Bear Medicine

Last weekend I started an intuitive painting. You know, just puttin' paint to canvas without expectation. As I worked on (what are now) the background layers, a shape emerged, and it asked for attention. I honored it by giving the form some definition. What came through was Bear Medicine.

The practice of intuitive painting and drawing is common for me. It's a space to which I'm drawn. And there's a metaphor of Word. And it's an active space to which Nona Entropy has bound me.

All the same, it seems that lately it's taking a turn. A turn toward discipline, or ~ some might say ~ obsession. It's taken a turn toward expansion of meaning and healing too: Medicine. Thank you, Nona E.

In any event, I was perplexed by the emergence of Bear and have been sitting with the mystery of it all week. Today ... today I begin to see and feel inside the shadow of that mystery. To Bear witness. Today, my mother, Little Rita, would have been celebrating her birthday. This past week also held the birthday of my mother-in-law. And there it is: Bear Medicine. Or, at least an aspect of it. A place for me to sink a root or two ...  until I "finish" this latest work in progress, "Bear Medicine."

And I share this WIP with my artful friends at this week's Paint Party Friday ... and, as it turns out, with the tail end of February's Art Journal Journey!

Peace.

Magnificent Medicine

This final aspect of this week's art journal spread is a continuation of that Foundation of Trust, where faces and figures emerge from the random colors of the background.

That a community of figures has formed in this way - in this stage of relationship with Nona Entropy, as I meditate (in part) on my place, role and interactions with my human community - is fascinating to me.

And this experience, which I'm sharing with Sunday Sketches, validates (yet again) the magnificent Medicine that lies within the heART of art journaling. Or, so it seems.

Peace.
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A Foundation of Trust

This silly little segment of this week's art journal spread is a continuation of the color play I gently mentioned in "An Opening and Embrace," where creating the background was born without conscious thought on anything but color. When those colors set, I sat with them, and a figure spontaneously emerged, so I sketched it in, fast and raw, with a Derwent Inktense block. Then I saw another ... and so on, until this odd little community formed. The bird creature, a fitting inspiration from Art Journal Journey, was added to the clan, along with random doodling with various pens.

More words have been added since this image was captured. More words inspired by Nona Entropy. Words that offer insight into her verve, her consorts, and this path she's led me down. Or up. And I find myself trusting the Nature of Chaos more and more each day.

This is new to me. Or so it seems. And I shall build on it.

Peace.

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An Opening and Embrace

This weeks' art journal spread was conceived amid Nona Entropy, friendship, and of random color. Bold and bright. Then subdued. The first image to emerge was a house, a symbol of home and all that that means. The roof rhino climbed on board, a whimsical honor to love and ripening, and all that that means.

Nona Entropy is gaining my trust, and my honor, as I open my (red) door to let her in, all the way... as I embrace her, hold her close, witness her beauty and absorb her poetic whispers.

An external door knob been's added, by the way. And Nona E's been given a key.

Today I share this segment of my art journal spread with my creative friends of Paint Party Friday, and I invite you to click through to visit the many inspired contributors this week!

Peace.

Avena sativa - A Visual Meditation

I've been preparing for my February Herb of the Month and this art journal entry is just one facet of my preparations. This sketch will be embellished with color and, quite possibly, more words. In the meantime, I'm sharing this with some newfound artful friends at Sunday Sketches, so click on over to see and enjoy other sketchful inspirations!

Peace.

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The Art Journaler

Today I added a few "final" touches in line 'n' words to a recent art journal entry. Of late, journaling has been offering a constant flow of questions, considerations and unlikely surprises. But that's a whole (and holy) other can of worms - an image that will likely show up in a near-future entry. Anyway...

Today's journal page is a pretty literal adaptation of a Picasso inspiration. She's called "The Art Journaler." I'm sharing it with Mix It Monthly (for my attempt at color blocking), Art Journal Journey (for the masters inspiration) and Paint Party Friday (for the pure fun). I invite you to click through to these sites so you can visit so many others who share their artful inspirations.

And be inspired with us!

Peace.

The Face of February

Yesterday was art journal day. Sunday's become a day that I invite folks to join me in the studio to partake in some communal creativity. I was joined by a dear friend and we agreed to set up a spread depicting the Face of February for this final week of January. February is, from my view, a measure of linear time that's short, and yet a measure of seasonal time that seems to lag and drag. It's a month that expresses dichotomies similar to those shared in my Painted Meditation, Abstract Medicine post. So, the idea of Facing February felt fitting.

This spread began with lines symbolic of rigidity, and words that were fittingly reflective and projective. The palette was chosen intuitively, the Face of February blocked in, spontaneous line added, and layers of dim light 'n' darkness painted into the background. The Face was given a hint of color and then she was coiffed.

When I looked up I discovered that my friend had also given her Face red hair. Funny, that. In any event I've already started adding to the page that you see here. I love setting up a multi-day spread in this way ... and watching it evolve.

And now ... I'm fixing a cup of tea and will sit at the window to watch the snow fall. Apparently we're expecting quite a load of it!

Peace.

We Three Queens - A Crone Inspired Sketch

As a part of a larger holistic exercise, I've been going through art books, scrolling classic art images online, even perusing way-back-machine drawings of my own, as a method to seek inspiration for some kind of daily mind-bend in the form of a quick sketch in one of my journals or sketchpads. Or any scrap of paper, if that's all I have in the moment.

Sometimes it's a quick "copy," or an adaptation, or an interpretation, or sometimes it stretches beyond those things to pure inspiration. And that inspiration is a piece of what I'm after.

This daily exercise is already opening pathways to how I see and experience my world/s ~ the "ordinary" world around me, as well as the other ... less ordinary realms.

This little drawing, "We Three Queens," was inspired by an old book cover. The charming, stylized illustration appealed to me and I wanted to capture its simple quirkiness, and as I began, the voice of my inner crone spoke up and made a suggestion. Thus we have this representational adaptation. And a fitting adaptation it is, for the rule-of-gender has been a repeating theme for me lately.

I'll be returning to this little sketch at some point to add color, and possibly see what else might emerge from the deeper inspiration. In the meantime, I'm sharing it with you and with Sunday Sketches ~ so click on over to see other sketchful inspirations!

That's what I made today.

Peace.