Going into the uncomfortableness of chaos…

Going into the uncomfortableness of chaos…

by | Artful Living, Beautiful World Project

“You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now.

No one can advise or help you – no one.

There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Letters to a Young Poet

I’m diving deep into uncomfortable territory today.

Truthfully, my breath is a bit squeezed and shallow. Trying new techniques.

Using a different type of palette that I’m not used to and finding it’s really not conducive to our northern climate.

Into the ugly phase now… the most challenging place to be as an artist, especially when trying something new.

Do I pause? Breathe… contemplate… trust in the process… Keeping going until it becomes something with a glimmer of hope, revealing the way forward?

No fear! That’s what I hear. If it stinks, so what! Begin again. Or be pleasantly surprised with flash of genius to bring it home.

I often put way too much pressure on myself, do you?

Kiernan

“Try to be like the turtle –

at ease in your own shell.”

~ Bill Copeland

 

The gift of slowing down…

The gift of slowing down…

by | Artful Living

“There is a cry deeper than all sound

whose serrated edges cut the heart

as we break open to the place inside

which is unbreakable and whole,

while learning to sing.”

The Unbroken, Rashani Rea

Last week was filled with many starts and stops. Lots of interruptions, like an entire day without power.

Instead of fighting the current flow, or lack of flow I decided to slow everything down to match it, and I discovered there is something very beautiful in slowing down.

I think actually, it’s where an artist is meant to be… where the gift is.

I found myself caught up in the story of Colleen Saidman Yee, former model turned yoga instructor and celebrity. It was so easy to relate to her life experiences and the beauty way she has come to live… she’s near my age so understands a woman’s body as it goes through changes.

In her book, ‘Yoga for Life’ she sends courageous messages to face our fears in laying out our truth. Our deepest wounds, our shame and guilt, the things that motivate us to strive for things that will never fulfill us.

The hardships she has endured and her heroine’s journey in finding her Great Work through yoga.

She spoke of yoga in a way I knew existed and even longed for, but had quite yet to find in my quest, beyond simply doing the moves. A way to listen, understand and open to the body’s wisdom, and in the opening… the heart, mind and spirit strengthens naturally.

Filled. Me. Up.

My new love offering philosophy to nourish my artist self… find the gift in slowing down… to observe and be present to what is.

xo

Kiernan

 

A sneak peak update on the passion project…

A sneak peak update on the passion project…

by | Artful Living, Beautiful World Project

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”

~ Angela Davis

A calling is a calling is a calling. It’s practically beyond understanding – the why’s and wherefore’s of it all.

What are we borne with that makes us special…

What is our most cherished ideal of life…

What we really truly value almost beyond our ability to breathe in and out…

What does it take to say ENOUGH! Enough of believing the story we tell ourselves for why we keep putting off our dreams… for the unconscious ways in which we sabotage ourselves when we’re right on the cusp of reaching out and grabbing IT… when it is so close, but feels so far that we can’t see it is a millisecond away, if only we can have the fortitude to keep going, to push through that barrier…

Launching my Toronto Passion Project is an act of stepping outside myself and serving something greater. It began with an idea and has blossomed into an adventure and an experience. Letting go of my ideals and thoughts, I’m following the impulses the project seeks me to explore.

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my call for help!

Your comments inspired my muse and I’ve been exploring the history of Toronto and discovering some fun facts I didn’t know. Like archeological finds of First Nation settlements artifacts date back several thousand years! And, we were once under France’s rule. In the 1700’s we were known as York and renamed as Toronto in 1834.

Here’s some photos of our history.

I’ve also been learning about some of our local heroes and socially conscious entrepreneurs – people doing really amazing things in our city!

Of course, being outed as the most multicultural city in the world, diversity has become our claim to fame and it is even in our city’s crest.

So, what am I doing with all the comments I received? Well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I can let you know that I’ve put them all on index cards, and then take the key phrases and written them on the panel for the Toronto painting.

Your celebratory thoughts of our fair city are infused into the foundation now, and together our energy will fill the painting with our hopes and dreams and will intentionally radiate with our light out into the hearts and minds of Toronto.

I know it’s possible.

I believe,

in the vision that

came into my heart.

Do you… can you… will you… believe it too?

With love,

Kiernan

On Wings of Love…

On Wings of Love…

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“Soul of this world,

no life, no world remain,

no beautiful men and women longing.

Only this ancient love

circling the holy black stone of nothing, where the lover is the love,

the horizon and everything within it.”

~ Rumi

It’s the oddest thing, after all this time living, breathing and painting with vibrant colour, to suddenly find comfort, inspiration, grace, mystery, and awe in tones of black and white… in the contrast… there must lie something… some element of life and all it encompasses.

Can I describe it? It’s like I look upon the painting and in the gentle blends, the swooping strokes and scratched in markings that something enters my heart. It is gentle. It is peace. Yet it is also alive with movement and energy.

There seems to be an elegance about it too, somehow.

I’ve become obsessed with exploring it, which I will until it fills me to the brim and then empties me out.

Wings of Love | 30 x 30in | Acrylic on Gallery Wood Panel

What do you think of the black and white? What does it reveal to you, or does it speak of mystery? I would love to hear, please leave me a comment below.

Kiernan xo

“Don’t become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin.”
~ Ivan Pavlov

 

Lightly child, lightly…

Lightly child, lightly…

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. I was so preposterously serious in those days…Lightly, lightly—it’s the best advice ever given me. So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly, my darling.”

~ Aldous Huxley

I could write on this, but why really? It is enough. It speaks volumes.

It is perfect for this exploding passion I have discovered in the simple contrast of shades of black and white – blended and bold. Well, actually it is Payne’s Gray, but who would know.

I anticipated diving into the glorious deep rich colours of Autumn, instead I feel drawn to experimenting in a lighter touch of colours, contrasts and composition…at least for now.

The Maker

Kiernan

 

Will you join my passion project?

Will you join my passion project?

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

A BIG ASK for all my TORONTO FRIENDS! Will you help me?

I am a born and raised Torontonian. It’s a great place to live and has even been rated one of the best cities in the world.

I am also a socially conscious abstract artist and I pour my heart and soul into my paintings. Art and writing have literally saved me and they make up a huge aspect of my dharma or my sacred calling.

My experiences with my art and life have brought me to this moment.

This flash of inspiration that I knew was mine to act on.

You see, I’m on a mission to bring light, beauty, peace and harmony to the world through art, and I figure the best place to begin to effect social change is right here in my home city, Toronto.

This city has been the ground beneath my feet, it’s alive with creative energy and I want to create a painting that celebrates this bountiful presence of our city and its place in the world.

I want to pour my hopes and dreams into how it can grow into an even more evolved place to live. A city that leads the way in putting people first and proving that there is strength in diversity and creative thinking.

And, I want YOUR HELP in creating this piece!

I would so love to hear what YOU think is awesome about Toronto or YOUR HOPES and DREAMS for our city!

So, will you say YES? Will you join me in this passion project? Click here to learn more about how you can add your voice to my Toronto Passion Project!

If you’d like, you can also share the word, feeling, or short inspiring story, poem or quote that comes to mind when thinking about Toronto in a comment below. You can make it as long or as short as you want.

Submissions received by October 5th at 8pm EST will be gathered together and incorporated into the painting as energy infused through prayer and paint onto a work of art to celebrate our fair city.

I do hope that you’ll feel INSPIRED to INSPIRE!

With love and appreciation,

Kiernan xo

P.S. By submitting your comments you agree to release any claim to copyright on the finished artwork and acknowledge that © Copyright 2016 belongs to Kiernan Antares. All rights reserved.