Beyond the Veil

My painting practice before dance continues to surprise me.  I was overtired and painting alone, thinking of a friend's boyfriend who has surrendered to the stomach cancer killing him from the inside out.  We had just been chatting that to be by his side as he gets closer to the "veil" is a first row seat to a process we don't have much experience with or words for.  So I painted bright colors of life and then painted the dark on top, in the shapes of flower petals.  Overtime, the darkness will overtake his life force, but for now, his process is unfolding beautifully.

When I arrived at the dance hall, the only place for the painting was "behind the veil", which seemed perfect to hide the imperfect painting.  And again, the colors of the altar were in concert with the colors of the painting, including a touch of red to match the velvet buddha.  Quantum Collaboration made visible!

After the dance, the veil was lowered and the painting was revealed. 

The Honey surrounding the flower

Open the window to the west and disappear into the air inside you. 

Near your breastbone there is an open flower. 

Drink the honey that is all around that flower.

(Kabir)

Riding the Dragon

The Altar design by Kathleen was perfect. The flowing gold fabric suggesting flow and journey. It was draped along the wall creating space for our paintings as if we had planned it, but we all know now that it is Quantum Collaboration...no verbal or written communication necessary :)

We danced with John Vigran in our hearts, (our dance teacher, Eva's, husband) as he had emergency triple bypass open heart surgery last week. Suzanne's painting is on the left, titled Dragon's Breath, as the theme from Eva that morning was Riding the Dragon...with gratitude for the support of their friends who rode the dragon with them through this death defying-life affirming journey.

≈

Washed Ashore

I love to do washes, and washed ashore took all of 8-10 minutes..super fast.  And the Altar was perfect for it...again!

All together Now...a series

The yellow wall of my office is messing with the color registration, sorry about that.  They all have gold dripping in them that reflects from different angles of the light.  Any one have a wall big enough to do these justice?

More Rain...Sun Peaking Through

We've had more wonderful rain, but the weekend coming is supposed to be sunny and beautiful.  This is the third in a series that I've done within a week. All 21x21"  I'm in love with them.

Rainy Days 2

More rainy days here.  Can't stop dropping paint on paper.

Rainy Days

Eva's theme last night was robotics, the opposite of fluidity.  But the day was rainy and I let the paint do it's thing...drip down, drip down, down.  Suzanne brought a painting done by a 10 yr old elephant in Thailand when she was there last month.  Nothing robotic about elephants!

Uniqueness

The Altar designed by Kathleen, with Suzanne's painting on the left and mine on the right.  The theme was Uniqueness

Eva took some of my cards and pasted "invitations to dance" on the back, like "Dance as if your eyes are closed" and "Dance as if gravity doesn't apply to you" and "Dance as if you are tethered to the center of earth wherever you step"

I'm thankful for her initiative. She's requested more cards so she can take them to Canada and Switzterland for her international dance sessions. What an honor.

This was my painting last night, although not quite unique as I had painted "in the beginning" a few weeks ago. But that painting was promptly sold and I wanted to see what else would emerge in the same vein.  Sunset wash behind the flow of fire and the grounding of the Lotus petals.

Permission Granted to Love your Self

I hadn't painted a Goddess in a long time, and what better occasion than Valentine's Day?  I titled it "Love Collector", as if the big headdress was a dish and could catch all the love waves flying around that day, and absorb them with permission granted to... Love your Self.

Many Layers Wide

It still thrills me to wash the paper with a big horizon and then let more paint drip slowly down.

Sunburst

The theme was "threshold" and I was ruminating about crossing over. What emerged was crossing the sea to follow the light.

Cactus painting becomes party theme!

I did this Cactus painting at Jenny's birthday party at Beth's studio back in November. I had it printed up as gift wrap and cut into placemats that we then used for my sister Debbie's wedding party in Arizona.  I was thrilled how great they looked.  We used the same painting on the thank you cards, gift labels, and more. Very fun.

Roots (Sold)

Welcome to 2014!

Happy New Year 2014

As I started this painting, I had in mind 3 qualities to cultivate this coming year: Confidence, Discipline and Patience...the latter of which was running thin as the painting was becoming an ugly mess. So I washed everything out with a big brush, scraped into the wet paint with the end of a plastic fork, and let the notion of branches growing out of a place of Trust, emerge.
Finding that zone, where I move quickly without much thought, keeping my attention on the tip of the brush, pays off with a unique painting that surprises even me, as if I were just a conduit.

That's why it's so fun!  Thanks for looking.

In The Beginning... (sold)

My favorite element in this painting is the gold circle above the horizon.  It is Eternity, Calm, Patient, always there. The sunset sky on the first layer pokes through the action and excitement of daily living, yet reminds me that the one constant is the rotation of the earth around the sun.
Suzanne's painting is on the left, another fabulous stepping out!   So worthy to imagine starting all over from scratch.

Radiance Dec 4, 2013

In the Darkness

As the sun set yesterday at 4:57pm with an incredible display of wispy clouds and swaths of intense colors, I entered my studio and painted my heart and emotion in the deep colors of the season.

When I arrived at the hall, Kathleen's altar was white and wispy, with no color, as if the darkness drained it all away. And yet may of the dancers were wearing the colors in the painting, and it all came together beautifully, yet again.

Birds of Paradise (sold)

 I was in Long Beach this weekend and had a couple of hours to ride a bike along the beach. These striking plants love the Southern California climate, and I remembered having them in our yard growing up. Their heads poke up from a mass of leaves with their nose in the air and a fantastic blue antennae probing forward.  

The Magician

May you conjour up Magic to delight and surprise

Trust Myself

I didn't have time to paint on Wednesday, so I offered to bring a painting from "stock".  My teacher wrote back, "Bring what you have.. One big one would be great. The Hierophant... The one who walks the mystical path with practical feet."

I looked at paintings from years back, and selected two that struck me as hierophants.  When I parked the car at dance, I hesitated bringing both paintings in, as I was supposed to bring only one, but I figured since I them I'll take both in.  As always, it was uncanny, Kathleen had created a beautiful Altar set up ideally for two paintings!

The one on the left is,

"Dial a new attitude"

The one on the right is

 "The one who walks the mystical path with practical feet, 

always tethered to the center of the earth for grounding and sustenance" 

Listening

               To myself, and

To my surroundings,

To the song that rises from this moment

   in which I am contained -

These dances rise up inside of me

    and spin out beneath me,

And it's as if I stand back, inside myself

               and observe....

Available to constant flow and change,

I can balance

                   at the edge of the unknown,

               and experience fearlessness.

Eva Karczag (dancer, choreographer, teacher)

What IS

Sometimes things are hard, they just don't flow easily, as was the case with this painting.  But now, a week later, I can see that this painting has a lot of depth. Life is like that. Difficult things can be a gift.

The Fool

The theme for dance last week was the archetype of "The Fool." In some esoteric Tarot decks, the Fool is shown as a young man, walking unknowingly toward the brink of a precipice, which is what I had intended.  The image presented itself on the edge, grazed by the fire, but with the help of many arms, is securely balanced, using the energy from above and the tether below.

Sweetness

May you find serenity even when everything seems to be falling apart

UP Close and FAR Away (sold)

 Tomorrow we are taking my son to Montana State University in Bozeman.  Time to leave the nest.  The hard part will be leaving him there and driving 926 miles away. 

Effortless (sold)

The Smile of the Divine..Happy Birthdays

No life,

then Birth into my body, 

my Life,

then Death,

and then back to...

No life

We come into a body and we live in it as long as we can. We take care of it to the best of our abilities. When it begins to feel compromised, and maybe even gets sick, we are awakened to our body's decline and ultimate impermanence. 

While I still can, I channel the life force coming thru me...I open myself as a conduit of energy from the universe above and the earth below, as if I am suspended between the two. 

I am a bunch of molecules flowing like a flame, burning the energy coming through me. My body is the wick.

Tethered to the center of the earth. I squat into it, thighs engaged, legs bent, center of gravity pulling thru my cervix to meet the earths energy rising to meet me. I cultivate this tether, to keep it strong. It is with me wherever I go on the earth. I stoke it through the music in my dance.

As gravity is pulling me down, my chest is opening toward the heavens, my lungs fill with breath, my arms outstretch wide and my heart fills with love.  I am vulnerable, yet safe.  I can trust each moment as it comes...I kvell knowing the good fortune I embody.

The sun shines not on us, but in us. 

The rivers flow not past but through us. 

Nature was made not just of us, 

but of itself and its own happiness,

 and is the very smile of the divine. 

John Muir

When I am taut

I feel balanced

When I am supported

I feel free

When I am cared for

I feel secure

When I am heard

I feel confident

When I am witnessed

I feel loved

An Ear for Listening

LISTENING

What is the deep listening? Sama is
a greeting from the secret ones inside

the heart, a letter. The branches of
your intelligence grow new leaves in

the wind of this listening. The body
reaches a peace. Rooster sound comes,

reminding you of your love for dawn.
The reed flute and the singer's lips:

the knack of how spirit breathes into
us becomes as simple and ordinary as

eating and drinking. The dead rise with
the pleasure of listening. If someone

can't hear a trumpet melody, sprinkle
dirt on his head and declare him dead.

Listen, and feel the beauty of your
separation, the unsayable absence.

There's a moon inside every human being.
Learn to be companions with it. Give

more of your life to this listening. As
brightness is to time, so you are to

the one who talks to the deep ear in
your chest. I should sell my tongue

and buy a thousand ears when that
one steps near and begins to speak.

— Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273)
The Glance: Songs of Soul-Meeting
translated by Coleman Barks

In the Flow

The Universe is saying:
"Allow me to flow through you unrestricted
and you will see the greatest magic,
you have ever seen. "
Klaus Joehle

This poem, that Eva had sent out, inspired my painting, and when I arrived at dance to include it in the altar, it fit perfectly!  Uncanny.
The previous day I had gone on a field trip with the 5th graders to the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and we did experiments testing the conductivity of heat and electrical current through different metals. This painting shows the conductivity of life force through our being.

6th Chakra: Perception

The 6th Chakra is behind the eyes.  Referred to as the 3rd eye, it is the seat of perception.  What if we close our eyes, stop talking, and imagine we can perceive information through our "mind's eye?"

 

5th Chakra. Throat. Creativity, Communications

The dance class is a collaboration.  The altar design was spectacular last night and again, it's uncanny how my painting fit in perfectly.  I open to Eva's lead, exploring the 5th Chakra of communication, creativity, and connection.   Dancers are happy, alive and dropped in and jamming, by themselves and with each other.  I spent two hours letting the energy dance me like a flame...with it's flow, its rhythm, it's beat, and it's "other dimension" that lifts and shakes my body, opening up meridians and aligning chakras, while letting the life force energy burn through me.  Like a self cleaning oven, the crud is burned off and I become a channel that flows fully.  It's aerobic, it's grounded, it's breathe....it's fast, it's taut, it's slow...and it comes from deep within me. I can trust myself each moment.

The Heart is the 4th Chakra

This is the Heart Chakra and the color is green.
The heart is the unconditional and accepting presence which lives at the core of all of us - that part of us that is  unhurt and full of love.  It may be open and offering at times, and it may be small and protected at times, but if we are alive, it is always there.

My Love Poem

The spirit that comes through me is as divine as the rising sun.

Through out the day, as the light brightens,

my desire and my will 

coalesce into power:

taut with life, 

offering love, 

open to receive.

Tethered to the core,

suspended from above,

I trust myself in each moment.

Second Chakra

. 

This week we are discovering the qualities of the 2^nd Chakra.

In Sanskrit, the second chakra is called Svadisthana, which translates as "one's own place or base," Trying to influence the outer world is not the province of the second chakra. Instead of demanding that our body or a relationship be different, the second chakra encourages us to feel the feelings that arise as we open to life just as it is. As we allow ourselves to accept what is, we taste the sweetness (and bittersweetness) of life. When we relax our resistance to life, our hips let go, our reproductive organs become less tense, and we're open to experiencing our sensuality and sexuality.

A different yet familar dancing crowd

Tonight I went to Valerie's Soul Motion class on Monday evenings in the same hall I dance in on Wednesdays with Core Connexion.  It was packed.  There were too many people for me to look at, so I covered my eyes with my scarf and found a tiny spot on the floor to lay down and drop into my self.

I expel all the breath in my lungs and pull my stomach muscles tight.  I inhale breath through my limbs, exhale breath along my muscles and inhale breath to open up my joints and strengthen my core, cultivating attention along the way.  

Where my breath goes, heat follows. This is how I warm up.   

Valerie acknowledged how crowded it was and asked us to slow down and feel the presence of the other dancers instead of creating stories based on how people look.  With that suggestion, the room opened up, we all slowed down and dropped into ourselves and each other.  "Dropping in" is learning to ride the music energy flow without much thought.  It's a vacation from thinking and an invitation to be 3 dimensional in space without words.  I love being big in the world on the dance floor, but tonight was a challenge to be big while staying compact.  It was fun to experience who I am a new set of people.  Towards the end, a young woman, a "same-sizer", came right in front of me, so close and open, as if she was asking for me.  I  took the invitation and met her, twirled her, grooved with her.  I pressed myself against her back to lift our arms high above our heads, her chest and mine opening, channeling the Goddess that is every woman.  What a gift.

Elixir: : a substance held capable of changing base metals into gold: a substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely!

This painting sizzled.  I had the urge to paint figures with less than half an hour before the painting was expected on the wall of the Altar for the dance class at 7 pm.  I quickly outlined the dancers in flesh color and left them unattended until I finished the flowing wash of bright colors the figures were swimming through.  My time was running out so I took a risk to paint them out black as silhouettes.  No time to think, just paint.  I needed to delineate the woman's chin to show she was tossing her head back, opening up her chest and feeling the life force energy flowing through her. It was exhilarating!  We ran out of there with the paint still wet.  I couldn't wait to stand back and see it from a distance. It was sizzling when I put it on the wall and the response from my fellow dancers was immediate. It rocked the house.
As I danced with my friends throughout the evening I felt as if a self cleaning oven, burning out the crud and letting the rich mixture of life force channel through me at full throttle, as an elixir : a substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely!