation, reflection, and restful awareness.

It is very difficult to move beyond the constant bombardment of information and stimulation we receive on a daily basis, as our pace of life keeps accelerating, so it’s not surprising that anxiety, stress, and insomnia is on the rise.

How do we find an oasis of stillness in this crazy world? We take ourselves out of the “business as usual” equation if only for a few minutes at a time. Go for a walk, read an inspirational book, turn off the phone or watch the grass grow, anything that allows you to slow down enough to allow your breathing to slow, blood pressure decrease, and those stress hormones return to normal.

Reflections Of The Inner Spirit

This is a close up of one of the collage paintings I am currently working on. Today I added more collage elements to her body and will be layering in more background color tomorrow.

Lunar Eclipse

Lots of people turned out to view the lunar eclipse tonight, the last total lunar eclipse until December 21, 2010. I wanted to try and take some photos, but I couldn’t get a good shot.

I started this piece today, but was feeling a little under the weather so I put it aside for another time. Afterwards I made some tea and then took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

Dreamer

Later I took our dog Rupert for a walk and I just happened to notice our calla lilies were blooming. I am a huge fan of calla lilies, and I love to photograph them every chance I get, so here is one of the photos I took today.

Calla Lily

Mr. Rupert

Here is a photo of our little dog Mr. Rupert. He is such a sweetie pie !

Crazy Day

This morning I went into my art room, flipped the light switch on and began preparing to work, and within five minutes the power went out. Our power was out for a good hour or so.

As we were hurrying around unplugging the computer, and television, I must have strained a back muscle. When the power came back on I started working on one of my paintings and ignored that nagging little ache in my lower back, until I couldn’t ignore it any more.

Now here I am sitting at my computer all propped up with a heating pad. At least I can work on posting my paintings on my new Art Gallery site, and catch up on the news.

Today, I ended up making digital collage paper for a family project. I began by painting the background, and using a photograph I took to create the image below, later I will add text, family photos, etc…

Digital Collage Paper

“Trust in yourself and everything will fall into place”. – Vedic Scriptures

Swans

I’ve been working on my Gallery site, we have the first image up at my homepage, so go check it out. Hopefully we will be able to get the Gallery up and running as soon as possible.

I also Spent some time working on the small canvas today, I applied more texture with color, and added some symbols etc…

First draft

Second Draft

Working in Acrylic

Learning to paint with acrylics has been an interesting journey, and certainly very challenging for someone used to working with oils. I painted with oils for many years and stopped because of allergies.

The acrylic/ mixed medium painting I am currently working on right now is a work in progress.

I sometimes like to alternate between paintings and other projects, because it gives me a chance to process the work, and if I feel stuck for any reason then I take some time off. When I return, I’m refreshed and ready to go!

Below is the latest acrylic painting I am working on. All images are copyrighted.