"The best thing a human can do in life is to get rid of his separateness or selfness and hand himself over to the nature of things- to this mysterious thing called the Universal Order, that an artist must sense. To put yourself in the way of that thing so that you become a vehicle of it - that will be your only merit - to put yourself in the way." Will Henry Stevens

Silk Velvets are Ready for Fall -Winter Season

Cooler weather has arrived earlier than I expected and my fabric painting for the season has come to a close. I set out to create double sided velvet scarves insired by Rothkos' paintings and when I picked up the finished pieces from the seamstress I momentarily had the urge to keep every one. They are delecious!

Now marketing them to boutiques.There is a limited quantity so my Etsy store plan may or may not happen this year. The blessing and curse of creativity are the number of ideas you can spawn without enough time in the day to do all you dream of. The fear of creativity is running out of ideas. The decision comes down to the question "Which ideas are worth putting into action?"

SACRED ART & CEREMONY

Tibetan Monks of the Gaden Shartse Monastery were in town this past week and spent several days creating a sacred sand painting. The Green Tara is a female deity known as the "Mother of all Buddhas" because she embodies wisdom. To honor the impermanence of life this artwork is destroyed after it is completed.

Watching as the mandala is blessed, they circumambulate the sand mandala sliding a finger from one side of the circle into the center destroying what took days to create. Watching the dissolution brought to mind the death of a well lived life and reminds one of what is lost with the passing of a soul from this physical world.

The sand is swept into a pile and shared with those present. Remaining sand is placed in a river to spread blessings for all. The sand you receive can be spread about the house in a blessing, placed on an altar or held until one's death to be placed on the top of the head for a blessing during your own transition from the physical body.

ART & INTENTION

Art & Intention

Ritual and prayer function as the curtain between myself and the mundane world of petty distractions. When I enter the studio I am mindful to recognize it as sacred space. It is my sanctuary for extracting the best part of who I am and putting it into my work.

Before I begin working I stop and examine how I'm feeling emotionally. If I need to I will journal to purge the trashbin of my mind or meditate to center myself in stillness. After those exercises I burn sage and invoke the 7 sacred directions ( East, South,West, North, Above, Below & Within). I ask for guidance "Please help me to join my heart and my hand and bring what is most authentic into this work. It is my greatest intent for this to bring joy, insights, healing and beauty to those who look upon it."

In entering this state of absolute "mindful presence" I allow the dross of the day to settle outside the sanctum of the studio as I enter into communion with my spirit, the paint and the subject I am engaging. The process is a reminder of my purpose in making art. I am offering a gift from my spirit to the external world.

One Million Bones project

Last Saturday I participated in the One Million Bones project. The intention of this piece is to raise awareness of the mass atrocities occuring in the Sudan, Congo & Burma. Each bone has been made by artists, students and social activists out of clay or other materials. This particular installation only had 50,000 bones. The end goal of this project is to collect a million and install them in Washington, D.C. in 2013. There were about 140 people participating in the laying down of the bones as well as the collecting of them after the piece was finished. The mind behind the project is Naomi Natale. It was her wish that as each person placed bones down they thought about them as if they were real bones. What this resulted in was a feeling of tremendous emotional weight around this project that packed a wallop. It was a honor to be a part of this first step in a huge project. More bones will be made towards the future goal and people are always needed to participate. One Million Bones is on Facebook and you can probably find a bone making event where you are or start your own.