Sunday, December 19, 2021

The difference between looking and seeing in art, life and the ocean

 


When I begin a drum painting, I just look.  I am not trying to find anything, just gazing, more like I am waiting for something to find me.  Sometimes this takes days and days.  Weeks.  Just looking.

Read more by clicking on this link to my Journey Oracle blog.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Mother Earth Sister Earth

 


Did you know Mother Earth has a younger sister?
I did not until I began to paint this new drum.

Her face was always there, but for me, a drum painting tells a story. 
Not just a single being–human or creature–but someone in relationship.   
This is one of the ways I know I am really seeing what has come.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Sometimes art changes everything

 



A new painted drum that holds a shift of perspective,
 that shifted all my thinking. 

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Can you practice Art?


Click on this link for reflections on 4 aspects of art to practice,
that are not techniques with materials.

Sunday, September 5, 2021

What do I value?

 


Click on this link for an interesting way
I discovered to assess my values.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

The best advice for becoming an artist

 


You can read some of the best advice I ever received
about becoming an artist by clicking 
on this link to my new blog


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Hanging an art exhibit is like preparing a dinner party


 

Enjoy this story of how an art show became a visual feast.

Friday, July 16, 2021

What is spiritual protection?


I often meet this question in connection to my frame drums and 

the shamanic journey experiences they make possible. 

Click on this link for 3 insights.

https://journeyoracle.com/2021/07/16/what-is-spiritual-protection/

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Summer Solstice: a ceremony for the Sun

 



Click on this link for a new version of a Journey Oracle reading, 

that helps me create a ceremony for the Sun on its wedding day:

 the Summer Solstice.  

Saturday, June 5, 2021

When is an artwork finished?

 



I feel when an artwork is finished, rather than know this because of some sort of exterior criteria.  There is a sensation of lifting off, both literally and figuratively.  I can find no other place to lean in and apply a mark.  Read the story of this dream painting, and its lessons, by clicking on this link

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Are you obsessed with making art?

 



Are you obsessed with making art? I certainly am.  

Maybe not so much with the result, as with an intense puzzling curiosity when trying to figure out how to make a "never before seen thing, "

Follow this link to read a story of how little steps led to a big discovery.

Friday, April 30, 2021

Entering the Realm of Faerie

 


Here is a new journey to take to an ancient wisdom.

Enter the realm of Faerie.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Attending to the Mystery of who we all are


 

Another dream painting 

and its question: 

Are you keeping track of all the parts?

Friday, April 2, 2021

Touching Trees: A ritual of rebirth for a clear cut



 Here is a "fairy tale" from my Journey Oracle divination deck that really happened. 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Windhorse in Mongolian Shamanism and in Art


Windhorse, or hiimori in Mongolian, refers to personal spiritual power.  When I spent 4 years at Martin Prechtel’s school of spiritual ecology in New Mexico, he often referenced Mongolian culture, language and music in his teaching. So books about Mongolian Shamanism found their way onto my bookshelf.  And in Chosen by the Spirits, by Sarangerel, I met the concept of windhorse.  

Now many years later a drum has appeared whose image goes by this name.

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Let art take you on a journey



 May we honour all the wild mothers that trust us with their springtime children.

This story tells of a journey to find a drum's painting

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

How to lose your way in art, and find a good reward


Here is a story about a new painting, and how I discovered a good reward

 from losing my way while working on it. 

Monday, February 8, 2021

Painting a drum is a ritual of respect



 This old, wounded deer hide has a new song. 

Click on this link to read and listen.

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Are you Picasso or Cezanne?



Another painting based on the dreams the guided the Journey Oracle divination cards in underway, 

and this link will help you answer the question:

Are you Picasso or Cezanne?

Sunday, January 10, 2021