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.

Swishing and swirling and rising up…

Swishing and swirling and rising up…

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“It is the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.”

~ Rebecca West

Caught up in the swirling waves of the sea, with patterns clashing and colliding, I find my inner walls of resistance are crumbling down in rapid succession.

All the while, a passion project idea has been steadily growing and taking hold of my heart in an undeniable way. It’s shining a light on a path of great expansion, one I am feeling more and more ready (excited) to undertake.

What about you? Is there something calling, urging you to grow into a bigger you? Is there a swirling mass of YOU ready to rise from the sea?

Rumi, beloved Rumi, never fails to create moments of awe as I call upon him for his thoughts on each new painting.

“Light again, and the one who brings light.
Change the way you live.

From the ocean-vat, wine-fire in each cup.
Two or three of the long-dead wake up.
Two or three drunks become lion hunters.

Sunlight washes a dark face.
The flower of what is true opens in the face.
Meadow grass and garden ground grow damp again.
A strong light like fingers massages our heads.
No dividing these fingers from those.

Draw back the lockbolt.
One level flows into another.
Heat seeps into everything.
The passionate pots boil.
Clothing tears into the air.
Poets fume shreds of steam,
never so happy as out in the light.”

~ Rumi

Can you see it? Can you feel it?

Kiernan xo

Today isn’t any other day…

Today isn’t any other day…

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“It is the addition of strangeness to beauty that constitutes the romantic character of art.”
~ Walter Pater

It’s been a while since I’ve painted some smaller works, so I decided to do a series with flowers as my inspiration, as I am wildly passionate about them and have been itching to give it a go all summer.

I prepped four panels and then painted on a base colour to start off the backgrounds. I was just following what the brush seemed to want to do – not thinking.

But, when I wanted to get the flowers started my muse seemed to abandon me. I couldn’t feel it. I drew a blank in body, palette knife, and mind.

I studied the panels… and I studied the panels. Nothing. It wasn’t happening.

So, I had to regroup and feel into it.

I looked at the patterns in the base and let them guide the process. What happened next was extraordinary.

Following the path of ease, flow and excitement my palette knife took over and led the way.

 

“Today isn’t any other day, you know.”
~ Lewis Carroll

It wasn’t just that the piece painted itself… it energized me! Well, actually three pieces back to back – energized me!

I had mouth surgery last week and have been in recuperation mode mostly. Bursts of energy but short lived. Mostly, I’ve felt lazy and tired.

But these energizing pieces brought me back to life – it felt incredibly healing actually and lifted my sagging spirits!

If I had to say why, I’d say it was because I gave over to playfulness and ease.

“Artists of all stripe tend to equate difficulty with virtue and ease with slumming. We do not lean into our ease and enjoy the ride of our gift… If we do not practice the joy of using our talents where they fall easily, we rob ourselves of self-expression.”

~ Julie Cameron

I can wholeheartedly say, YES to this!

There are times when I paint tuning into the emotion and energy boiling deep inside. It’s a cathartic release.

And, there are times to paint from playfulness, and to just say, “Hi, Art!”

Kiernan

Exploring the Realms of Self Love

Exploring the Realms of Self Love

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Too much time wasted trying to change. Believing this is wrong, that is wrong. Too this. Too that.

Too big. Too small. Too much. Too little… never enough.

The truth of it is, all the things we’re criticized over are really the foundation for our gifts and talents. What makes us special.

Be the joyful hummingbird, if you are, because you bring light to the hearts of others.

 

 Be the soft waters, if you are, because you bring light to the flow of change.

 

Be the fierce fearless one, if you are, because you bring light to the masses.

 

Be the deep thinker, if you are, because you bring light to the minds of others.

 

The piece I am currently working on explores the concept that to love oneself is the kindest and greatest act and gift to ourselves and the world. To love oneself is to KNOW oneself – intimately.

It is to practice forgiveness and compassion. It is the foundation to be right with self and others.

It is the basis to live in harmony and to know the type of happiness and joy that is specific for your true nature.

Not quite finished yet… but close… I think.

Kiernan

“You are the light of my heart and the comfort of my soul”

~ Rumi

Journey to Love with the Stars of Egypt’s Embrace

Journey to Love with the Stars of Egypt’s Embrace

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

~ Oscar Wilde

And a new one begins…

The heart ashore… the stars above… the temples within…

My parents are ailing and now more than ever I am becoming aware of the cries of healing of the past, from generations before to the present. Where things are both mine and not mine, yet often feel like they are more than mine… Mine to alchemize.

To transform from lead into gold. The task is both easy and not… it is all in the willingness to become aware, to accept rather than deny, and then love all that is and was.

Painting and writing are becoming my best friends, for it is through the taking it from the inside to expressing it on the outside, in colour, in strokes, in words that may not make sense to anyone else, that I become more whole than I was.

Today, I take to the panel the desire to practice the act of self-love, because it is only through LOVE that we can liberate our hearts… and creative expression is the way.

I wonder if our longing to touch the divine is really our need to fully love ourselves – beauty and warts, light and shadow – all of it in its entirety?

“Nothing is wrong, nothing is wasted, nothing is neurotic, nothing is disowned, everything is possible in art”

~ Julia Cameron

I had a burning desire this morning to collage onto this newly primed panel some papyrus sheets I’ve had for years. I don’t know how much, if any, of the texture will be noticeable as the piece progresses because I paint with thick layers… but it’s there… the ancient Egyptian Goddesses and their temples have been invited to play with us…

Papyrus is a thick type of paper material originally prepared in ancient Egypt from the pithy stem of a water plant, used in sheets throughout the ancient Mediterranean world for writing or painting on and also for making rope, sandals, and boats.

With my handmade Tibetan singing bowl I call in the angels…

The layers of paint begin…

Scraping… blending… scratching… scraping.

Some of the papyrus is still visible.

May love be the journey,

Kiernan

Going From Here to There

Going From Here to There

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

“No man is an island, and our creative unfolding occurs within a distinct cultural landscape. Cultural mythology permeates our thinking about art and artists. Art is tonic and medicinal for us all. As an artist you are a cultural healer.” ~ Julia Cameron

My mind has been going in so many directions at once, from here to there, circling and spiraling. I have a vision, but selecting the pieces and putting them together is fleeting at times.

So many distractions of late… forcing down time for contemplation. Trips, renovations, caring for aging parents are all on the landscape at the moment.

Within it all I feel… clarity on the edge coming closer… taking risks.

What I know is that in creative expression… in painting… in writing (a love that is begging for more attention) I am healthy, happy and whole, in a way that nothing else can compare.

From there…                                                                                  to here…

Creativity is a Spiritual Practice