Sunday, April 17, 2011

Art for the heart

I am feeling congested, bunged up physically, and the house is reflecting this state. Inside and outside my space things need shifting, beauty needs spaces where grot and practicality currently reside. My soul needs space to rest, to fly, to dream, to soar...

Our house needs art. The walls are pretty much blank. My art that I made and Patrick very kindly framed just reminds me of being 16-17 when I made it. Almost half a lifetime ago. I still resonate with the soul urges behind it, with the colours and intentions. But my lack of skill frustrates me every time I see it. And so I am searching out others who balance the soul, the colour, the pattern, the spirit of art that I need in my life. Let me share them with you...

Heart and Mind - Paul Heussenstamm
Taken from my FAVOURITE art website - if you like mandalas Paul Heussenstamm is the number one mandala artist in the world, based in the US, and very popular with a large number of spiritual teachers, his site has over 1000 mandalas available to buy (originals and prints). I shall be placing an order very soon.

Phyllis Wolff is friend of my mum's, I grew up with her work on our walls. She does gorgeous landscapes of bright colours.
Crab Apple and Kitty - detail
Phyllis Wolff
I just discovered Slippery Jacks a UK based artists' co-operative  with prints for £10 and cards for £1.99 There is so much beautiful spiritual and nature art... if you like this sort of thing! I really love Poppy Palin's work.

From Slippery Jack's
I so love my Earth Pathways Diary - full of uplifting art and writing which brightens my days. check out the beautiful gallery of contributor's work, and pre order a 2012 diary.
by Camael Rose, from the 2011 diary
And Veronica Petrie, our wonderful JUNO illustrator who creates quirky, soulful illustrations of people... do check out her site as I can't grab an image off it.

And have you discovered Red Bubble, where artists share their work? To look and to buy...

And one day soon, you'll be able to buy my mum's work - because she is one of the most beautiful artists I know... if only she'd believe it herself. x

And maybe, just maybe, I'll start to paint again myself!
Beltane #2

4 comments:

  1. Oh Lucy you should, you have the artistic gene. It's just getting the space, I know. Take pictures of landscapes and flowers or animals and people & book a slot with Patrick every week to go off to your shed/studio and paint them. Just allow that creative muscle to flex again, and beautiful things will flow.
    Painting is the only thing that has kept me sane over these crazy breeding years!
    xx

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  2. Hey Amy, if I booked slots for all my creative and community work I wouldn't ever see my kids! ;)Also it tends to build resentment if I request time for something. Easier just to squirrel it. I do a lot of drawing and painting alongside the kids- following Amanda Blake Soule's idea in The Creative Family of Family Drawing Time -we all enjoy this.

    I have really been enjoying finding form in other ways these past few years, I just always struggle with the difference (in my painting and drawing) between my abilities, despite taking Art to A level, and my visions. I feel less frustrated in other media - random acts, clay sculpture, felt work, writing - I guess because you can keep work and working them...

    Thanks for the encouragement x

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  3. How about if you make art for your children, maybe then you 'll feel less guilty.... I sat with the children the other day and spent an hour or even more drawing a woodpecker for my son Indie. He loved seeing it come together, watching me go through the different stages of the drawing and colouring, and he is super proud of it on his bedroom wall. Maybe you could do some mandala work with the kids.... Or rangoli patterns on your front/ back doorstep or path in chalks and use rice and flower petals to decorate....maybe you and your daughter could do some mehndi patterns on your feet/ ankles/ hands, you could also cook foods and decorate with flowers, or just have fun making meals look more artistic and have fun with it.... All easy to do WITH the kids and everybody gets inspired along the way! We recently watched The Secret of the Kells animated movie which was totally gorgeous and full or Celtic swirly folklore art. Even movies can get the juices flowing! We also recentlywatched a fantastic wee movie on YouTube called " Picasso is painting ", recorded in Paris in the late 1950's/early 1960's I think, in French( but that just adds to the magic) and he paints the most wonderful pictures which keep mutating and becoming something different as he goes along. He draws on a big White screen and without boring you with the details, it is just fantastic and inspiring to watch. Again another thing you can do with the children. Being creative and artistic and hanging with the kids needn't be mutually exclusive activities!!!
    Motherfunker X

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  4. Oooh just thought of something else..... How about making some easter breads with the children that can be used as decorations for Easter, kind of like the breaded artworks you see in bakers window displays that aren't intended for eating? You could plait a ring and then wrap pebbles in greaseproof paper and sink them into the ring at intervals. Choose pebbles the size of hard boiled eggs. When the bread is cooked you take out the pebbles and put fancily decorated eggs in the gaps, as many as there are people in your family. Or you could do some egg decorating, and make Celtic patterns on them, or write on them, or stick coloured tssue on them and scoop out the centres and put little scenes in them made from wax or moss or flower fairy minature models you have made...or those tiny yellow chicks you can get in craft shops....
    I am going to attempt some bread cockerels but apparently they can end up looking like walruses! W shall see how successful we are :-)
    mf

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