The State of Creation

These days it's easy to get swept away with all the external happenings in the world around us... To become fearful of the unknown and to have so many changes thrust upon us... 

So now I find it even more important to steal myself away for a few hours of studio time (or nature time!) to keep myself feeling somewhat normal in this fast-changing world.

I've always felt as if I'm living in two worlds... One I don't have much control over (only in how I respond to it), and the other world is my own inner world where I can choose what I want to experience and surround myself with... (but the two are also connected and the one operates within the other). The inner world and the outer world... 

How can art transform us?

There are two states of mind; one is based on survival and one is based on creation.

Survival is fear-based. When we're in this state we feel separated and disconnected. We're concerned with the ego self, which is judgemental and analytical. We see things as ‘out there’ and separate from us. This is the critical mind. When we're living in this state we're unable to grow and create.

When we're in the creative state we're feeling love, joy and inspiration. We feel connected and whole. Time and space disappear... We become Self-less. The ego moves out of the way. This is our natural state of BEing... 

Art is a way to bring you into the present moment. You move into a place where you forget your problems, time disappears... Your energy moves from your head to your heart.

“When you are so in love with life and what you’re creating, then you’re in your natural state of being. ”

The more you experience this state, the more your body (your subconscious mind) recognizes it as You... and you begin to grow this new way of Being.

This is how art transforms us. It brings us into the present moment where we experience ourselves as whole Beings. The more we can be in this state, the more we increase these higher feelings of love, joy and inspiration. We're able to grow and re-create ourselves and our lives.

“The secret to art is love.”

— Antoine Bourdelle

And perhaps the secret to love is art...

The Object of Art

The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. 

- Robert Henri

Soon I’ll say good-bye to this little island paradise… It’s been a wonderful month with no pressures, no deadlines, no expectations… time to just BE.

It’s a simpler life.

And it’s actually been really good to have less choices. The small convenience store, for example, is only open a few hours a day with limited food choices, which means… simple meals, less shopping time, (I can walk there in two minutes) and a little more creativity in the kitchen! There are less things “to do”, so that means less distractions and more focussed time to paint and create!

Hrisey mountains - Triptych, work in progress

Most days I’m in the studio painting, or out in nature filling myself up with fresh, mountain air and inspiration. And if I do want a little more stimulation and people, the “city” is just 45 minutes away.

It’s everything I wanted and needed.

But before I return to Canada, and the busy city life of Vancouver, I’m off on a 10-day road trip around the West Fjords of Iceland, so more adventures to come!

 To walk into nature is to witness a thousand miracles. - Mary Davis

The heArt of the matter...

Today I'm resting and thinking about what matters most...

“You are never more essentially, more deeply, yourself than when you are still.”

— Eckhart Tolle

When the whirlwind of life threatens to take me away... my studio is my sanctuary.

I can gaze out the window and watch the busy world go by, but inside it's quiet and still.

To create you first must be inspired. But inspiration doesn’t come from busy-ness. It doesn’t come from pushing hard to reach goals or left-brain thinking, planning and analysing... It cannot be forced.

Inspiration comes from the right-brain, feminine, intuitive way of being. When you are in this state, you're open and receptive to insights, new visions and ideas... Inspiration comes when you're relaxed.

What we create in this world comes from the non-physical realm of the imagination. To create requires the feminine energy of intuition and insight as well as the masculine energy of action to give it form.

It's a fine balance.

Too much action without rest and we can easily become depleted.

Too much day-dreaming without action and we'll never see the results of what's possible.

It takes inspired action to create.

So, after a flurry of activity, today I'm resting. No matter what happens out there in the world, I must always stay connected to my Self (my heArt).

It’s the heart that matters most. 

Inspirational Art Quotes

I love quotes, so here are 52 of my favourite inspirational quotes to celebrate a New Year... Enjoy!

Have a Vision, a Dream. Believe in that Vision. Live that Vision with every fibre of your being. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world. ~ Paulo Coelho

True art is characterised by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. ~ Albert Einstein

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ E.E. Cummings

Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees. ~ Marcel Proust

Art is not a thing, it is a way. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul — and you answer. ~ Terri Guillemets

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing. ~ Annie Dillard

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

To be an artist is to believe in life. ~ Henry Moore

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~ Anaïs Nin

You cannot find happiness by chasing after it. Happiness comes from doing what you love to do, and from being who you truly are. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. ~ Oscar Wilde

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. ~ Leo Buscaglia

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Emerson

Do not compromise yourself. You are all you have got. ~ Janis Joplin

‎If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path. ~ Joseph Campbell

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. ~ Kurt Cobain

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~ G.B. Shaw

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.  ~ W. M. Lewis.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

No artist tolerates reality. ~ Nietzsche

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting. ~ Buddha

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. ~ Alan Cohen

Patience is also a form of action. ~ Auguste Rodin

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about. ~ Joseph Campbell

The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. ~ Robert Henri

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself. ~ André Gide

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ~ Steve Jobs

Success in any endeavour depends on the degree to which it is an expression of your true self. ~ Ralph Marston

Your best work is your expression of yourself. Now, you may not be the greatest at it, but when you do it, you're the only expert. ~ Frank Gehry

At the end of your brush is the tip of your soul. ~ Andrew Hamilton

The goal of art was the vital expression of self. ~ Alfred Stieglitz

We express our art in everything we say, everything we feel, and everything we do. The creation is ongoing, it is endless, it is happening in every moment. ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

The beginning is the most important part of the work. ~ Plato

The chief enemy of creativity is good sense. ~ Pablo Picasso

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder

To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive. ~ Matthew Arnold

The things that make me different are the things that make me. ~ A. A. Milne

Creativity is intelligence having fun. ~ Albert Einstein

Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ~ Albert Einstein

Expression is the essence of thought. ~ Tony Caldero

Everything you can imagine is real. ~ Pablo Picasso

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown. ~ Denis Waitley

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. ~ E.B. White

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. ~ Patanjali

Love and Freedom

“Painting depends on freedom. When you’re feeling completely free, you can create, and this power to create is, in turn, the greatest freedom of all.”

— George Rodrigue

Love and freedom. They're both important to me… And they have something in common.

They both require letting go. It’s a bit of a paradox… To receive you must let go.

Receiving is allowing.

I wrote about this in my Little Book of Big Dreams. Receive is the 6th step in the creative process...

“I imagine it like a stream of creative life energy that flows around me. If I focus too hard on any part of this stream, I stop the flow and life becomes a struggle.

Instead, I match the energy of my desires and my whole Being then becomes a part of the stream… I ‘go with the flow’.

So it’s a delicate balance. You have the desire and intention for something, yet at the same time you are completely at ease whether you ‘have’ it or not. ”

— Little Book of Big Dreams

You “don’t care”.

In a good way.

In a non-striving way…

And then suddenly you come to this place of love. And you are free…

People are “looking for love” and looking for ways “to be free”. I think most people are just looking to be themselves, to express themselves and not care what anyone else thinks…

This is why love and freedom are important to me. As an artist I must paint and create what I am... And it must come from that place of love and freedom.

“Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction ... To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something - and it is only such love that can know freedom.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

“The place where I had freedom most was when I painted. I was completely and utterly myself.”

— Alice Neel

What colour is your February?

Ever since I can remember, I’ve associated letters, numbers and words with colours. For example, the letter “A” is red (and so is the name Anne). Sometimes the word is coloured by the first letter, but not always. For example “F” is a dark green, but February is a light blue. I thought this was “normal” and that everyone’s words were colours. Until I was a little older and began asking others what colours their letters or words were…

I’d say, “What colour is your February?” And they’d look at me blankly.

A few years ago I discovered from a friend and fellow artist that it’s actually a “neurological condition” called synesthesia (which means “union of the senses”). Synesthesia can involve any of the senses but the most common is “seeing” letters and numbers as colours. This is called Grapheme-Colour Synesthesia. I also have Spatial Sequence Synesthesia (experiencing time, numbers and dates as if it's a on a giant clock outside of my body). The hypothesis is that in synesthetes, there is a cross-wiring in the brain so that neurons and synapses that are supposed to be contained in one sensory system, cross over to another system.

Apparently synesthesia is more common among artists. I know three other synesthetes and all are artists. I’m sure I know more, it’s just not something normally discussed (unless you are an artist!).

I’ve always loved playing with colour. As an artist it’s a big part of my expression. Perhaps synesthesia is like having another sense… a 6th sense… I can’t imagine not having this "condition". And it certainly adds to my world of colour…

I’d love to know… Are you a synesthete? What colour is your February?

Art as Transformation

Work in progress, new forest painting layer one.

How can art transform us?

There are two states of mind. One is based on survival and one is based on creation.

Survival is fear-based. When we're in this state we feel separated and disconnected. We're concerned with the ego self, which is judgemental and analytical. We see things as ‘out there’ and separate from us. This is the critical mind. When we're living in this state we're unable to grow and create.

When we're in the creative state we're feeling love, joy and inspiration. We feel connected and whole. Time and space disappear... We become Self-less. The ego moves out of the way. This is our natural state of BEing... 

Art is a way to bring you into the present moment. You move into a place where you forget your problems, time disappears... Your energy moves from your head to your heart.

“When you are so in love with life and what you’re creating, then you’re in your natural state of being. ”

The more you experience this state, the more your body (your subconscious mind) recognizes it as You... and you begin to grow this new way of Being.

This is how art transforms us. It brings us into the present moment where we experience ourselves as whole Beings. The more we can be in this state, the more we increase these higher feelings of love, joy and inspiration. We're able to grow and re-create ourselves and our lives.

“The secret to art is love.”

— Antoine Bourdelle

And perhaps the secret to love is art...

New Designs!

“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”

— Sarah Ban Breathnach

I love dreaming up new ideas and visions, but there is nothing as exciting as making them real. 

So I've been dreaming and painting and dreaming and painting...

And busily at work in the design lab... 

New Designs!

Mom and tot leggings. Baby leggings in sizes 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years. Visit the Boutique

More designs coming soon...

In the beginning there was Art...

“I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing. ”

— Vincent van Gogh

For me, art in its truest and simplest form begins with pencil on paper. A drawing begins the outline for a greater vision...

And just as my paintings begin with a simple sketch, what I want to create in my life begins with art. 

Creating art is my foundation. It is the wellspring for everything else in my life. This business would not exist without it.

I could exist... But what is existence without essence?

Fine Art and Fashion

I've been preparing for the Art Crawl this weekend... 

But I did have time to make a fun little video clip! Spring Sale on leggings ends April 30th... Click here to visit the store.