I come back from vacation feeling better than I had in a really long time. I'm open, I'm happy, I'm revived. I have 5 days to complete this painting and for the 1st two days... Nothing. I got nothing. I still have no clue on what detail to add to it. I also don't really want to work on it. The piece feels "heavy" and I'm feeling light because I permitted my energy to shift while away on retreat. It's as if I don't want to "go back there" and am struggling to reconnect with the creative mindset I had been in before taking the time off.
It reminded me of my early mandala process - when I would only create them within a single sitting because I wanted them to mark a specific moment in time. If you walk away and come back to something, something always changes within you and in this instance, something big had changed within me.
Knowing that this piece was simply not finished, I had to figure out a way to reconnect to it so I could complete it without having to tap into the stressed and cloudy mindset that I was experiencing before taking the trip.
Thinking again about how it felt heavy, and how I'd come back feeling light... About how my friend Jim talks about transforming heavy energy into energy that is light... LIGHT! That's the key! Make it light!
I'd begin this process by channeling reiki into the piece, then by playing music with a drum then a singing bowl. I chanted mantras and smudged the space with a spritz of sage spray.
It is now clear. The piece, and my mind on how to proceed. I return to one of the early ideas I had for the piece - to overlay mandalas of my own design to represent each chakra center. I sketch them onto the drawing and am inspired to add a "mojo kauae"- a chin tattoo that Maori women receive to indicate a high ranking status within a tribe.
I begin to paint them with a thinned down white paint to give the appearance of a luminous glow, one of light - a similar technique, as I'd been learning, was used by many contemporary visionary artists such as Alex Grey and Amanda Sage. (I'd be off to study with Alex Grey almost immediately after this piece was completed)
I contemplate and then begin to add additional mandalas over other important areas of this female form: the breasts, the hands, the ovaries.
After struggling to add all of the lettering to my previous large work "She is (I AM) Light" with it stapled to the wall, I take this piece down to paint the mantra of light around the perimeter: "Om amogha vairocana maha mudra mani padma jvala pravarttaya hum."
The Sanskrit symbols for each chakra are added around the throat mandala.
Finishing touches on the day that it is due.
Such a feeling of relief to bring this piece to completion.
Ensuring that everything is as it is meant to be.
My husband holding my cardboard mock up.
The completed piece.
Hanging in the Crayola Gallery at The Banana Factory.
I couldn't be at the opening for this show because I was at the fall Visionary Painting Intensive held at the Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) with Alex and Allyson Grey in Wappingers Falls, NY. I did however, have the opportunity to give a presentation about my work to the Grey's and all of my fellow participants.
(Alex Grey waiting for me to start my presentation.)
Resonate is currently on display in my studio at The Banana Factory. It is also currently available for purchase - please message me for details.
Resonate: From Concept to Creation Part 1
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