Dreaming 5-25-11

Another amazing night of dance. Toward the end of the evening with tribal drumming music blasting, a spontaneous dance circle formed and we took turns in the center. The rythmn was fast and it was as if we had decorative war paint on our faces and grass skirts on our hips. I couldn't stop moving, vibrating, and smiling.
The theme was "Dreaming...the dance is our body dreaming."
I had wanted to paint a head with all kinds of images floating out in dreamland, but I realized I needed to paint a whole body.
The dancer is moving through her dreams as light as a feather.
I became aware of my own style, that I like to blend the colors and paint breath into all parts. Laura did the warm up sequence last night and asked us to imagine our bodies filled with fluid...and that is what I paint. Fluid bodies moving through space....dreamy!

Suspended in the NOW upside down...Flying!

When I got to dance, Kathleen the Altar designer, chose to hang the painting upside down...which I loved! The "flyer" looks untethered and free! The support figure is open handed, and the flyer isn't dependent on him, she is flying all on her own!

Suspended in the NOW

The theme was "NOW". That everything in life has brought us to this moment. I was thinking that when my dance partner spins me around, I am very aware that I am flying through space, and that I must sense the lift and trust that when the momentum is waning, I will twist around and land on my feet. What could be more "in the moment" than that?

Freedom

Altar Image

Apr 6, 2011 Growing Toward the Light

My Gift

Last week I had my first "art opening." A collection of my paintings are in a big display window on Harold Way at Addison in downtown Berkeley. I met a woman with the Downtown Berkeley Business Association and she offered me the spot for 3 months. I put an invitation on Facebook and 15 friends and family showed up, including my lovely teacher Eva and Altar designer Kathleen. We then went into the Hotel Shattuck and had a drink (I love the Black and white wallpaper in there), then some of us went to dinner at the Revival Cafe. It was wonderful!
I finally understand that having a show is not the need for validation, although it is that, but it is truly my gift to the world.
Someone said how much art rejuvenates her, and who am I to deprive her of my vision? Another said that seeing the paintings together offers not just a viewing but an experience. Thank you for those words.
I like to paint and see images of Life Force energy coming through us and connecting us to the source and to each other, which is what the dance offers.

Inner Resources

THEME: What inner resources do you draw from to maintain well being? Ah...what a challenge for me, since I am someone whose emotions change with the wind. What do I return to when my well being is off? The dance has taught me to breathe in deeply, down into my solar plexis, and to find the spot I carry anxiety in and breathe into it. To find that spot, stay with it, and know that I will be okay. That is the level of faith that has eluded me...trust in myself that whatever happens, I will be okay.