Honoring the Dream

For this month's DreamTribe post, I wrote about one of the ways I like to honor my dreams: by creating collages. This brings the energy of the dream into waking life in a creative way and allows me to put aside the yammering of my Inner Critic who always shows up when my paints and pencils come out. Click the link to see the full post.

Joseph Cornell -- Swoon!

My husband just told me about Joseph Cornell -- Lance was introduced to the artist in one of his classes at Expression.

I've fallen. Hard. Cornell's works are magical, dreamlike, delicate. He used found objects to create assemblages that capture the imagination.

Clicking around to find out more about Cornell led me to Joseph Cornell's Dreams, the book and Web site about Cornell's links to the dream world. Included on the site are some of the dream fragments Cornell recorded in his journal. It's all so inspiring! And it's making me want to pull out my National Geographic magazines and get snipping to create some new collages from my dreams.

First Photography Award

I am pleased to announce that I won both 2nd and 3rd place in the photography category of the John Muir Medical Center Aspen Surgery Center Art Show! The magnolia won 2nd place and the lily won 3rd.

This is a huge honor. It's the first photography award I've ever won, and it holds special meaning since Aspen Surgery Center is where I had my surgery this summer. It was enough for me to give back to the staff by bringing some beauty to the hallways...the awards are just icing on the cake.

Locals can view the show between now and January 15th. Park in the free parking garage at the John Muir Medical Center on Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek and take the elevator to the ground floor, which is the Aspen Surgery Center. Enjoy all the gorgeous local art hanging on the walls, including acrylic, watercolor, and oil paintings, photography, and mixed media!

Gratitude Sale

I have so much gratitude for those who read my blog, support my art, and make me and my work feel welcome in the world.

And so, for the rest of the year, I am having a sale to say thanks.

Details
Buy any of the following:
*two 11x14 prints from October Photography
* a one-hour aura reading
* a one-hour dreamwork session
and get another item from the list FREE.

Mix and match! Buy two fabulous gifts for two fabulous friends, or get one item for a family member and treat yourself to the other item! There are endless possibilities.

THANK YOU for all of your support this year!

Coming Full Circle

Life moves in circles and cycles. It's a simple fact, but sometimes we forget. Until something happens that shakes us out of our stupor.

This morning I opened an email from the East Bay Artists Guild. The email had an attachment, an entry form for the Guild's upcoming winter show. I remember hearing something about it several months ago, but it hadn't piqued my interest then.

When I opened the attachment, I saw the universe at work. The show is taking place at the Aspen Surgery Center, the very part of the hospital where I had my surgery this summer. I remember walking down the long hallway toward the waiting room, seeing the art on the walls, and thinking, "My photos would look good in here."

And so we come full circle. I am entering three of my photographs, including the one above, into the show. My photos will hang on those walls. I suppose I'm giving back a little beauty to the place that played a vital role in my healing.

Lilacs!

I knew I wanted to photograph the lilacs blooming around the corner from my house, but it wasn't until my friend asked me to photograph lilacs for her birthday (happy birthday Lori!) that I actually got off my butt and went around the corner to do it.

I'm so glad I did. First of all, lilacs are my favorite flowers! Can you believe I would put off photographing my favorite flowers? The creative mind works in mysterious ways. Second, they were in prime bloom and they smelled amazing. It was a fabulous 20 minutes of happiness.

If you love lilacs as much as me, make sure to visit my Etsy shop...there are five different lilac photos waiting just for you.

Honoring the Dream

A wonderful way to deepen your connection to your dreams is to bring their energy into the physical world. To do this you could share a dream with a trusted friend, or paint, sing, draw, or act out a dream. Many times these activities foster insight into dreams and they always help create a space for dreams in your life. Honoring dreams in these ways shows you respect your dreams and are willing to listen to their messages.

One caveat: some cultures believe that speaking a dream dissipates its energy. Judge for yourself whether or not to share a dream based on how you feel about it. Of course, I encourage you to paint, draw, sing, or dance the dream in private if it is not one you wish to share publicly.

I have worked with my dreams in this way several times and I always get juicy results. My most memorable exercise involved Owl, my spirit guide. Owl first arrived in my life last July. She came in a dream disguised as a hawk with a cat's head. To honor this dream, I shared it with a class of dreamers and then wrote a paper about it (this is the paper I will present at the IASD conference; you can read it at the link above).

I worked with Owl's energy for a number of weeks after I had the dream, which led to synchronicities and further dreams featuring Owl. During this time, I read about owl behavior, myths involving owls, and goddesses connected with the owl. I also asked Owl for further dreams and she brought them to me. Through this work, I unearthed my creativity and found new strength within myself.

After the summer class ended, my intense interaction with Owl calmed down. But once I started another dream class, she came back strongly. I encountered her as a snowy owl in a shamanic journey and a dream. This time, to honor her, I created two art pieces. One was a nest made of sticks from local trees, moss, and lichen. The other was a cape sewn and beaded to look like a snowy owl's feathers. The cape allowed me to overcome fears about sewing (I broke out my sewing machine and taught myself how to thread it) and it taught me patience, for beading the cape was a painstaking and slow process.

When I donned the cape at the end of the class and held the nest in my arms, I felt transformed. I was imbued with the energy of Owl: her grace, wisdom, stealth, and cunning. This is what it means to bring the dream into waking life.

My story does not end here, however. In January Owl visited me again in a dream, this time after I had asked my ancestors for a dream. She came in the form of a great gray owl, which I later learned lives in Minnesota and Sweden, my ancestral homelands. This dream had an immense impact on me, and I knew I wanted to bring its energy into waking life.

First, I researched the great gray owl. Then, synchronistically, I ended up on the website for the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, a local wildlife hospital and museum. It turns out they are caring for a beautiful great gray owl from Minnesota. One of the programs at the Lindsay is wildlife adoption, so I immediately sent in a donation to adopt the great gray owl. I now have a picture of the owl on my altar and in May I will be able to visit the bird at the museum. It felt wonderful to honor Owl in this way.

After looking back on all the amazing ways Owl appeared in my life, I decided in February to create another art piece tying it all together. Making this piece was thrilling and it now has an honored spot at the top of my altar. It ties together the "cathawk," snowy owl, and great gray owl dreams as well as my ancestral homelands and my connection to oak trees.

These interactions with Owl changed my life and I know that my commitment to bringing my dreams into waking life enhanced them. Owl is now a constant companion and I call on her energy when I need strength. This is the power of honoring the dream.

Ancestor Art

The Bakersfield Museum of Art is looking for artists to participate in its Visual Arts Festival. This year the theme is roots. The first thing I thought of when I heard this theme was ancestry and I hope to submit a piece.

Works can be no more than 8''x8''. The deadline for entry is April 21 by mail, April 20 in person. Prizes are awarded at the opening reception May 14.

Find out more here.

Red Door Show

On Friday I trekked with Lance and Susan to Oakland for the opening of Small Work for a Small Space, the show I am in at the Red Door Gallery and Collective. I had no idea what to expect. I've been to a few art shows before, so I knew there would be some mingling, some wine and cheese, and lots of interesting art to see. But I didn't know how I would react. I wasn't that nervous on the drive out, which surprised me. But when we arrived, the nervousness started to creep in.

Those old negative messages played in my mind. They said my art wasn't as good as everything else there, that all the other work was more creative and more likely to sell. The messages left me feeling small. I guess I was a small work in a small space too.

But I also felt proud. Proud that I took the leap and submitted my work, proud that it got accepted, proud that I was brave enough to show up and be with my unease. And I learned that the messages can still be there and I can work through them and ultimately feel good about putting myself out there.

I wasn't brave enough to mingle with the other artists, so after a while we left and walked down to the Oakland Art Murmur. I was inspired by the spontaneous music that sprung up, the vegan cupcakes for sale, and the fascinating art in the galleries. I felt uplifted that so many people are willing to put themselves out there and totally be themselves, and that so many other people come out to support that. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and gave their support to art that night.

Ancestry -- Clues To You

I've been doing a lot of work with my ancestry lately, and the further into it I get, the more I learn about myself. I have started to see that my love for nature did not spring from nowhere: my ancestors were people who lived close to the land; many of them were ranchers and farmers.

My great-great grandfather Frank Baxter (the man on the top) was born around 1880 and his family came from New York to Colorado in 1883. They lived in the mountains west of Fort Collins, ranching and farming, according to historical records. At some point Frank moved down to Fort Collins, and eventually to LaPorte, where he ran a general store and post office. In a 1979 interview with his daughter Norma Salisbury (my great-grandmother) and his son-in-law Walter Salisbury (my great-grandfather), I learned Frank ran stables and was involved with horses.

Norma moved to a ranch back in the mountains outside town with her husband, Walter, whose family also homesteaded in Colorado, and their property was up Rist Canyon near Stove Prarie Road.

After my great-grandparents got married, they lived on what was left of the once 900-acre ranch that my great-grandfather's family had homesteaded. They lived there for years running the ranch and enjoying the beauty of the Colorado mountains. It wasn't all idyllic, of course: my great-grandfather, grandfather, and great-uncles hunted deer, elk, and even bears for sport, just so they could hang the heads on their wall, which is something I find hard to deal with. Their love for animals appears far different from mine. But I could sense a deep love for nature in my great-grandfather's words nonetheless.

Walter reluctantly moved back to town after suffering a stroke later in life. His doctor recommended he come down from the high altitude (about 7,000 feet). My great-grandfather didn't think it made much difference (Fort Collins is at about 5,000 feet, after all) and he had another stroke and two or three heart attacks after the move to town. I think he was heartsick for the mountains. He couldn't stand the growth and the noise of the city and he was far removed from the life he once knew. Reading about this was hard for me; I only knew my great-grandfather for a short while, up until I was seven. I remember he would give us a quarter and a cookie every time we came to visit. I don't like to think he was not happy in his final years.

My artistic bent certainly came from my grandparents on my father's side, and perhaps other ancestors I don't yet know about. And my musical talent likely came from my ancestors four generations back on my mother's side. Or, at least, they had a large part to play in passing this on to me, as did others before them. One of my musical ancestors was Clerin Woods, my great-great-great grandfather (the man on the bottom).

According to the Fort Collins Museum, Clerin was a cow-puncher on the great plains. Along with being a rancher, Clerin played the violin for local dances and his wife Emma played piano. Surely Clerin and Emma had something to do with my love of music.

I love knowing these stories. It makes me feel more rooted, more at home in some ways. Sometimes it helps to know where we came from so we can move forward more surely on our path into the future.

Small Work for a Small Space

I am thrilled to announce that my collage piece "Repair" has been accepted for the upcoming show Small Work for a Small Space at the Red Door Gallery and Collective in Oakland!

The reception is on March 6 from 6-10 p.m. and I'd love to see you there. You can see the address in the "Events" section of my blog. The piece will hang through March.

This will be my first showing at an art gallery, and it is doubly exciting that this piece was chosen, because it holds special meaning for me. I made the piece last summer while I was learning about Terrapsychology and writing a paper about the local landscape and what it might want to say to us. After spending some time by the side of the road near the former site of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, I heard this: "Repair. Restore balance."

This land, which appeared pimpled by abandoned bunkers, is blocked off by tall chain-link fences. No one can even approach it. It's sealed off from the healing it needs.

Here's an excerpt from the paper I wrote last summer, which had a piece about this land:

"'Repair. Restore balance.' Quite an appropriate message from a land that has been abused and neglected. The Concord Naval Weapons station was established in 1942 to store weapons. In 1944, the marine area was the scene of a massive explosion that killed more than 300 men when a munitions ship exploded. Two-thirds of the men were African American. Surely, this had a devastating effect on the land, and since it became a weapons station it has endured enormous change, death, contamination, and neglect. The Naval Weapons Station was deactivated in 1999 by the military, and in 2007 it was declared 'surplus property,' giving the City of Concord a chance to develop or conserve the land.

What has happened to the land here is truly a microcosm of what has happened to the land across the globe. And our destruction of the land does not just affect the land--it directly affects us."

The City of Concord chose in January to use 65% of the land for open space and parks, with the remaining space going to community facilities, a satellite campus for CU-East Bay, and commercial and residential use. It will be interesting to see how the land feels during and after this transformation.

Help Me Get to Chicago!

Hello fabulous readers! I am offering a 15% off sale at my Etsy shop to raise money to help me get to the dream conference in Chicago!

Every print in my shop, including my collage prints, are 15% off. Just click on one of the red listings, like the image above, tell me which print you'd like, and I'll send you a gorgeous print!

If you happen to click on one of the other listings (except the original collages), I will refund you the 15%. It's that simple!

I have added several new images in the past month, including some of the images featured on this blog, so definitely check it out.

Please pass this on to your friends and family, and feel free to link it on your blog!

Find Yourself and Then Be Yourself

Over the holiday break, I had time to take a long look at my life. The holiday art show season completely wiped me out. Last quarter I had no time for myself, little time for seeing friends, and I had to cram school work into every second I had left after working at the shows and my part-time job. I was stressed out and miserable. And confused.

I mean, wasn't getting into art shows supposed to be a fabulous thing? Wasn't that what I was striving for?

It might have been what I was striving for in September when I started signing up for all those fairs. And it still might have been what I was striving for in October when I had my first taste of doing a fair and kind of liked it because I saw that I could make money doing them. But by the end of the season, I was completely dead. I didn't even make it to my last show, and that was a hard decision to make. I started to feel that all-to-familiar feeling of failure creeping in. But I also saw how much I had run myself into the ground and I knew I needed a break.

So I took time to really think about what I wanted in my life and where I want to go with my artwork. And the answer was surprising...and completely obvious.

I want to be a writer, a photographer, and a mixed-media artist. I want to create books that combine these three things. I want to inspire, to show others the beauty and wisdom I find in nature. I want to do all of this in the most authentic, "me" way possible. And I want to start now.

None of that has anything to do with going to art fairs or trying to get more sales on Etsy. It really has nothing to do with making money or "turning my art into a viable business" or getting retail sales. The bottom line is, this is not about money. It's about making a difference, bringing an important message to the world, and being my authentic self without holding back.

So, I'm doing it. I'm jumping into this adventure with both feet. And I've made what for me is a terribly difficult but exciting decision, and it has several parts:

1. I am not going to do more than two fairs this year, and maybe none. (gulp)

2. I am going to write more on this blog in order to exercise my writing muscle, because

3. I am going to start writing a book.

Yes, you read right. I'm getting back into the writing world. Even though I have a lot of trauma related to the children's book I published, I am going to get back on that horse. And I am going to ride that horse into a glorious sunset with fairies and birds flying around me and sparkles and rainbows. Oh yes.

This decision makes my Should, that unbearable task-master side of myself, squirm in desperation. She can see she's losing the battle this time. I can no longer listen to her demands, because the demands of my soul are so much louder now. And I know I have the strength now to listen to my soul.

So, all of this means I am going to spend more time meditating, walking and sitting in nature, painting, and writing than prepping for art shows and updating my Etsy shop and trying to market myself. I never liked any of that anyway. It feels good to declare that!

I hope you will all come along for the ride. It's going to be a magical adventure.

Berkeley Farmers' Market Holiday Fair

I did it! I survived my first tent experience. It was hard work, and I had to get up earlier than I think anyone should (6 a.m.), but the tent looked pretty awesome once we were done. Lance spent a long time hanging all the photos with fishing wire, but we agreed the effect was great -- it looked like my photos were floating on air.

Luckily it was a sunny day. And I was located next to the friendliest people I could have hoped for. One was a potter who has been doing this for 30 years and had exquisite pieces that I got to look at all day. Another, Jenn Lazarus, had something in common with me -- it was her first tent too! We exchanged ideas and chatted throughout the day and it was lovely to connect with a local artist. The neighbor on my right, Fred, had a display that could have been considered an art piece in itself. He made little boards with stenciled letters and big signs too, and the people just ate them up. It was fun to watch people scavenge for the letters in their name.

I had some things happen that I didn't expect. One was getting teary when I sold my Mount Diablo collage. It was the first mixed media collage I made and it had such special meaning to me. Lance said later he was surprised I sold it. I knew that it was meant to go off into the world and be seen, but I didn't know that I would get choked up when it was time to say goodbye to it. I had to have a moment of mourning.

The second was connecting with a fellow consciousness student and photographer. We chatted for a long time about putting yourself out in the world, creating an art community, and including consciousness in art. This is why doing show is so important...it helps me avoid being isolated and hermit-like!

I learned so much doing this show, and I'm glad I get another crack at it in two weeks. Let's hope the weather holds!

Grateful

I am feeling quite grateful for many things in my life right now. Friends. Family. The rain. My cozy house. The super-fuzzy and warm pj pants I bought this week. Being an artist. Being a student. Being surrounded by amazing nature. Having access to talented healers. I am truly blessed.

I've been so busy this week I forgot to update about the Sonoma show! It was an incredible gathering of talent. It's a miracle I didn't spend my earnings from the last two months buying something from each person's table. I hope Tara organizes it again next year.

I did pick up a kick-ass journal made from the cover of Madonna's first album. It was made by Vinyl Frontier, a fabulous shop that takes old record covers and turns them into journals made with 100% recycled paper. I can't wait to use it.

I also got a cute little four-pack of pins from Caitlin Kuhwald who creates some of my favorite art on Etsy. The pins I bought were illustrations of an owl, a rabbit, and two deer. She does portraits of people like Ira Glass and Audrey Tautou. There is something magical about her illustration style, and I'm so glad to have met her.

Now I have a little more than a week to prepare for my biggest show yet, the Berkeley Farmers' Market Holiday Crafts Fair. See that image of a tree in the lower left-hand corner of the postcard? Recognize it? It's my oak tree picture! I'm so thrilled that I am featured on the postcard advertising the show.

At this event I'll have a tent! I feel so official. It's definitely going to be a whole other world. I'm bringing out the big guns, kids. And I have a really good feeling about it.

Sonoma Show

It's almost here! The fabulous Sonoma Valley Holiday Artisan Faire is only six days away! This is a group of eclectic and talented artists, most of them from Etsy and all of them from the Bay Area. I am thrilled to be taking part.

I will be selling original collages, 8x10 prints, 8.5 x 11 prints of my collages, 5x7 note cards, and note card packs! My note cards are made with 100% recycled paper, and all my prints are packaged in biodegradable bags.

I am also doing a raffle to give away a framed and matted print of Big Sur...so make sure to stop by my table!

Honoring the Snowy Owl

I have had an amazing month. For the last three weeks, I have been in my first art class since junior high. Signing up for this class meant taking a huge leap into something scary for me...sitting in a room full of artists and trying to feel like I belonged amongst them. Now that I have declared that I am an artist, I knew I needed to try it and see what happened.

This was the perfect class for my rebirth.

The class is called Sacred Art: Ancestors and Spirit Guides. I have been working with both ancestors and spirit guides for about a year now as part of my master's program at JFK, but I have not experienced anything quite as amazing as this. Part of it has to do with the teachers, Kaleo and Elise, who hold the space incredibly well and bring a wealth of knowledge and materials to the class. Part of it has to do with the journeying and qigong we do as part of the class in order to get in touch with our ancestors and spirit guides.

During this class, I became well acquainted with a new totem animal, the snowy owl. The owl came to me in a dream a few weeks before the class. Now she sits on my right shoulder, guiding me and encouraging me.

As part of honoring the spirit guide or ancestor who comes to us in this class, we create art pieces. In one journey, the owl gave me a cape and a nest, and I decided to make them to give them form in this world.

I started with the nest. I gathered sticks and twigs from the parking lot at school and brought a bag full of them to the second day of class. It took me four hours to twist and bend those twigs and sticks into a nest. I tied the twigs together with raffia and stuffed the inside with moss and lichen. In the journey, the owl had also shown me specific items to go in the nest: a piece of amethyst, a piece of jade, a piece of carnelian, and a blue egg.

These are all meaningful for me. Amethyst is a protector stone and it is also my birthstone (and favorite stone!). Jade connects one with the heart. Carnelian's energy works with the first three chakras and helps one manifest their creativity in the world. Connecting the energy of these three stones meant that I was connecting all of my chakras, and also connecting my spirit with my heart and my creativity. This is exactly what I am trying to do with my photography and art, and so this nest is a representation of where I am going with my creativity.

The blue egg ties it all together. Blue is the color of the fifth chakra, the only chakra not represented by the stones. The fifth chakra is about communicating and using one's voice. This is so meaningful for me, for I believe I am in the process of developing my true voice, and an egg in a nest could not be a more appropriate metaphor for this process.

After the nest was done, I tackled the cape. This was considerably more difficult for me, because I don't sew. I have dabbled and had a few lessons, and I have a sewing machine passed down from my mother-in-law, but I have had fear around making an entire piece.

I overcame this fear through this process. I Googled a hooded cape pattern. I went to the craft store and got fabric, buttons, and beads. I came home, cut out the pattern, and headed upstairs to learn, once and for all, how to thread my machine (it's a 1969 model!).

After 45 minutes or so of messing with the bobbin and the complicated threading process, I was ready to sew. I put together the hood, sewed it to the cape, and viola! I had my cape. I added a button and a loop to close the cape, and it was ready for beading.

I spent the rest of the time in art class beading that cape. It was an exercise in patience. Bead after bead, I created what came to look a lot like the spotted pattern on the back of a snowy owl. I am thrilled with the results.

And so, here I am. I've taken my first art class in a long time and overcome the fear of creating among other artists. I've tackled my fear of sewing. And I truly know now that I am an artist, and I am ready to own that in a much more profound way.

Shine Your Light

“No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door: the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels of the world.” -- Paulo Coelho, from The Witch of Portobello

This is why I've decided to delve back into the art world in a big way. Because I cannot keep my light hidden or obscured any longer. What good does that do? When I squash my light, it festers and creates problems. It doesn't want to be kept away from the world. If I instead allow it that delicious purple light to shine, it inspires others to shine their own special lights, and that creates more and more light!

I remember hearing Maya Angelou speak five years ago in Denver. She sang "This Little Light of Mine" and it was incredibly inspiring. I wanted to stand up, right there, and shout and sing about all the things I wanted to do. I wanted everyone to know! And why was I so inspired? Because there she was, letting her light shine!

What keeps our lights hidden? Criticism, jealousy, people who tell us "art doesn't make money," or "be realistic," or "only truly talented people can do what you want to do." I've decided that's all hooey. I know for sure that if we allow our inner light to shine and we use that light and put it into whatever work we want to do, we can create more than we can even imagine.