Begin with the end.

Life is a series of beginnings and endings.

(And I do so love new beginnings!) 

To have a beginning, I first must have an ending...

I need to finish one chapter before I start the next.

As I add the final touches to my trees, I’m already thinking about my next painting.

I have the idea, the vision... the canvas...

But...

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

And so, I remind myself...

It’s all in the being. 

Be where I am. En-Joy where I am.

And it will be done...

Meeting inspiration.

The only way to be creative is to create.

Being creative requires inspiration, but you can’t always wait to be inspired. It doesn’t always come to you... Sometimes you have to go to it. You just have to put pen to paper or paint brush to canvas and create.

'When inspiration doesn't come, I go halfway to meet it.’ ~ Sigmund Freud

When I’m too much in my head I need to move my body, so I go for a walk. Walking clears my mind.

I let go of the puzzle I’m trying too hard to solve... I just walk it out.

I like to wander as I wonder... And somehow just by walking, the pieces all come together. 

‘My work is inspired by two things: the external world and the internal world. A good day is when they meet on canvas.’ ~ Bonnie Mandoe

Sometimes I am inspired to paint, and other times I paint to be inspired. I let my desire to create lead the way, and then I meet inspiration around every corner...

What do you do to meet inspiration?

How to Un-Create

When we want something to disappear from our lives we must un-create it.

When we create something, we have a vision in our minds and an intention to create it. We dream and imagine it coming to be... we keep our attention on it. We think about it all the time... And then we take action.

So how do we un-create?

If I have something that I really don’t like (lets say a painting) and it’s on my wall and everytime I look at it I say, “Oh, I hate this painting. It’s got to go!” If I truly want it gone, then what do I do?

Do I keep looking at it saying, “I really hate this, I wish it would go!!”

I could look at it forever... just wishing it would go away... but the truth is, the more attention I give it, the more emotion I give it... the more it will remain as an ugly painting on my wall.

Here are six steps to un-create:

1. Be clear that you want this thing (person, experience) out of your life.
2. Make peace with it. (Thank it for being a part of your life and whatever it has given you).
3. Imagine your life without it. (Imagine it floating away... or disappearing and getting smaller and smaller.) How do you feel?
4. KNOW that it is on it’s way out.
5. Take whatever action is indicated to you.
6. Now give your attention to what you Do want.

That’s it!

Un-creating can be almost as much fun as creating... and opens the door for something new.

What do you need to let go of?...

What will you un-create today?

What is Art?

What is Art? It is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the Real. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Art is beauty, inspiration and magic...

I love creating... transforming the visions in my mind to form on canvas. When I write I transform the words and ideas swirling in my mind and bring them together as an expression on paper. When I dance I express through movement...

Through art I express and create mySelf. I define who I am through what I do and how I express.

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

How we live is an expression of who we are. Everything we do, say, wear, eat, think about... is our art.

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

Art is the expression of our inherent beauty and way of Being in the world.