Mandala prints and cards are available at these stores in Orange County, CA:

Awakenings, Laguna Hills, CA
The Sanctuary, Tustin, Ca
Sunburst Sanctuary, Lompoc, Ca


Friday, December 1, 2006

Getting your (creative) groove on


Remember those song lyrics - "If it feels good, do it; do it if it's what you feel"? Good advice for getting those creative juices flowing. I know it works for some people to commit themselves to sitting at their desk, easel, keyboard, or whatever at a certain time, for a certain time, but that has never worked for me. When I force myself to "be creative," I produce lousy, stilted pieces and I feel lousy while doing it. Then I paint over the piece later.

What works better for me is if I wait, no matter how long, for some sort of inspiration to arise (i.e., not panicking and telling myself that "if I were a real artist, I would ...fill in the blank.") That is honoring "feminine" energy - the idea or the feeling of something wanting to be expressed. Then the "masculine" energy can come in and get it done. It doesn't work so well to have the masculine energy dictate that something must be created and created NOW. (Do all women dislike being told what to do?)

Masuru Emoto - the Japanese scientist featured in the movie What the Bleep shows how water crystals exposed to certain words and phrases change their shape. Crystals exposed to "do it" are misshapen and flat, while crystals exposed to "let's do it" look like pretty little snowflakes. It makes sense, then, that a painting "forced" into existence would look (and feel) different than one "invited" into existence.





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