Intuition Being Led By Art

“Intuition leads her heart, leads her soul, fills her with life.”  Alisha K. Duckett

Intuition, defined as “a quick and ready insight;” independent from knowledge or from reason. It can flower within us and make our lives more whole. Gently pushing us in the direction that is more aligned with who we are.

Listening to, trusting and acting on your intuitive inner guidance is an art form in itself. Think back to the times when it was not the right timing for something. You just knew. There is a harmony and flow within intuition that is rhythmic like a wave. You can choose to stand up and ride the wave at the right moment. Catch  it’s sudden insight. Or, choose to hesitate. Any hesitation, and you gain no momentum and miss the wave completely.

Following it’s insight can be risky because it does not follow a linear clear path. The path is often not logical or rational but has a destination none the less. In-tuition leads from the inside out drawing us out of our comfort zones. It  is however, pushing us toward something that reminds us of our true selves.  An aspect of ourselves that may not have been nourished now suddenly is given the right elements to grow and flourish. Intuition can lead us to what makes us happy or made us happy once but was forgotten.

To look within and to listen is to invite new life or new way of doing something in. Art can do this for us. It can draw us within allowing emotion and intuition to slowly take over and spill out on paper. It may just be some markings on a paper, that soon lead to an image that can have meaning and significance in our life. Or a song that you play over and over until it just makes sense.

You do not have to consider yourself an artist to do this. Just starting the process, mixing the colors, stepping back, being silent, taking it in. Letting it be, and waiting to feel the silent nudging to tell you what to do next.  

 

Live Your Best Dance! Bringing Back the Creative Fire..

“Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully willing to show it.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The inner spark, that light within, the place where all creative life springs forth. It is the center of who we are. It makes us feel alive. It’s that “pizzazz”  behind our step. Emphasize the “z” in the word and all things are possible. It is the emotion and passion behind what we do and how we do it!

I witnessed this little spark first hand when I told my three year-old that I was taking her to her first dance class. Her eyes flickered with a type of light you rarely see in us grown-ups. She immediately found her well-worn pink heart shirt with attached tutu and of course her pink bedazzled “dance” shoes. She looked ridiculous and amazing all at the same time and dance class was a mere 4 days away. Yet, wearing her “heart” literally on her sleeve she proceeded to live her best dance all day long.

What she taught me is that we often are “trying” where as she just “allowed.” We are trying so hard to find our creative spark that we miss it all together. Or, it feels so buried or dulled down that we do not know how to blow life back into it. As children we know how to feel free and alive without giving it any thought at all. It is an impulse that springs us forth into action and allows us live our dream whatever it may be in the moment. It is that animating force that encourages us to dance our best dance. That is until we get the message that we look silly or that we can’t possibly accomplish what are heart is calling us to do.

What is that thing that makes one happy? It is different for all of us. For some a process. It may be buried but it is there all the same. Waiting to be recognized again. Little things might make the difference. Humming that tune, creating in the wee hours, making the time for you.

Dig out those dance shoes. The ones that are not well-worn and are buried deep within the closet where you have been keeping them for that special event. Let today be that day. Be compassionate to yourself, and when you are ready to create call it forth with a type of “gusto” only you can bring!

 

Going into the Deep with Art

“If you lose your vulnerability you lose your capacity to be an artist.”  Juliana McCarthy

Before I write or paint, or do anything creative there is a energy that builds within me.  I feel my heart pumping and the emotions are there right beneath the surface.  We often fight ourselves in this place not allowing ourselves to create. What stops us or prevents us from letting go?

It can be a scary place, it can be the great abyss within. To face those personal depths and to emerge differently can be a great  practice with art. The ups and downs of life can take us to those deeper places so that we can then emerge differently or changed. So, is true with our art. To stand out of the way and create takes practice. A practice worth exercising. Because, if in our creating we can dive to our depths and come back to the surface of our life changed or with greater meaning then we have done more than survive. We reclaim the lost parts of ourselves.

We can then look at life and creativity as a cycle. To create can then mean to feel and to dive into the depths face the demons and then come back to the surface only to be ready to deepen again. All of this takes courage or an inner strength to put oneself first and triumphantly forge ahead not knowing the next step. To resist or deny can only create more pain. We are all works in progress, and to embrace our imperfections or fears, or pain is ok. Because, in this continual process of feeling and unfolding we are brought back to ourselves. We can then take a giant sigh of relief knowing that our real self was there all along. waiting, breathing, alive.

I think this is what they mean when they say you have to “work for happiness.” To create the space for what is right in our life takes a discipline or a practice that is unique to the individual. For me it is art, it may take time and be a process of getting there.  But it is my own way nonetheless.

It reminds me of the lyrics to the cover “hurt” sung by Johnny Cash. “What have I become, my sweetest friend. ” Art can be the sweetest of friends. The great companion that listens and let’s one know they are not alone. You do not have to consider yourself an artist to create. You just have to know that art can be your refuge. Reminding you of the dark and bright sides of yourself. It feeds you hope, and allows you to reflect upon the true desire of your heart.

Expectations-what we create matters

Expectation, it is a harsh word in my mind. In fact, the thought of writing about expectations in life and art was almost too much for me to want to write about.  I started to think about what are my expectations on writing about expectations! What if what we expect is not what we want or seeking? Where do all of our expectations in life come from? It can be from past experience, our upbringing, or even what we had envisioned or dreamed for ourselves.

How does art play into this? Well, as the artist, which in my mind we all are because we create every day of our lives. What to wear, how to behave, what to say and how we say it. Living life is the ultimate creative act. And when one stares at the blank canvas of life it is easy to fill in the void with “should” and “should-not’s.” In fact, it is so easy but we continue to do it cycling around the same expectations we have for ourselves and others. There is nothing, more detrimental to my work as an artist when I look at my work or life through the lens of limitation and attachment to a particular outcome. 

As an artist I have learned that it is the journey that is most important not the destination. When I first started taking lessons I would work so hard at making things look “realistic,” the more I tried the less it looked like anything my heart would have wanted.  Even the acclaimed artist Georgia O’Keefe had to work through self-imposed expectations.  “I was taught to paint like other people and I knew that I’d never paint as well as the person I’d been taught to paint like. There was no reason for me to attempt to do it any better. I hadn’t been taught any way of my own.”

To be on one’s own is a spiritual journey, the path of the artist. To spend more time dwelling within more than anywhere else. When looking at the world from this place there is a softness and suppleness. The edges in life are smoother and more sublime. There is less energy expended on what is expected and more time to be oneself. One’s true self.

So, my advice to self is to create a life that feels like a fit with who I really am. Less about accomplishment and ambition and more about meaning. Ordinary, everyday kind of meaning that takes on the slower natural rhythm of daily life. Being kinder to myself, making time for play and most importantly letting go.

Art and Legacy- what we share with others

I have been thinking about legacy lately and what we leave to our children or the people in our lives. We create legacy on a daily basis. In fact our life is our legacy. Art can be a way we can share a piece of who we are and what is important to us.  It holds an energy or charge to it that when gifted to another encompasses the love or thought that we have for someone else.  When we introduce someone to the arts it is like gifting them with the potential for their creativity to grow and thrive. I cannot think of a greater gift.

When I think of who supported my artistic path I think of my grandmother, an artist in her own right even though she probably wouldn’t  have considered herself one. She was a piano teacher who taught the neighborhood children and later in life she dabbled in oil painting. It was not the art she created that made her an artist but the beauty she found in the world and grace that she bestowed on to others.

To teach is to show, a showing is a revelation of more than we see with our eyes. It is what lies just beneath the surface. Art can do this and so can a mentor. The way we speak to someone, the glance of encouragement, or just a simple complement.  Can be all that someone needs to be comfortable in expressing oneself. Expressing oneself in the arts can be where our true nature shines.

So, tonight when my daughter asked me to hold her hand as she fell asleep I thought of my role now as her guide. To share with her the beauty that was once shown to me and how to express that to others. She may be a painter, or a writer, but most importantly a really good person that will one day continue a legacy of expressing her true self.

My Many Colored Days – using art to express feelings

 

Recently, at my daughter’s preschool they had a copy of Dr. Seuss’ s book “My Many Colored Days”, by Dr. Seuss.  In Seuss’s classic rhyming way it brilliantly describes each day in terms of a particular color which is in turn associated with a specific emotion.They were teaching the three year olds in the group about recognizing feelings in a language they can relate to-Color! Have you ever felt that you have been taken in by a painting and truly felt it’s presence. It’s almost as if you step inside the feeling of the artist. A feeling that may have been fleeting yet captured in an instant within a painting. Making it a piece of an experience. A feeling frozen in time.

 We have all had those “blue,” days but we have hopefully had more of the bright”yellow” ones too. Because, we are all “feeling” beings and color can help us best express those feelings. Art can take us in and can make us feel through color. As an artist, I intuitively choose colors that express how I feel. I love the freedom of using color in such a way that is spontaneous but in the end relays a particular mood. What is important is that the underlying feeling of what I want to express is conveyed verses the actual representation.Yet, it is not through mulling it over that I get to the color that I am looking for. It is usually comes from that deep quiet place that bubbles up from within.

We have all had those feelings of being “Choked up,” when describing the tears that try to surface when we least expect it. This is when we are taken up by a moment that takes us off guard. I cannot think of a better way to feel then through paint. Paint can be the medium for our tears to flow forth. It can be the way we feel again if we have been suppressing feelings or putting them aside. The time can be dedicated for you as the painter to be present and just wait for what feelings arise. So, I will continue to paint my many colored days and in classic Dr. Seuss style,”it all turns out all right, you see. And I go back to being me.”

 

Moving through Fear with Art

Recently, I have felt some roadblocks in my creativity. Not feeling inspired to paint or continuing to cycle through the same image over and over again. I came to realize that it was fear that was preventing me to paint and letting go of preconceived results. This made me think of how art can be used to work through fear.

When I am working on canvas or paper there is a decision that has to be made. What color to put down or what stroke to be made. It can be a spontaneous movement of energy while taking in the elements of what inspires me to make the next move. When there is fear there is stiff movement with too much thought and less guided direction from within. The same can be said when we procrastinate, if our energy is not utilized it is trapped and we loop back to the same fear or limitation preventing us from working at our dreams. The thought of actualizing our dreams can be a fear as well. Because, we have this preconceived idea of what our life should look like once our dreams are realized. So, we then live in constant pursuit of a dream that is alive only in our thoughts. Life obviously does not work this way. There are always twists and turns and the mystery of life often surprises us with what makes us truly happy.

Art can help us move through our fears. It can be an exercise at stepping outside of our comfort zone and trusting that we will know what to do next.  There may be mistakes, but you learn to accept them and move in a different direction.  And if it doesn’t turn out it is still an act of creation that needs to be respected because it served a purpose in the moment. As my teacher once said it’s only paper or canvas after all.

Creating art is an internal process; it can be like a compass in your life that leads you. You may not know where you are at any given moment, but art can provide comfort in a world of uncertainty.

Fear creates lots of excess energy, and if it isn’t utilized it gets trapped and stored in the body. Art can be a way to move through this fear and release it. There is nothing more refreshing and therapeutic then to start anew with a blank canvas.

In order for me to move out of my head, I focus on the movement of my brush strokes while finding shape in contrasting colors. Taking in the colors that I see in a sunset or the way the tall grass moves in a field are the elements that are within me and come through in a painting. So, I continue to take notice in life, to be present helps me to “be” without fear and within a safe space in art. 

 

Trusting the Process

“Images birth one another. moving us within ourselves.” -Author Sean Mcniff

In 2005, I was commissioned to create a line of greeting cards for women having difficulties with fertility issues.  They were to be sold at hospital gift shops and clinics. I found this timely, in that my husband and I were talking about starting a family. I had my own fears around becoming pregnant and did not think that I could conceive. Once, again I turned to my art and it’s process to heal my fears around becoming pregnant. The opportunity with the card company did not come to fruition so in instead I chose to take the artwork that I had created and turn them into my own card line.  I created the artwork before, during, and after pregnancy and they became the springboard for the process of all of my cards.

What I learned is that when you paint and continue to move from one picture to the next a series of pictures will emerge. The women’s series were all my personal experiences, feelings, hopes and dreams of being woman and becoming a mother. When the paintings were finished , I would gleam more of a feeling from them then a particular insight that would point me in the direction of the next painting. There was an energy to them that built on the previous ones.  In each painting, I would start with the woman figure and as I painted  new qualities would emerge from her in color, composition and overall feeling.  I was moving with the art and as the paintings were changing I was changing with them.

Looking at our own paintings gives us a glimpse at our inner landscape. When we work on a series of paintings it allows us to see our life over a period of time.  Our lives are often fragmented and we often look to the outside world for answers or direction. A world that is unpredictable and in constant change. To relax in periods of uncertainty within our art work is a skill we can take into our lives.  There is often a point in when doing art when one is uncertain what the next move should be or where the painting  is heading. This can be a place of chaos.  As in art this is true in life.  It has been studied that Creativity increases with chaos. Chaos can be a place where we flourish instead of flee from. We can use our imagination to dive into unknown and see where it takes us. To trust the creative intelligence within our own bodies and “letting go” into the unknown will lead us to new places of healing and hope.

 

Finding the Space between Moments in Art and Life

“I Come Home To Myself”

 I stand firmly in the Truth of who I AM

 Learning to take refuge in the eye of the storm

I am no longer buffeted by the winds of fear or the waves of change

The ship of me takes on no water as I gain power and strength

The course is clear, the sail is set

Confidently sailing now through the storm of chaos

Trusting, knowing, seeing, feeling

The shore of TRANQUILITY lies straight ahead

written by Anne M. Delaney (C)

 

Have you ever been in a moment where you feel a part of the experience. Where you and your surroundings are one in the same? When you are there you lose sight of how long you are in this place where time seems  to stand still.There are different ways to describe this place of “flow” or “Zen” or space where you and life merge.  The moment may be fleeting but definitely memorable. For me it was, and a place I want to return.   Like a spiritual pilgrim who makes their trip to the holy land the trip can be arduous and painstaking journey. Or, it can be a visit to a place within a moment that is quite ordinary where you can take a sigh of relief and thank God for just how ordinary it can be.

I have had both experiences, the jaw dropping all encompassing moment and the everyday ordinary one too. They say it is most interesting in art to see things in contrast to each other. I think this is true of life. So, I will briefly tell you my story of both. After graduating from college at twenty-two I decided not to take the typical pilgrimage of most graduates and travel cross Europe. Instead, I signed up for a twelve day kayaking trip with a group to Aialic bay within the Kenai Fjords of Alaska.  As you can imagine, this was the difficult and physically demanding version of my first “moment” within a moment. As we made our way along the coast to Aialic bay the motion of our paddles were in perfect unison. The ebb and flow of our kayaks floating through the swells that would peacefully rise us up only to gently release us back down.  Until that moment, when the glacier came into sight revealing itself as this divine piece of nature’s work.  We were literally and metaphorically carried away by a current in a moment within time where everything was in perfect harmony. Everything made sense and the parts of life all came together and I could see and feel a natural being. Feeling “melted” into the experience or “flowing into it with the knowing I was to be there at that instant while contributing to it’s significance.

There is an actual term for this “vital engagement” a relationship to the world that is characterized by both the experience of “flow” (enjoyed absorption) and by meaning.  It has been studied and well documented by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Psychology professor who is best known for his notion of “flow” and his years of writing and research on the topic. Csikszentmihalyi interviewed all kinds of people he discovered a common thread to their stories, he found them all describing the same feeling of “flow”  when describing how it feels to be absorbed in a painting, or playing a difficult piece of music. Watching a good play, or reading a stimulating book also produced the same mental state. It was clear from his research that the outcome was not what was sought after but the process itself.  

This was so true, in my experience in Alaska. I believe it was the process of the monotonous paddling for hours at a time that eventually brought me to a place of heightened awareness. Or as my guide at the time called an “unmasking” where the beautiful moment was revealed. It reminds me of the “OM” sounds made in the process of meditation.  It eventually gets you there yet you can’t quite recall how you got there.

I think there are many ways to get to this place. For me it comes most easily with art. I can be so engrossed within the process I can lose time and my focus is intent as the painting changes, and I change with it. Up into the point where I put it down, look at my next blank canvas and start the process all over again. I think Csikszentmihalyi  is right when he says it is not the anticipation of a beautiful picture but the process of painting itself.  

So, now about my ordinary experience of flow.  Actually, It is quite boring but just as memorable as I caught a glimpse of it again the other day. It was as I was driving my kids to preschool. Don’t worry I did not have to pull over. It was quiet and subtle experience of sensing, as I was moving with the glistening colored leaves and for just a fleeting moment I found myself again in the space between moments.

Alisha K. Duckett

Artist, Owner Healing Art Images

Be moved by art

Is inspiration motivated from within or is it nurtured by our relationships with others? This is a question that peaked my interest recently after doing some reading on the subject. The first, was the September issue of the “Ladies Home Journal” titled “The Long Good Bye,” about a mother who confronts the feelings that come from an empty nest and having to redefine who she is and what motivates her. She begs the question of the roles we fulfill as daughters, mothers, wives and if we are internally motivated from the roles we fulfill or do we feel inspiration from a place that is uniquely our own?

In contrast to this article, I read a book titled “Journal of a Solitude,” by May Sarton about an artist who goes out of her way to create in solitude with little interaction with others in complete isolation from the world and all of its distractions. She feels that it is only in this place she can truly create in a way that is authentically her own.

As a mother of two small children I was drawn to both women. Seeing the changes coming as a mother and knowing in my heart that as the article was so appropriately titled “The long good-bye” is  really what the mother-child relationship is all about.  However, I have to be honest the thought of creating in complete isolation did make me wonder if I would be a more accomplished artist with all the time and freedom to create without the distractions of everyday life.

So how to be within the world, meet the changes that meet us where we are while maintaining the relationships that help us define who we are? For now at least.  Because, as those precious people in our life change we change too. Everything is a part of this constant change. all of it.

So where do we go from here? As in my case, the little ones leave the roost 15 years or so from now? Who do I become as a woman, an artist? Were they my true inspiration? Was I motivated to create from them alone?

Yet, there is something deep within me that in my opinion is untouched. It is to be what Aristotle called “The unmoved mover.” Art can lead us to the place where we are internally motivated yet willing to move as life moves us. So, instead of a “room of one’s own,” maybe it is more realistic to have the space of one’s own.” art can provide this space. All of our feelings, and experiences from life we can process them in our own time as a way to reflect or process it.Every gesture we make on paper has movement and change. Each stroke is unique to who we are and where we are in our life.  To access this flow is how we can meet life as it changes and to hopefully move with it rather than against it. Art helps us meet who we are becoming right in the moment we put it on paper. And that is just the beginning of where art will lead us if we let it. Because, right when we think we have made our mark it changes, the paint flows together, the paper dries and it means something more than we had originally intended.

Alisha K. Duckett

Artist, Owner Healing Art Images