Close Your Eyes and Create
June 11th, 2009, 12 Comments
Creating to music can be a wonderful thing. It can be especially interesting when you allow yourself to be moved by the music, to respond to what you hear.
The following exercise is a wonderful way play with sound and creating intuitively. I share a similar exercise in the Art Picnic workshops and the next one is coming up Wednesday, June 17th, 8pm EST. Get all the details and sign up here! I would love to create with you!
I've set this post up, so that you can use the song here (if you're reading this in rss or email, click through to the blog to listen) or use your own music.
The Exercise: Have a pen and piece of paper ready and get into a comfortable position. Take a few deep breaths to center and ground yourself, then begin the music. Let the music play for a moment, then put pen to paper and close your eyes. As the music plays, let your pen move freely across the paper. Move it in response to the music and let your hand move whichever way it wants to go. Don't think about the end result, just let go.
You can do this for the whole music piece or just for 30 seconds, depending on how much time you have to play with. Letting the drawing go for the whole song can be a wonderful exercise, but do as much as you can.
When the music has stopped, take a deep cleansing breath and open your eyes. Take a moment to look at what you've scribbled. Do you see anything there? Maybe a face? A monster? A house? A fish? Or maybe a tree? Whatever you see there, take a moment to bring it out. You can color it in or just make it more clear. The image here is an example of what happened when I developed the image with colored pencil.
Often the symbols that pop up through an exercise like this relate to something going on in our lives or have some kind of message for us. Sometimes they don't. But either way, it's fun to play with. You could do some journal writing or dialoguing with the symbols that come up for you and see what they have to say or develop your doodle further with some paint.
This is a fabulous way to get started if you're feeling particularly stuck creatively. It takes all the pressure off of performing (your eyes are closed, so what can you do?) and allows a more intuitive response to come forward. Plus, it's just fun!
p.s. The fabulous Jamie has written about her experience of turning business meetings into Art Picnics right here. So cool! Love that idea!
p.p.s. Christine at BlissChick has posted a great interview with me at her blog, which you can check out over here.
p.p.p.s. (That's way too many p's! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the featured Creative Every Day Challenge Participants post!! I've got some wonderful work to share with you!)
Click below to expand post and view music player.
Read the rest of this entry »Art in Silence and Sound
June 9th, 2009, 25 Comments
This is the latest piece I did for the intuitive painting class I took. It was a bit more time consuming than the others because before painting, I collaged the 15"x20" surface with collage. I then stenciled in the eucalyptus shape I've been working with and started exploring it's similarities to a spine shape again. I'm loving the layered look.
As it is the month of sound, I've been more aware of what the sounds that surround me each day and the things I listen to as I create. I said in this post that I'd share some of what I listen to, so I'll do that here.
In the case of the piece above, I had a Harry Potter movie on while I did the collaging part. I like to work intuitively as I collage, and having movies on will distract my talky-talky-mind enough that I can move in a different space while I work. (A new to me movie might have distracted me too much, but this one worked well.) The following day, I started working on the painting and realized in the middle of it, that I wasn't listening to anything. I usually cue up some music or a podcast to paint to, but in this case I guess I wanted silence. I put some final touches on it the next day while listening to a Craftcast podcast.
What I choose to listen to when creating, depends a great deal on what I'm working on and my mood in the moment, but if you're one who loves to have something to listen to while you work, here are some of my favorite things to work to:
Podcasts: I love me some podcasts!! Great fun, informative, often inspiring, sometimes funny. I love a good story and podcasts are a great way to hear the stories of many different people. Here's a sampling of the podcasts I've been listening to lately:
- -NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: Super funny and smart news/quiz show
- -Craftcast, Crafty Pod, and Craft Sanity: Interviews with creative people in all different mediums.
- -TED talks: Incredibly inspirational talks on a wide variety of topics (I usually have to sit down to watch these as there's a visual element to most of them.)
- -An Illustrated Life with Danny Gregory: Interviews with illustrators whose work is in his latest book. Lots of great discussion on process.
- -Tranquility du Jour: Interviews from yoga teacher and author, Kimberly Wilson. Check out her fabulous interviews with Goddess Leonie and Jennifer Lee.
- (and so many more.)
Music: A wide range. I love my iTunes dj function which mixes up my music to provide such nutty combinations as: George Michael, Ani Difranco, Pearl Jam, a lesson in Greek, and Weird Al. I just looked to see what was coming up in the rotation: Counting Crows, Radiohead, Indigo Girls, and Yo-Yo Ma. Hehe.
But seriously, if you haven't checked out Pandora yet, get your butt over there now and try it. You simply type in a song or artist you enjoy listening to and it creates playlists of similar music for you. You can tell it what you like and don't like and you may find some new music there. I enjoy writing to their new age/ambient music station.
Audiobooks: A new love of mine. I'm a tad obsessed with Jim Dale's readings of the Harry Potter series. I listen to it all the time. I didn't think I'd like listening to audiobooks, as I'm not too good with audio learning, but I gave the first HP audiobook a try because my friend Jim recommended it to me (thanks, Jim!) and I got completely hooked! Maybe it helped that I'd already read the series, I'm not sure. But since then I've listened to a few more audiobooks, and enjoyed them. Martha Beck's reading of her book Steering by Starlight is particularly fantastic.
T.V.: When I asked the question, "What do you listen to when you create?" on Twitter, a few people mentioned mindless t.v. and most seemed ashamed of it. I say, whatever works! I haven't done much creating in front of the tv lately, but there are times when I enjoy having mindless television shows on in the background. Like I mentioned before, mindless t.v. can often distract that monkey mind part of your brain, so that you can create from a more intuitive place.
Television itself isn't evil. It's all about moderation and consciously choosing what you watch. Sometimes, shows will inspire me to create. I absolutely love Project Runway for example and often draw while I watch it (it starts up again in August!) and I'm totally enjoying So You Think You Can Dance at the moment.
Silence: Sometimes, I get overloaded with sound and I need a break from it all. Even in silence there is some sound: Cars passing outside, rain tapping the windows, my cat snoring in the corner, the buzz of the fridge, the sound of a paintbrush moving across the canvas.
When I take a bath, I often bring things with me: books, sketchbook, pen, etc, but I rarely dip into them. By the time in get in the bath, all I want to do is sit in silence and soak. And that is more than enough.
If you didn't pipe in on the post where I asked about what you listen to while you create, I'd love to hear about your favorite podcasts, music, audiobooks, and shows to create to!
CED Challenge Check-In: June 8 – 14
June 8th, 2009, 19 Comments
This weekly post is a place for CED participants to share their creative activities.
Ways to share: Leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 6/8/09 - 6/14/09.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.)
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to.
Join in the Challenge: To find out more about the Creative Every Day Challenge check out the details here.
If you want to sign up to be a part of the challenge, leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know. When you contact me, please let me know how you'd like to be listed in the list of participants, which resides in the right sidebar (I can list you as your name or as a link to a blog if you have one. A blog is not required to participate!) Please email or comment to let me know you're participating before you start posting links in the comments or on the "Mr. Linky" widget.
UPDATE: There's been an issue with the Mr. Linky servers, so if the widget is missing please leave your link in the comments. Thank you!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for June is sound. I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the theme here.
Happy Creating!!
All who are creative, in whatever way, are doing something very important to the well being of the world. ~Sandra Chantry
Wrecking This Journal and Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone
June 5th, 2009, 33 Comments
O.k., so even though I feel a bit self-conscious about doing video blogging (or vlogging) and this is far from great video quality (enjoy my wet-fresh-out of the shower hair and weird buzzing noise), I'm stepping outside my comfort zone a bit today and sharing this 1 minute video of me talking about Jamie Ridler's fabulous new book group, for Keri Smith's Wreck this Journal. Enjoy!
Untitled from Leah Kolidas on Vimeo.
What Do You Listen to When You Create?
June 4th, 2009, 18 Comments
I put up a question on Twitter (I'm @leah_art on Twitter) yesterday asking, "What do you listen to when you create? Music, Podcast, Silence?" Here are some of the responses I got:
82Apple my favorite CD's
JimDoran Jazz, Pirates of the Caribbean.
ladymisssusan Music or (saddly) the tv
obrown Sometime (usu) silence, occasionally mindless television, rarely music. Great question!
acrawley I listen to music-instrumental/classical or a mix of rock/pop/bombastic when in the studio; depends on my mood & mood of the artwk- acrawley Tho' sometimes I do like to create in silence.
kaleidoplex Lately, I've been listening to the electronica music television channel when I'm working on my mixed-media projects
TouchSoul Silence when I draw; Music when I color. News when I clean.
alexispl what I listen to in the studio depends on my mood: sometimes it's music, sometimes it's silence
ERLong8502 Silence usually, occasionally instrumental music. People talking/singing tend to interrupt my flow & scatter my focus.
OoffAhh Nothing helps the creative process like Philip Glass!
T_C_P i usually check with my inner muse to see what she's up for : )
bgmillsart I listen to NPR programs like This American LIfe or music
HiroBoga Silence when I'm writing. Music when I'm creating book covers or drawing or cooking.
Good stuff! For me it all depends on the mood. But I tend to listen to a variety of music, audiobooks, or podcasts while painting. Sometimes silence. Sometimes mindless t.v. If I'm writing, I can't have on anything with words, so then I might just have silence or turn on something instrumental. Lately, I've been enjoying writing to the New Age Ambient station on Pandora. Today I put it on a Radiohead station to work to. I could go on and on about the things I listen to, but first, I'd love to hear from you:
What do you listen to when you create? Is your art impacted by what you listen to?
No More Creative Constipation! Art Picnic: June 17th
June 3rd, 2009, 6 Comments
It's nearly time for another Art Picnic adventure. Yay! I'm super excited to share this class with you!
fly fly fly, created at recent art picnic
I have a confession to make.
I get a bit nervous about talking on the phone. I've done a bunch of phone interviews in the last year, a few calls and classes, and they've all gone smoothly, but each time I've had a wave of anxiety wash over me before I spoke. It's getting easier, the anxiety is less each time, but speaking, for this introvert, can be a bit unnerving.
I could simply stop doing this sort of thing, but I really love sharing this work. I feel that it's powerful and important. Yes, it's simple, but the most powerful stuff is often the simplest. And the things I share in the Art Picnic class are essential parts of what helped me though my worst creative blocks, stuff I wish someone had shared with me when I was going through it.
My worst creative stuckage happened after I graduated from art school. My head was literally bursting with the voices of all the teachers I had and unfortunately, the loudest ones were the negative voices. Teamed up with my inner critic, these voices had me way too scared to create anything at all. I went months without painting or drawing and a full year without creating much at all.
If you're a creative person (and I know you are), then you know that creative stuck can lead to the feeling of build-up, like a dam that's over-extended and ready to burst. It affects all parts of your life, leading you to feel on edge, frustrated, and not so fun to be around. Well, it's like being creatively constipated! Heh. Not pleasant!
No more creative constipation!
The way out for me was scheduling some time with myself to be playful, to give myself permission to fail wildly, and to create from my heart. In the Art Picnic class, I share the main tools to help you get started, get playing, and keep that momentum going. It's a gentle approach and I think that's the best way to get back to your creativity. Even if you're not blocked, scheduling some special time for you and your creative muse is a beautiful thing. Why not come play?
The next Art Picnic is happening Wednesday, June 17th from 8 - 10 p.m. EST (find out what time that is in your neck of the woods here.) It's only $25 and you can sign yourself up right over here.
An Art Picnic is all about quieting your gremlins and moving past your creative blocks so you can create freely. I'll be teaching you how to let your intuition guide you as you work, how to get playful with your art, and how to create from a place of joy, freedom, and authenticity.
The call consists of a half hour of sharing the essential parts having your own Art Picnic, 1 hour of creating on your own (with the ability to get in touch with me if you get stuck), and a final half hour of checking-in, sharing, and a few final tips to help you continue on the creative path. Check out all the details about the class here.
I loved what Teri wrote about her Art Picnic experience from the last workshop I gave. In the process, she learned that she could schedule some time for her creativity. And I love how she noted that it was a picnic with no ants! Ha! Very true!
It's so vital to schedule time for our creativity. Signing up for a class like this can be a huge help in making a commitment to yourself. It's fabulous self-care, so nurturing, and healing to set aside this kind of time.
If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. I hope to see you there!
Wonder-full Things to Wonder About
June 2nd, 2009, 7 Comments
Hello, you creative geniuses, you! Bunch of stuff to share with you today. Totally random assortment.
First off, some images I've done for an intuitive painting class. I've been focusing on the shape of a eucalyptus branch, which I turned into stencil and stamp using an old yoga mat. I've been doing things a bit more abstract for this class, but I also noticed that the eucalyptus branch looks a lot like a spine, so the last piece plays with that. For that piece, I cut a euculyptus shape out of rice paper, wrote in ink on it and then pasted it in and painted around it in acrylic.
I was thinking about how to incorporate sound into the post today and had an idea. I keep a little bowl in my studio. It is the one surviving piece of pottery I created in a wheel throwing class in college (I was horrible at it, but it was a lot of fun!) Anyways, in this bowl, I keep some shiny, blue glass marbles and on top of the marbles, I have scraps of paper with different words on them.
I like to reach into the bowl on days when I'm needing a little focus, close my eyes, and pull out a word. For the scraps of paper, I used collage scraps and bits of prints that didn't come out properly. You could make your own set quite easily. What words would you choose? Some of the words in my bowl are: trust, create, open, connect, stillness, possibility, and leap!
I thought it'd be fun to pick a word for you today and record it. Feel free to muse on the word, use it to inspire art, or just tuck it in your back pocket. The recording is 1 minute long.
Mmm, I love the word I picked for us today. And I wish you all a wonder-full day.
But before I go, I've also got some links to share with you:
- My pal, Jamie Ridler is starting her next book group this Friday, June 5th and the book is Keri Smith's Wreck this Journal. This is not your typical book and I think it's going to be a total blast. You can still sign up right here.
- The latest Pikaland Good to Know zine is out and I've got some words in it. The theme is about personal style in your art. Very interesting stuff!
- The lovely and talented, Rowena Murillo has challenged herself to do 100 pieces of art in 100 days! You can find out more about her challenge and join her here.
If you're interested in a challenge like that, but the timing isn't right, you can tag November in your calendar to join me in this year's Art Every Day Month challenge!
Starting off With Sound
June 1st, 2009, 9 Comments
Happy June to all you lovely creatives! Being that this month's optional theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge is sound, I thought I'd start off the month with a sound recording. Fun!
I've recorded a 10 minute guided meditation, mostly relaxation, with a bit of visualization/affirmation at the end. It's meant to help you get grounded and connected with your still, small voice, your creative core. Feel free to listen at your leisure and let me know what you think! I plan on doing some more of these throughout the month, so let me know if there's anything you really want to hear.
The link below will open up an mp3 player, so you can listen right here on the site. Enjoy!
CED Challenge Check-In: June 1 – 7
June 1st, 2009, 23 Comments
This weekly post is a place for CED participants to share their creative activities.
Ways to share: Leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 6/1/09 - 6/7/09.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.)
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to.
Join in the Challenge: To find out more about the Creative Every Day Challenge check out the details here.
If you want to sign up to be a part of the challenge, leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know. When you contact me, please let me know how you'd like to be listed in the list of participants, which resides in the right sidebar (I can list you as your name or as a link to a blog if you have one. A blog is not required to participate!) Please email or comment to let me know you're participating before you start posting links in the comments or on the "Mr. Linky" widget.
UPDATE: There's been an issue with the Mr. Linky servers, so if the widget is missing please leave your link in the comments. Thank you!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for June is sound. I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the theme here.
Happy Creating!!
"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence." ~Leopold Stokowski
Whale Tales
May 30th, 2009, 16 Comments
fishing
After writing the other day about the "Dive Deep" painting and the synchronicity with the whale tail in it, I was lying in bed pondering what whales mean to me and thought back to other times I've painted whales. I had an "Oh!" moment when I thought about the piece, "Fishing." This piece consists of a woman in a boat on the ocean in front of a full moon. Beneath her a whale is swimming and its tail has come up out of the water. I describe it in my shop like this:
In this image, a woman is casting out, reaching out for support and the whale's tail shows up to let her know that even though she can't always see it, she is supported always.
This is a spiritual image for me. The whale represents the unseen, the divine, the Universe, whatever you want to call it. I didn't write this in the description, but I thought of the whale's tail as symbolizing those moments I call "winks from the Universe." Winks often take the form of synchronicity or moments that are just too juicy to be coincidental.
If I see the whale's tail as a personal symbol of a divine wink or synchronicity, then the tail in "Dive Deep" makes even more sense. When I start experiencing a lot of synchronicities, I get this sense that I'm headed in the right direction. So in the "Dive Deep" painting I can see the tail as a sign to the woman diving that she need not worry, she's right on course.
Speaking of synchronicity, when I was working on the "Dive Deep" painting, I mentioned that I'd was painting a whale on Twitter and Jennifer Louden kindly recommended I read, People of the Whale by Linda Hogan. I haven't been reading a lot of fiction lately, but I couldn't resist a title like that, so I requested it at my local library. Well, it arrived on the day I finished painting "Dive Deep," but I wasn't able to pick it up right away. I hadn't painted the octopus into the painting when Jennifer recommended the book. It appeared after the whale.
I was finally able to pick up the book this afternoon, opened it up, and the first chapter is titled, "Octopus." I grinned reading it. The first paragraph tells the story of an octopus that "left the water and walked on all eight legs across land and into Seal Cave." Oh yes, and on the cover of the book there's a painting that includes a whale's tail jutting out of the ocean.
As an interesting aside, my great-great-great (not sure how many greats) grandfather was a whaling captain in Maine. Makes the whole whale connection even more interesting and significant to me. Oh and there's more sound synchronicity: Hogan's book is also mentioning songs: Songs to the ocean, songs to the whales. In the Native American tribe the author writes of, women used to sing the whales toward them.
Tonight, I'm feeling frustrated with myself for taking a bootcamp exercise class this week. I was sampling it, hoping to use it to kickstart a workout routine this summer, but oh my, bootcamp classes are SO not me. Fortunately, I'm listening to my inner voice that's telling me not to continue with that class. Yes, I'm feeling a bit sad about the damage I did to my feet in the process (old plantar fascitis cropping up. ugh.) But even though I'm feeling a bit bummed out about how my body is aching, I'm happy for the way I'm learning to listen to my intuition more and more quickly. (In the past, I might have continued on with the class despite knowing it wasn't a good fit.) And tonight, I'll be kicking up my sore feet and and diving deep into this new book.
Wishing you many winks from the Universe!
