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

Art Transforms Worlds within Worlds

Art Transforms Worlds within Worlds

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

Painting is not always about creating something of beauty. Sometimes it’s about an artist pouring something unknown onto the canvas. This unknown may be a feeling that is unable to be articulated any other way than through colour or the act of creating something with our hands. Sometimes it’s a calling from an inward and/or an outward source.

A pull. A calling. An irrepressable urge.

It could be in response to something the artist is experiencing. It could be an attempt to understand or convey something bigger.

Imagine for a moment, that in the act of creation – something is transformed in this unknown kaleidoscope. This is the power of art… it transforms from within and without… it brings something into the world that carries an energy that heals and affects us on a cellular level.

Imagine for a moment that it takes the whole of a life and repatterns it, makes sense of it and integrates a wholeness that might not otherwise be experienced. And, what if in that one transformation it sends feelers or waves of energy out into the world – to touch the hearts of others.

Art informs. Art heals. Art transforms…the one who is creating it and the ones who reflect upon it.

This recent piece ‘Intimate Knowing of the Soul’ is a painting that called from the depths of someplace within my soul. I would also say that it was called forth from some other place.

I had many a conversation with Rumi, with my childhood and what brought this person to experience the mystical force of Egypt. Retracing my steps through a pilgrimage in South Africa… to today as an artist with messages of hope, love and the reverence of the power of the unseen and the unknown.

Intimate Knowing of the Soul went through a great deal of transformation with many many layers. It looks intense, deep and chaotic. But, it is a weaving together of lives and energy. It is an integration of wholeness.

It is also the promise of exciting new things to come, because as we weave together the past and the future into the NOW, we expand, grow stronger, and we are able to hold so much more of life in our hands, our hearts, our minds and bodies.

As this painting came to completion this message or mantra has descended (or ascended) into my thoughts and awareness…

TO LOVE NOT HATE…whatever is appearing before us, drop into our heart and be love.

Raw and messy has its own beauty

Raw and messy has its own beauty

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

In many of my abstract pieces I begin by connecting with the panel of wood through my heart. I get quiet and I feel it. I get a sense of what may be the dominant colours it ultimately wants to be and that gives me a starting point. It guides me as to the potential colours to use in the initial layers to get me where it wants to go.

So, in this manner as I begin adding paint, I’m actually thinking and feeling a few steps ahead, because I love the feeling and look of a painting that has depth, weight and thickness – it’s very symbolic of the inner workings of our personality, our emotions, and our soul.

Many of my pieces are also created from a place of surrendering – me and my thoughts stepping aside to allow for something to come through me and speak to the world. I simply love to create. It’s a necessity for me.

None of this was the case in painting Window Cracking Open.

That day, I just needed to paint. I needed to express. I needed to release. I needed the colours, paint and panel to experience how I was feeling. I needed not to do anything but simply approach it and swiftly release what was in my heart and body at that moment.

It was a hugely cathartic release and I felt hugely satisfied.

For me, this piece wasn’t about creating something extraordinary or beautiful, or being an instrument for something to work through me to benefit the world in some way.

It was simply a raw, emotional, and physical outlet.

Whatever its form, purpose or expression, art is transformative. Its effects far reaching into the hearts, minds, and souls of humankind. It opens us. Ah, but that is a topic for another post.

 

Artwork Statement

Sometimes windows need to crack. And, they need to open just that little bit for messy to come in and break the brittle crusted barriers around the heart. What would happen if we let it? Maybe the body would experience miracles. Maybe our lovers would look into our watery eyes, with watery eyes of their own while whispering the secrets of their own heart… letting you know you’re not alone… that you are loved… that you are important in their world. Maybe then the world will feel a little bit safer, and brighter, and hopeful. Maybe then our dreams will be nourished by the inner fortitude that’s growing in the allowing of our deepest self seeping in through the crack.

Window Cracking Open—represents a true merging of understanding, healing, and love for self and others. When we have the courage to feel, to be still and feel, a light shines revealing perfection in the imperfection of ourselves and our lives. Messy is not very pretty, but it’s often necessary to let us go down the road we seek—because the truth sets us free. If we’re lucky, one day maybe we’ll find where we’re coming from and where we’re going to.

The Shaman’s Journey

The Shaman’s Journey

by | Artful Living, Contemporary Art

Shaman’s are powerful medicine doctors trained in the ancient ways of healing and spiritual teachings. They are found in indigenous cultures throughout the world. As wise elders of their tribal communities, these highly respected men and women are intimately familiar with the hidden realms of nature in all her forms. They guide us into the wisdom of the ‘dream body’ where we can seek answers to life’s most important questions. Your inner shaman calls you back to your true essence, your home in nature—where your soul speaks directly to you, delivering messages through your body, your dreams, your secret desires, and whisperings of signs and synchronicities. Your muses are enlivened and beckon you to venture into the mysteries of creative visualization and dream journaling to access important information.

The Shaman’s Journey—reveals a pathway into your deep centre which encompasses both light and dark aspects of life—for both are equally important to learn from in the process of becoming healthy and whole. When fully exposed to the white and shimmering gold light, the deep black centers and veins are revealed and they are able to fall to the earth to transform into beautiful blossoms inviting harmony to your life.

“For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself.
From within, I couldn’t decide what to do.
Unable to see, I heard my name being called.
Then I walked outside.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the door sill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”

~ Rumi

The Shaman’s Journey

Acrylic Abstraction on Gallery Wood Panel, 11″ x 14″

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Copyright 2016, Kiernan Antares, All Rights Reserved