Creative Challenge!

January 7th, 2007

This month I'm the host of Creative Challenge Sundays on Cac. The topic I chose is intuition. I love to use intuition in my art-making and highly recommend it. There are different ways to do this, many different approaches. When I first started collaging regularly, I saught out some classes that worked with intuitive painting. I went to a weekend workshop in the home of Aviva Gold, author of Painting from the Source. In that workshop we set up in the basement with cups of paint and huge sheets of paper that we taped to the wall and we could expand the painting by adding sheets of paper. We slept in the house, so if we wanted we could paint at any time of day or night. I kind of like to work alone and I had a migraine that was keeping me up, so I got up in the middle night to work on it. It was a pretty wild experience just going with the flow and going for so long. What started out as a dark cave became a woman's breast which became attached to a large women with a hand on her shoulder, who ended up holding a baby and she was wrapped in a blanket that I used to own.

And here's a detail:

In the end it felt like this piece was about re-mothering myself, I was both the woman-figure and the baby and the hand...well, I think that is the Universe's support. Those were many, many pieces of paper, but work like this doesn't have to be so large, you simply have to allow yourself to create without thinking, if that makes any sense.

For this week's challenge I did a smaller piece across two pages in an art journal. I'm not sure what the birds are representative of, but I've been seeing a lot of birds and flying in my art lately. I think it has something to do with freedom, with leaving my job, with leaving the security and stability of the ground to jump off into the unknown, the uncertain, where the drop is quite frightening, but as for the possibilities, sky's the limit, yes?

10 Responses

Hi Leah,
Thank you for hosting Creative Challenge Day, I knew you would come up with something great!
I already read your post and have it set to go at midnight.
I LOVE the colors in your paintings.
Maybe tonight when the house is quite I will paint and see what comes out.
You are always inspiring to me!
XOXO,
Melba

Leah, your art is so cool. I hate leaving comments sometimes because it sounds so dumb to say “your art is cool” but really- I love the colours you used and I love the detail within the detail that you’ve mastered.

The list for the Create a Connection Mug Swap will be posted tomorrow (Monday)–don’t forget to check the list! :)

I’m glad you’re participating!
Jessie

ps.
this is just a “form email.” i have to come back to admire your painting some more. WOW!!!

Beautiful painting, Leah – and I love the bird images in your journal entry!

What a cool weekend workshop – though I find I work better alone, too. You did this painting with a migraine? Yikes! I don’t know if I could have stuck it out, let alone created something so full of life. But what came from that weekend is really lovely, and so full of soul.

Now I need to go read your entry at the Creative Challenge. Hope you’re having a wonderful Sunday.

i wish i could paint!!! i LOVE seeing your art!

birds…have you ever seen the art of Betty La Duke? lots of birds. Wonderful art – right up there with yours (where is my post drooling over these pictures and wanting to take them home with me and live with them forever?) Anyways, google her. Much to like.

I recognize that one on the bottom – and I still love it. The one on the top is vibrant, beautiful, and the teeth in the mouth frighten me a little bit. I love it!

*making a mental note to let myself have that kind of creative freedom* I have GOT to work on that.

hey leah. i’m visiting your blog for the first time, thanks to CaC.

grrl, i love the remothering painting! stunning, really.

i recognized Aviva’s hand right away! i did some mini-workshops with her during my volunteer winters at Kripalu center. i enjoyed her so much that i bought her book, and do some aviva things at home.

i love all the art in your “art” photo album, so many spoke to me.

thanks for sharing

Hey! Just dropping in on you after a long time…last year this time we were doing the artist’s way!! (I was St. Teresa then…) Just wanted to say WHOA dude! That re-mothering painting is AMAZING. And what a process that created it…I’d like to try that with writing. Great to see your art, always…

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