Lightly child, lightly…

Lightly child, lightly…

“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?

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.

What is dharma and can it be what saves you?

What is dharma and can it be what saves you?

This fabulous furry creature appeared on my computer screen one morning when I started it up and it was such a beautiful reflection of how I felt about the latest book I was devouring with such a sense of awe that it literally left me breathless.

I can’t tell you how many times I caressed, kissed and held the book to my heart. I moaned, shouted and sang out in ecstasy as if I had been touched upon by a glorious divine blessing. I wanted to wrap the book up in feathers and silk and embed it into my heart so that I would be forever be filled with the energy that poured into my mind and nourished my soul.

Can you believe a book that could cause such glory? It is evidenced in the reflection of the rising morning sun on the screenshot I share – like a radiant beam of light illuminating what is True that is calling to be lived.

So, what book is this that I speak of? That moves me like no other. That has changed me.

That has ignited passion. And, lit a fire inside.

“Stephen Cope is a national treasure. He is an incredibly rare combination of brilliant spiritual thinker, elegant prose stylist, and empathic, grounded teacher. The dharma stories threaded throughout The Great Work of Your Life are moving and instructive. Keep a pen and paper handy as you read this remarkable book: It’s like an owner’s manual for the soul.”

~Dani Shapiro, author of

Devotion

 

“I was spellbound and inspired by this book from beginning to end. I thought, how is he going to bring together the message of the Gita, the enduringly compelling lives of so many amazing people, the quest for passionate expression in the lives of his friends – how will he keep so many balls juggling at the same time without dropping any – and end by making it all relevant to me right now in my life? And, he has! One rarely thinks of a dharma book as a page-turner, but this one is indeed that. This book is a great read and a great revitalizing breath of fresh air.”

~ Sylvia Boorstein, author of

Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life

 

Description:

“From the Senior Scholar-in-Residence and Ambassador for the famed Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health comes an inspiring meditation on realizing your life’s purpose – what spiritual teachers call dharma. Stephen Cope says that in order to have a fulfilling life, you must discover the deep purpose hidden at the very core of your self. The secret to unlocking this mystery, he asserts, can be found in the pages of a two-thousand-year-old spiritual classic called the Bhagavad Gita – an ancient allegory about the path to dharma, told through a timeless dialogue between the fabled archer, Arjuna, and his divine mentor, Krishna. Cope takes readers on a step-by-step tour of this revered tale and highlights well-known Western lives that embody its central principles – including such luminaries as Jane Goodall, Walt Whitman, Susan B. Anthony, John Keats, and Harriet Tubman, along with stories of ordinary people as well. If you’re feeling lost in your own life’s journey, The Great Work of Your Life may help you to find and to embrace your true calling.”

It is so clear to me that this book was written with the purest of intent and humility to uplift humanity, and save lives. It is rich with dharma and laced with energy graced by the Everything… the All.

There is barely a page that I have not highlighted or written on or earmarked.

This book came to me during a time in which I’ve been in deep contemplation and working out a seed of an idea that came to me a few months ago. The Great Work of Your Life has helped me to learn many many lessons, one of the most important being having faith that I don’t need to know how everything works all at once, and trust in the process of taking the next right step… one at a time.

It is a book about passion and purpose, living to our full potential and wrapping it up into our sacred calling… what is otherwise known as dharma in the ancient text called the Bhagavad Gita. And, it couldn’t bring it all home to the heart any better than this.

Here’s to living to our potential!

Kiernan

Today isn’t any other day…

Today isn’t any other day…

“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

“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