Welcome to the art/life trail ride!
We are traveling through the fourth week of February ‘The Renewal Moon’ cycle.
‘Stillpoint #2′, Drozda, Acrylic/canvas, 24 x 36″, 2008
Throughout this month we’ve been noticing the ways that Renewal can play a bold and dynamic part in the creative process. Do you tell yourself that there’s already too much on your plate and there is no time to recharge and regroup? Notice that voice …what it’s saying is that there is burn out ahead. Don’t take that path.
Last week we looked at opposites. Part of Renewal is seeing where you’ve been and also paying attention to what you’re done with. It gets tense with this kind if inquiry. Tension is a prerequisite to Renewal.
‘Renewal’, Drozda, ink/illustration board, 12 x 9″
A tug-o-war precedes every creative leap forward
In our journey around the Natural Calendar we discover that this month is a goldmine. Take the time in February to reboot and restart. This action invites brilliance to emerge.
Last week we took an inventory of the past six months. Reflecting we see the stress-makers. Looking at the stress that’s accumulated through the pull of opposites is akin to opening a pressure valve. Ah. Let it go.
Our next bold step is to swing even further back to be sure that what is ready to leave gets the boot. This week revisit the past year. Take out your pen and paper and inventory what has taken place since March 2015. By reflecting upon where you’ve come from you can take a stand and clarify where you want to go.
We are still moving through The Mystery. This 90 day quadrant is making space for creative magic and synchronicity to happen.
Let’s imagine that you’ve made space for creative expansion. See yourself step through the doorway entering into the New Natural Year on March 20. Take your vision with you.
‘Dream the Dream’, Drozda, ink/illustration board, 9 x 12″
Once the vision is in place it’s time to conduct research. Research ignites the vision and leads to powerful action. You’re momentum increases. That’s what the focus will be on come the spring…it’s quiet now, we’re preparing.
Imagine
Recently I considered the organic nature of our art/life trail ride. I was noticing how it’s possible during The Mystery quadrant (between winter solstice and spring equinox) to sense into the overlay of what is done and what’s to come.
I imagined a pendulum swinging forward and back throughout these 90 days.
The pendulum swings back and something has been completed.
Celebrate
The pendulum swings forward and the lean is toward the dream of what next, what now and what matters.
Patterns taking you back
and
Patterns taking you forward
There is a natural rhythm to making meaning.
Creative growth builds its path year upon year like a spiral rising up and yet the spiral action crosses over itself at specific junctures. At those cross over points nature keeps momentum going. Yet we humans come to these pressure points and often falter, stumble, slip, fall, get mired, have a breakdown.
Where’s the Breakthrough?
Knowing that there are tools for breakthroughs already packed into your saddlebags makes for a calm assurance of the highest order.
During these 90 days of The Mystery welcome in your stumbling blocks. Watch how they rise up out of the mist as you invite them in. There really isn’t any way to know or predict or even solve the mischief that they come to make. There isn’t anything to fix. Instead observe from where you stand. This is a most creative edge.
Central Casting
In our week to week exploration we’ve enlisted the frame of going down into the roots of the matter, down into the underworld. Sitting in the silence with time and space to replenish and regroup. Similar to an animal in hibernation we rest, we trust the process that keeps us functional and alive while we incubate.
Of course this is all metaphoric and at the same time life continues at warp speed all around us. During fall and winter we step back and step away fom the chaos and hubbub…even if only for 15 minutes a day. We allow time to mingle in the roots of what sustains and nourishes us. It’s similar to digging a gold mine. You need to make the shafts, shore them up, create ventilation, test, test, test for safety…then… climb down and down with a light beam mounted to your helmet and a small brush and pick in hand. Gently you tap and brush, tap and brush, tap and brush and periodically your beam picks up the glint of a golden nugget. Tap and tap and brush and brush and soon a treasure is revealed. Add it to your saddlebag.
This week and in the coming four weeks we’ll focus on the full picture. We’ll imagine tapping and brushing and finding gold. This mine is large enough to hold the 12 moon/months ahead. How exciting to consider the potential and the possibility of what your vision will create….tapping and brushing and filling your saddlebags with gold nuggets preparing to come topside rich in well-being, the true wealth of the art/life.
Here’s our link to The 2016 Lifecycle Forecast …check in on the Global Year to support each next step on your path of ‘Compassion in Action’…all through the Natural Year.
WISE WOMAN OF THE WEEK
This week welcome our Wise Woman companion on the art/life trail…Kristin Reiber Harris…Kristin is a model for renewing ones career/calling during ACT III of the art/life.
I grew up on an old farm in Northern Virginia and never lost a child’s fascination with those objects that appeared as treasures in my formative environment. My work reflects this reverence for the natural world and is influenced by Islamic and Buddhist art and the Asian aesthetic of beauty. Over the 45 years I have been making art, drawing and printmaking have consistently been my focus.
‘Shasta Daisies’, Kristin Reiber Harris, Mixed media drawing, 30″ x 22″
‘Stone Circle 1’, Kristin Reiber Harris, Mixed media on paper, 43″ x 53″
‘Spring Rain’, Kristin Reiber Harris, Woodcut on paper, 54″ x 56″
And then the gradual Renewal…
About 25 years ago, spurred on by the “Digital Revolution” I was able to get the tools to learn animation on my Mac.Video and animation had become possible on a desktop computer for a mere fraction of what the big boys needed to do the same thing. I was fascinated with the idea of animating my own artwork. AfterEffects seemed a likely tool to make it happen. All of this dovetailed with my interest in educational media for young children and we were off to the races.
…
Although I had done interactive design, it was the introduction of the iPad that was a real call to action for me. I realized it was a wonderful delivery system for children and that interactivity added additional potential for engagement. My initial interactive design was in Flash, I am now working on Demibooks Composer Studio.
Duck-form censer, Portland Art Museum
Date: 206 BCE/220 CE, Culture: Chinese, Medium: bronze
Visit Kristin’s blog to see how the Duck-form, with her creative skills, became an animated video helping little ones learn. I hope that you’ll browse Kristin’s site and see the charmed way she produces teaching tools for wee ones using the iPad to enliven museum art.
Edgar Degas The Dance Lesson, c. 1879 National Gallery of Art
Engage Kids with Art: Help Them Find the Story
This concept is a great way to share art with children. As human beings we are hard wired to love stories and actually depend on them for our survival. It’s how we share information andcultural values. Degas’s The Dance Lesson is full of stories. As a docent at the Maier Museum at Randolph College, helping kids see stories in art is something we do all the time.
Finding the Digital Stories
In developing the app ABC.DC: An Art Alphabet, I selected 26 works of art from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. that are kid-friendly and created an animation for eachwork. With this piece, I wanted to add delicate lines to show her dancing. This simple animation brings the scene to life and encourages a deeper level of involvement with the image. Does this help you find the story in this painting?
Thank you Kristin! You demonstrate reinvention while maintaining your values and reverence for the natural world… a beautiful inspiration for the art/life trail ride.
Compassion Action for This Week…
Be curious. Be a Visionary. Stand in The Mystery and pan for the gold inside of you.
Very inspiring……thanks for introducing me to Kristin.
Hi Kay
You’re so welcome…Kristin’s work up close and personal is stunning to behold. I hope everyone hops over to her website to see the diversity of her scope.