The Explorers
Always ready to explore a new sky
and
drop in barefoot on an open field…
(and apparently they like to wear wild headdresses when they do that…go figure)
Art Journaling Explorations
“…And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
TS Eliot
This week’s exploration was the artist (or creator) archetype.
I think it’s important not to lock ourselves into over identifying with any one archetype because we express several of them in our lives. To cling to one is to use the archetype as a mask rather than a guide for expression of your soul energy. The archetypes just represent patterns of personality that are universal and found in many people. Each of us are a seasoning of several of them.
The Artist Archetype:
Whether you write, dance, make music, sing, act or teach, there’s an urge to communicate and express a world of perception, pain, beauty and spirit that dwells beyond the physical senses. It’s an urge that’s a mystery to most artists and can take the form of what feels like benevolent possession. Creativity is healthy for all people. However, the difference between being creative and having the artist archetype is that the artist must create for their own well being. That creative energy must have a regular outlet. Unfortunately, many artists don’t channel their creativity in healthy ways. I’ve noticed when it’s not given an outlet, it finds one by “creating” dramas, worries, havoc and issues that are non issues. I think many of the kings and queens of “drama” are exceptional artists who haven’t found their outlet. People with extreme fears and phobias also have an extremely creative tendency that’s wise to channel if they don’t want fears to grow into sky high monsters. That’s why cultivating the creative energy daily is so vital to this archetype.
Cultivating the Artist:
Whether you choose to make a career of it or not, daily expression of creative energy brings a contentment to the soul as well as a release. It alters your way of seeing and opens your eyes to beauty and to new worlds. It golds up your being and helps you remember how rich you are. Whether you write a poem or paint or doodle or sing in the shower, to express this part of you brings you home in a world that can feel like foreign territory. It’s not that the creative life will always be rosy. We’ll dance with the doubt and fear demons and occasionally lose hope but our joy will return as long as we don’t give up on the expression of this energy.
I also think cultivation of our spiritual life goes hand in hand with creative expression. We’re living in times that are both shockingly dark and profoundly hopeful. People are tired of tucking their heads in the sand and want to learn how to live again…to love, to connect, to discover the spirit, to smile and feel alive. When we nurture our spiritual life through reflection and solitude, we infuse the creative colors that pour out of us with a light that can touch and uplift mankind in small and large ways. We also tap into an expression that is magical as we collaborate with Forces greater than just our own imagination.
I love that it’s so easy now to share, to peek in on each other’s creations and benefit from the view. There’s a gift, a magic, a power and an onus all bundled up in the artist archetype. May we all use it well and channel it for greater good. Peaceful trails.
“The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.” Oscar Wilde
I have been in the deep waters of moving and in the lighter, bluer waters of decorating the new place. I finally have my own art studio in a little sunroom and am loving it! It’s an unconventional, historic vintage carriage house. I put a few pics below.
I’ve also embarked on a new creative adventure. I’m doing a series on the feminine archetypes that are loaded with mystique, magic, power and spiritual significance. The first image was the heroine and yesterday I started working on the magician (to the side of the heroine although you probably guessed that). To me, the magician is a spiritual archetype that lives in all of us. When we’re aligned with the soul, we activate it and begin to manifest impossible dreams and powerful states of awareness with joy and ease. With a wave of the wand of thoughts, the magician can shift their world, work wonders of healing and transform atmospheres of sorrow into joy and beauty. So far, I’m aspiring to create the Empress, the Explorer, the Creator, the Angel, the Jester and the Goddess.
this is a blurb online I found about the magician archetype:
The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as:The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.
I thought it would be nice for people to have visual reminders of the archetypes they aspire to and resonate with on their walls…I’ve found what you put on your walls eventually manifests. I actually learned that the hard way. It’s a strange magic but true. I’m very careful and make sure everything on my walls supports and leads me to the soulful and creative path I’d like to travel. Have a delightful one and check your walls!
“Above all, her inner heroine made sure she didn’t hide herself away.”
For a while sacred circus women kept appearing on the journal page and lately, these not quite 100% human heroine like characters are sauntering onto the page. I love to see the inner world spill out in surprising ways. In addition to greeting the odd inner world, I’ve been playing with image transfers using acetone (available at Home Depot). Apparently you can also use wintergreen oil but I haven’t had luck finding it locally. An image transfer is when you transfer a printed image onto canvas, paper, wood, etc…It has a distressed, dreamy vintage look and is great for adding layers to your piece.
I transferred some black and white patterns onto the page, sprayed over it with ink and outlined some of the circles with the blessed black stabilo pencil. If you’re curious to try the acetone transfer, tips are below. It’s a bit trickier transferring over the paint. You just have to make sure the paint is completely dry and use a little less acetone on the cloth and a little more pressure on the back of the print.
Acetone Transfers:
1) You can use inkjet , laser or old fashioned copier copies. Place the image (preferably high contrast) onto the blank page. It helps to secure the copy because if it slides, your transfer is a mess.
2) Put the acetone onto a rag or cheesecloth (not too soaky and not too dry) and rub the back of the image with pressure. You’ll see it appear through the back of the paper.
3) Once you’ve rubbed over it pretty well, lift it up and voila!
These videos were created by “Release Your Wings”, a spiritual online show…you can find us on youtube
I ran across a quote this past week…”Be the heroine of your own life.” It’s not a new concept but an idea that I love. To me, that means choosing personal and spiritual responsibility over blame, honoring disasters as teachers rather than miseries, a willingness to follow the heart’s call to adventure, a relentless determination to grow and having a mission that has more than myself in mind. So this is a piece I’m creating for the Etsy shop. It’s painted on a 6″ by 6″ piece of rustic pinewood with lots of love.
The last couple weeks I was on a “rut alert”. This week just proved to me that if we keep going through those dry spells and carry on, creativity returns. I think this applies to all pursuits that are deeply meaningful. They will inevitably test your soul resolve and build character in the process. Maybe part of the game is to just keep going, think less and trust more.
this week’s art journal pages…all about bloomin’ and bein’
“When the colors fade to black & white, you know exactly what to do to bloom in wild hues.”
Just had a soulful art journaling session. I’ve had friends in town the past couple weekends and am getting ready to move into a new place on May 1st so things have been a bit whirlish. It was nice to spend some time swimming in the deep soul waters today and the Simon & Garfunkel Pandora station lit up those waters with a lovely shade of blue.
I’ve been under a “rut alert” and haven’t felt like creating lately. Usually that’s a flag I need to enter some new territory. So I’ve been exploring the art of “seeing” and drawing from photos and imagery and have a few new explorations planned…again the creative process as a metaphor for life.
This week I also had another realization about success and real joy. I teach meditation classes and after a class we had on tuesday night, a friend asked if we could do a session on sadness.
She told me she sometimes feels really sad and notices how it’s often connected with feeling like she hasn’t succeeded creatively and isn’t doing what she’s supposed to do. She doesn’t feel as successful as other people. I could relate to that as it comes up in all of us. The sadness comes from feeling that we’re not valuable unless there’s a way to validate it externally. And God help us if we’re only going to feel good if we become well known or make a certain amount of $.
I’ve noticed there are some people who are content and radiant and lovely to be around. They’ve somehow realized that the purpose of life is more about making an art form of their moments…filling their relationships with care & presence, their life with joy & generosity…nurturing their minds with solitude and spiritual connection. It’s not that they sit around gazing at daffodils. They follow their heart and take action in the world but they don’t use the world to validate themselves. For me, life is about bringing the best of myself to my connections, my work and my play. That does take effort but its fruits are 100% guaranteed (with practice and patience).
So in my eyes, we don’t have to wait for situations to become successful or happy. We just have to do our best to make an art of moments. And sometimes, we don’t get what we think we want because the focus of our life needs to be elsewhere. I once heard enlightenment is the realization that there are no problems….Maybe the imperfect is perfect. Maybe everything is exactly as it should be. Life has a deep wisdom that travels deeper than our eyes can. And part of that wisdom is knowing what is within our power and what isn’t.
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