'out beyond ...', my contribution to the Medicine Wheel's Day Without Art

'out beyond ...' acrylic on board, 2x2ft

This fall Michael Dowling put out a call for artist to create one of 1,000 panels to be exhibited during  Medicine Wheel's Day without Art and I jumped at the opportunity.  I have worked with Michael and Medicine Wheel on numerous occasions and each time has been a rewarding and inspiring experience,  as was the case with this time. 

The vigil starts tonight at 11:30pm at the BCA and continues for 24 hours. Here is more information about the event, a link to Medicine Wheel Productions as well as a link to donate to this important community.  And below that information is a bit about this painting as well as a visual documentation of the many stages that the painting went through.  Enjoy! 

Medicine Wheel Vigil 

Day Without Art

World AIDS Day 

Friday December 1, 2017

Boston Center for the Arts 

539 Tremont Street 

Boston, MA 02116 

Vigil begins at 11:30 pm on 

Thursday November 30th 

on the BCA Plaza 

and runs for the full 24 hours of Friday December 1st 

ending at Midnight. 

Gather at 11:30 for a processional walk into the Cyclorama Plaza! 

In 1987 a small group gathered in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would forget. This action served as the beginning of the Names Project, also known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Today, 30 years later, over 1000 artists, visual and performing, have re-invested in the power of that action to create a space to hold the human heart, a space to reflect, a space to remember, a space to see who we can be for ourselves and one another. 

To honor this anniversary we will be displaying a large section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt during the vigil. 

Please bring an offering of remembrance to leave in one of the Medicine Wheel shrines. 

DONATE

World AIDS Day 

Friday December 1, 2017

Boston Center for the Arts 

539 Tremont Street 

Boston, MA 02116 

Vigil begins at 11:30 pm on 

Thursday November 30th 

on the BCA Plaza 

and runs for the full 24 hours of Friday December 1st 

ending at Midnight.

Now about 'out beyond ...' 

This Fall I saw this call for art,

" As we gear up for the 26th annual Medicine Wheel and the 29th Day Without Art/ World AIDS Day we are looking for 1000 artists to re-invest in the power of Art and Healing to create a space that holds the human condition. Please consider painting a 2 foot by 2 foot panel with the theme of AIR in the colors of the sky to be part a the 1000 voice mural at the Boston Center for the Arts December 1."

and I happily answered YES! 

With the theme of AIR and the colors of the sky I decided I would work in blues and revisit my ' intuitive line paintings' from my installation that I creates in 2009 with Medicine Wheel, 'this comes from within ...'  Painting the walls for that installation is one of my fondest creative moment memories!!

'wall detail' from 'this comes from within ...'

 I love how organic these method of painting is for me.  

This painting method is a true dialogue between me and the work, 

as you will see how this painting went through so many versions 

before the painting and I agreed it was finished.  

When I got the blank white 2x2 board I started out by painting in big letters,

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing"

Recently I am enamored with Rumi's poems and 

especially this line and the meaning of these words.

Once the words were painted, my journey began, shapes and objects appeared

and disappeared.  

in this photo you can still see a few of the lettering ...

at this point the lettering has vanished ...

now is the time with the subtle changes ... this can also be the most frustrating time
as I don't want to overwork the painting, but somethings still don't feel right

painting in my living room, my daughters are so patient with me :)

voila - the finished painting, waiting to head back to Medicine Wheel Productions

update from the SNOWY hinterlands

Ok it is officially Spring here and today it snowed ALL day!! Really snowed ~ big fat beautiful flakes!! & I couldn't believe how happy I was to see it!! One would think that I have had enough of this white stuff this year, but no. But charm of this place seems to work on everything!

So the roller coaster ride continues, although I think I have gotten through the extreme ups and downs, now the ups and downs are not so drastic, thank goodness!!. I have been on a productive high for the past few days!! I started a 8ft x 15 ft painting (why not?? I am only here for about 8 days) and it has been an exhilarating experience but also exhausting ~ physically and emotionally. This 'wall' is similar to the walls I painted for my installation 'this comes from within' ( I LOVED those walls!!) So when I was thinking how was I going to spend this nugget of creative time I realized I wanted to paint another 'wall'. But I didn't want to paint it over

again - that was the hardest part of 'this comes from within', having my walls painted over!! So I was perplexed ~ wanting to do a big mural like painting that i could take home. But since I am surrounded by creative, innovative folks, someone suggested painting on Tyvek!! So I headed out to the hardware store, stapled the tyvek to the wall and primed it!! Voila, a moveable wall. I did end up running the panel through my sewing machine so that the pieces are really connected (that was a experience in itself).So my wall has been my obsession here in Vermont; literally ~ paint, eat, paint, eat, paint, sleep, paint (u get to idea) however, i am not ready to show it, just yet!!

But I have been doing some other creative endeavors ~ first after YEARS of trying

to figure out how I was going to work with my pink foam .... dress or installation or ??? Well, here, with a lovely blank, white wall i realized that some of these pieces are pieces in their own right!! I put them on the wall and I love them! How they sit off the wall, how they curve and the shadows that they cast!! So that is exciting for me!! And I have some much of this foam that there still maybe a foam sponge dress, but not with these pieces!!

Also I have been working in my daily dress journal ~ it has gotten so thick that I can hardly close it!!! And then, before the snow, I took a walk up to see the mountains and finally took the time to make this little dress out of these small white pebbles that have been begging for my attention ever since I got here!! So the journey continues and I am soaking it all in!! (there is definitely a sponge dress in my future!!!)

Also THANK YOU to all of you wonderful folks who commented, email, contacted me about my last post!!! I now totally realized why I posted that post ~ moral support!!! it is PRICELESS!!!! so I thank you and thank you again & peace!!!

so much to post, so little time....

there is a back~log of things I want to share, but as the clock nears 1am I am going for the most recent and most exciting to me now ~ my intuitive painting/drawings. I have mentioned this before - but today I just bathed in the XCT of doing this work. I try to get out of my head and just put down the marks, images that speak to me. Maybe it is so heady because I need to be truly present!!! As the clock ticks I don't want to get too wordy ~ but suffice to say I am hooked!!!
I have posted 2 pieces that I put in this category~

< first, this is a page out of a small notebook ( 7.5 x 12 cm/ 48 pages) that I am planning to fill up completely ~ covering each page with this work. I am using different writing instruments ~ some pages are done in pencil or pen or marker. I am trying to keep track of the days that I work on each page. With this book I incorporate words as well as images ~ what ever word comes to mind, trying not to edit, judge ~ just let it flow!!!
> Secondly, this painting is red enamel paint and light pink latex on wood. The combination of these paints gives some of the painting a crackled look. The piece of wood is the cut out from the doorway in my installation, 'this comes from within'. The painting is about 7ft tall. I hope to do more of these shaped paintings ~ using different color combinations, a possibly different shapes of wood :).

well good night, sweet dreams & peace!!

inspiration and trust

Besides the weekly creative challenge that Illustration Friday offers me, I love visiting the sites of the multitude of creative souls that also participate. Besides seeing how they have interpreted the topic, I am privy to their words of wisdom, their successes and their struggles. This is so nice because the world of the artist has its solitary moments~ many times we are out there slaying demons all by ourselves. But blogs, facebook and other electronic outlets has given us ways of creating communities and places of support. I mention this because last night I came across a post from a fellow illustrator that rang so true that i needed to share.

The site is Dream & Vision by Susan Sorrell Hill, an artist and illustrator living in Northern California. I have enjoyed her illustrations and her posts many times but yesterday she wrote about her "conscience .... that ubiquitous back-seat driver who is rarely content, and when she is, it’s only for the brief moment before something else is unsatisfactory" ~ WOW, I know that voice! I refer it it as my monkey and moments before reading Susan's post I had been talking with a good friend about how I am SOOOO tired of this voice ~ the guilt, the self doubt, BLAH!! For whatever reason this voice has increased in volume and intensity, seeping into all aspects of my life!! I feel like i am constantly engaged in a sumo wrestling match in my head ~ between what i feel in my heart and what my monkey says I 'should' do. I have been told it is part of the creative process, but I feel this struggle uses so much energy and strength that i would rather be putting into my art and my family.


So I was heartened to read Susan's post (I am not alone) and to hear about her approach to quiet the voices. I haven't tried flower essence therapy but want to. I am working on being more positive and trusting myself through mediation and in my studio work. Just this week I started a series of artist trading cards and my first one was a 'trust' dress!! Also, in my studio, I have been working on a series what I refer to as 'intuitive painting' ~ the same approach that I took with the walls of my installation, 'this comes from within' ~ just paint and don't think, listen to my heart and not my head. I am painting on canvases and on shaped pieces of wood ~ and I am very excited about this work!! But I have been so surprised on how mentally hard this has been?!?!? I am painting away & my monkey is basically screaming at me that I am wasting my time, this is just doodling, playing it safe... but if i try and do other work I soon find myself back at my canvas....go figure. So I recognize that the need to create this work & I want to honor that need, so I will try to quiet the monkey.

So if any one has any suggestions about how to quiet those annoying voices ...PLEASE share!! I would be love to hear them. I am feeling that itis time to shake this monkey (or at least quiet him). I was watching Ella Enchanted with my daughter this week and in this movie the main character, Ella, needs to overcome her 'gift' of obedience. I have watched this movie a bunch of times but this time I watched it with new eyes ~ I need overcome my 'gift' of self doubt, overwhelming sense of guilt and lack of confidence. wish me luck!!!

Hope all have a good weekend. & my illustration friday piece will be coming later!!! peace!!