Orange Spiral Arts

Freedom through Painting Friday-Processing Emotions

Hello Tender-Heart,

Here we are at Friday, once again.  This Friday, I have some heavy emotions that I am working through.  

I have a loved one in the hospital, and several loved ones who are going through a very difficult time.  

I went to visit my loved one this week.  I read her stories and wisdom from the book All I Did Was Listen by Rachel Awes.  

When I was away from home, I was feeling really stressed.  All I wanted to do was paint.  : )

GETTING THROUGH CRISIS

In case you might find this helpful, I will share a few things I did to help myself in this crisis situation.

1.  One thing I did to make it through was some deep breathing.  It's amazing what a few deep breaths can do for you.

2.  I shifted my focus to positive things.

3.  I expressed gratitude.

4.  I read uplifting stories (i.e. Rachel's book mentioned above).

5.  I took notes when speaking to the nurses, so that I could effectively communicate the information with other family members.

6.  I spoke kind words to people.

7.  I asked open-ended questions to keep myself from entering into a cycle of blaming others.  I opened my heart.  I felt compassion.

8.  I listened to others when they shared their feelings, thoughts, and emotions.

AN AHA MOMENT  

While I was reading one of the passages from the book above, I read aloud, "I see you." And there I was in the ICU, really seeing my loved one.  Sometimes it takes a crisis to finally really see someone and the grief they've been carrying up to this point.

We all are holding grief.  All of the losses we've experienced cause us emotional pain. It's okay to feel grief and pain.  It's important to forgive yourself.  It's important to forgive others.  When you forgive others, you are actually giving yourself a gift by letting go of those negative emotions that have been weighing you down.  Forgiveness is very powerful.  It's also okay to not yet be ready to forgive.  It's all part of the journey.  Give yourself permission to be where you are, and love yourself through it.

I am not a therapist, so I don't want to go too much further into this. There are many great resources on the art of forgiveness, as well as on processing grief.  I will list a few at the end of this post.

As always, if you feel you are unable to process your feelings on your own, please seek professional help from a licensed therapist.  If finding a local provider is not working for you, you might consider e-counseling, such as BetterHelp.

PAINTING

I was able to express myself through painting today.  It felt great to paint BIG!  I got out my big brushes, my children's tempera paints, and a large tablet of paper.

If you don't have large paper, you can always tape together several smaller sheets of paper, or up-cycle some taped together cereal boxes to create your "canvas".

The size of that brush is a 50!!!  She's big and beautiful!

I like to use long handled paint brushes to help keep my painting loose, free, and expressive.

Try experimenting with a variety of brushes-round, flat, large, small, but all with long handles.  : )

My interpretation of what I painted goes like this:

There is confusion in the stress and struggle of crisis.  This is all part of the process. We all have dark times in our lives.  To heal from our grief and losses, we need love and support.  First, we need to love ourselves and forgive ourselves.  This might be an ongoing, daily process of reminding yourself that you are loved, love-able, and worthy of good things.  

There is beauty amongst the pain.  There are gifts that come from suffering.  We are all on a journey.  May we find love, peace, and joy in the process.

GRIEF AND FORGIVENESS RESOURCES

The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace by Jack Kornfield

The Grief Process: Meditations for Healing by Stephen and Ondrea Levine

Stephen and Ondrea Levine have a great site here.

I also recommend doing a search on SoundsTrue, if you like listening to information.

Hay House Publishing is also another excellent resource with a wealth of material on grief and forgiveness.

A PRAYER FOR YOU

Wherever you are on your journey, 

May you be open enough to let in love,

May healing light pour over your entire body, and permeate your cells,

And may your mind give you a break once and awhile,

So that your body and spirit feel renewed energy.

May it be so.

Blessings and Peace to you,

Briana

 

Watercolor Wednesday-Liquid Watercolor Mandala in Art Journal Plus Intuitive Painting Recommended Books

Good Day to You!

For Watercolor Wednesday, I am sharing a peek into my art journal.  This is the art journal that I purchased from LK Ludwig this fall.  You can see more pictures of the journal and the beginning pages in this blog post here.

I am continuing to work in this beautiful journal.  The pages take watercolor paint quite well, which makes me reach for it when I pull out my paint.

I am using Liquid Watercolor and a no. 10 watercolor brush.  

My typical process to begin looks like this:

1.  I get my paint ready by removing the caps on the twelve paint cups.

2.  I have a jar of water ready for rinsing my brush.

3.  I turn to the next page in my art journal.

4.  I get my music ready.  Oftentimes, I listen to Songza on my iPhone through earbuds.      There is an option for wordless music for "focusing" or "studying".  

5.  Without too much thought, I simply choose a color of paint to dip my brush into, and I begin painting somewhere on the page.

 

As you may have guessed, often I do not have a plan.  Part of my process is about getting into the flow of listening, trusting, and using my intuition.  Some might call this "intuitive painting".

(At the end of this post, I will share resources you might be interested in to learn more about intuitive painting.)

Next, I continue to work with the color and brush strokes I have started with.

I ended up with a watercolor mandala.

I painted around the mandala with blue paint.

 

I went back into the orange mandala with some more paint after it had a little bit of time to dry.  Keep in mind, it wasn't completely dry, or anywhere near that state. The beauty of using liquid watercolor is the wet-on-wet effects you get when colors swirl and flow together.

I actually picked up my art journal to help some of that swirling and flowing along.

I felt drawn to keep painting, so I decided to paint the left side of the journal spread, too.

I may or may not come back to the left side to add words or collage elements, or stamps, or more paint . . . the possibilities are endless.  Such is the beauty of art journaling!  Wouldn't you agree?

As I mentioned earlier, I'd like to share some resources you might consider, if the idea of intuitive painting intrigues you.

Art from Intuition: Overcoming Your Fears and Obstacles to Making Art by Dean Nimmer is a fantastic book that touches on drawing and painting.

Brave Intuitive Painting: Let Go. Be Bold. Unfold.:  Techniques for Uncovering Your Own Unique Painting Style by Flora Bowley is another fabulous book.  The book is great to go along with Flora's Bloom True E-course.

Other recommended book and e-course combinations are as follows:

Tracy Verdugo offers several online and in-person painting workshops. Her book Paint Mojo A Mixed Media Workshop: Creative Layering Techniques for Personal Expression also stands well on its own.

Alena Hennessy has a new book coming out in December 2015.

Intuitive Painting Workshop by Alena Hennessy will guide you through a year of painting.  Similarly, her online offerings can be found here.

Thank you so much for following along with the Watercolor Wednesday posts, and other art posts here on Orange Spiral Arts.  

Happy Creating to You,

Briana

Mark Making Monday-Stamps

Howdy, Hello, and Good Day to You!

I hope you are doing well.

Today I'd like to share a couple of ideas about how stamps can make really interesting marks in your art or visual journal.

Idea Number One:

Alphabet Stamps

(Magnetic Poetry Alphabet Stamp Kit, which is currently out of print. I found my set at a thrift store.)

What you see in the image above is my "side paper", where I brush off extra paint and stamp out extra ink.  This paper gets layers and layers of goodness piled on, as I continue to create my piece of art, or work in my visual journal.  In this case, I was working in my Big A** Altered Atlas, which you can see below.

Idea Number Two:

Hand Carved Stamps

Nearly one year ago, I participated in Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Carve December Challenge on Instagram.  Shown above is one of the stamps I created during that month-long challenge.  I created a border with my funky hand-carved stamp in my Big A** Altered Art Journal.  : )  I prefer to use StazOn Ink, as it dries quickly and works on top of a variety of surfaces.

If you missed it, I was also on Julie's podcast reflecting on Carve December 2014.  You can find that podcast here.

Have you tried using stamps as a mark making tool in your art or visual journal?  I would love to hear more about it! Leave a comment below, if you'd like to share.

Thank you for reading this Mark Making Monday post!

Have a beautiful day (or night)!

Blessings to You,

Briana

Photography Friday

Hello Friends!

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of taking family photos for some friends of mine. Their sweet son just turned one!  Some of you may recall that I took the birth photos for this family, too.  

It is hard to put into words how inspiring photography is for me.

I love to photograph nature, but photographing people invites a whole new level of soul.

Through being witness to the natural wonder inherent in children, I am reminded to appreciate the little things, find joy, and stay in the moment.

Through witnessing the love between parent and child, I am reminded that love is all that matters.  Be open to self-love, and the giving and receiving of love.

I am also reminded of the true beauty of people, inside and out.  Every person has a shining light inside that comes through when they express love.  Love has no barrier.  

This past summer, I took a portrait photography class online with Tara Morris.  If you are interested in portrait photography, I highly recommend taking a class with Tara. She's funny, down to earth, a woman who is not afraid to swear, and is a fabulous photographer!

Photography, writing, and visual art are my main forms of creative expression.

What are yours?  What things make you gasp, because they touch your soul so deeply?

We are all on a journey to find out who we truly are.  When you feel deeply moved, that's a sign to pay attention.  That just might be your soul talking to you.

Blessings to You,

Briana 

Watercolor Wednesday-Sparkly Paint, Sparkly You!

Welcome to Watercolor Wednesday!  

This week I would like to talk about sparkly paint AND the sparkle within you!

I know that may send some of you away screaming, but I hope that you'll read all the way through this post before you do!

I am feeling inspired by the magical evening I had this past Monday night.  I was with "psychologist, author, and art playgroundist" Rachel Awes, and thirteen other amazing women.  We gathered to talk about Rachel's upcoming book, The Great Green Okayness, which will be available for pre-orders in early November, and in print, April 2016, published by Wise Ink.

On Monday night, at Rachel's gathering, we talked about our worth and the inner sparkles that we all carry.  

Believe it or not, YOU have inner sparkles, too. Think of your inner sparkles as light. Your inner sparkle is that bright beam of light that you spread to others when you smile with kindness, reach out to friends and strangers, or when you share your true gifts with the world. Inner sparkles are beautiful, radiant, and full of positive energy. They are the stardust that we are all made of, coming through your human form.

If you have children, or if you love children's books, like I do, I invite you to look up Sprinkle Your Sparkles: Show Your Love and Kindness by Kirsten Tulsian, illustrated by Mary Gregg Byrne. This is a great book on the subjects of spreading love and kindness, and will help illustrate the sparkle concept better than I can in this moment.  

 

Twinkling H2O's Shimmering Watercolors 

The morning after Rachel's gathering, I was still whirling with good energy and thoughts of sparkling light. To express myself, I grabbed some of my Luminarte Twinkling H20's Shimmering Watercolors, 5gm Jars, Summer Fun, 6 Per Package

Talk about color! Woooweee!  

Shown above are the colors that I have.  Some people have this many:

Image Credit:  DionDior.com

The trick to using these Twinkling H2O's is to spritz them with water and let them sit for about 20 minutes.  I did not do that before I started painting, so the shimmer potential was not fully reached when I painted the images below. (Sort of like a metaphor for us all, when we have not recognized our true purpose or mission, right?!)

That's okay.  I will know what to do next time I paint with Twinkling H2O's. (And it's okay to not yet know all that you are; the lessons, learning, and discoveries are on their way to you!) 

The most important part for me was to express my feelings, play with art supplies, surround myself with sparkle, and record a concise message to remember the magic of my "moreness".

Did you know YOU are more than you think you are?  Do you know your kindness does more than you think it might? I could go on . . .

For now, I encourage you to take on an attitude of playfulness with this idea of your inner sparkle.  What gets you excited about life?  What makes you feel alive and sparkly inside?  How can you share that with others?

If nothing is coming up, you may be blocked.  Life is challenging.  We all go through tough stuff, and that can make us feel blocked.  It's a normal part of the cycle.  I invite you to believe that there are good, wonderful people and resources available to help you through this tough stuff.  I invite you to send an open request out to the universe, asking for what you need to help you move through your pain.  The transformation that comes from breaking open, getting down to the real truth of your life, helps you to then clearly see your inner sparkle that has always been there. Once you see your inner light, you are able to more easily spread that inner light to yourself through self-care and self-love. Next, you spread your light to those closest to you, then to your community. Finally, that light reaches the greater world and universe. 

This is big stuff.  It's kind of a lot for a Watercolor Wednesday post.  However, this is what makes me tick. I love deep discoveries about our true human nature, our soul, our spirit. I love how art helps in that discovery process, and connects us to it all.  

Thank you for being here, and for reading this edition of Watercolor Wednesday.

I am sending out love, light, positive energy, and a little shimmering watercolor paint to you!

Blessings and Peace,

Briana

Products Mentioned:

 

Mark Making Monday-Altered Atlas Inspiration

This past weekend I guided participants through the Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  We had a fantastic time!  We actually all guided each other; the environment was supportive, generous and kind.  That's just where I like to be.  How about you?

I decided that since I did so much mark making in my altered atlas art journal, I will share a few tips, over a span of several weeks, in the Mark Making Monday posts.

Today's inspiration looks like this:

What you see here is acrylic paint, layered in three colors, on top of the very fancy Paint Squisher!  If you Google "paint squisher", then click on images, you see a lot of adorable children with paint all over themselves.  If you need to make your heart happy today, I highly recommend clicking here.  

My point is, apparently the Paint Squishers I own have been discontinued.  I have a set of plastic "Paint Squishers" with handles.  They are in basic shapes, such as a diamond (shown above), a circle, square, triangle, etc.  I am sure you could create something similar out of cardboard or a plastic lid.  They are really fun to use in an art journal!!

The white areas, that are almost diamond-shaped, are marks made with the Paint Squisher.  

That's it for today!  I am exhausted from a full weekend of teaching.  Making art is hard work!  As someone in class said, creative makers are not given enough credit in our society. Artists, musicians, actors, singers, photographers, seamstresses, dancers, etc., you are amazing!!  Thank you for all that you do to bring joy and inspiration into the world!

Have a beautiful day!

Briana

PS NEW NOTE:  THE DAY I PUBLISHED THIS POST, GELLI ARTS SENT ME AN EMAIL ABOUT A NEW PRODUCT.  They are just like the geometric shaped paint squishers I describe above, except they are mini gelli plates!!  Oh my goodness, that's awesome!

Scorpio Centerfold for the Secret Message Society Zine

Have you heard of Mandy Steward?  She does amazing creative work.  She has a blog, art, e-books, online classes, and a zine to satisfy your artistic soul.  She is also cooking up a new program called The Magic School.  Sounds, interesting, right?

For the Scorpio issue of the Secret Message Society Zine, I am the "centerfold artist".

Mandy features an interview with each centerfold artist on her blog.  To read about my secret life, click here. 

To give you a taste of Mandy's artistic style, here's a sample piece:

I invite you to check out Mandy's site and zine.  It's good stuff.

Blessings to you,

Briana

Freedom Through Painting Friday-Artist Addie Lynn Rementer

Hello To Beautiful You!

As I prepare to teach this weekend's two day Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop, I am feeling a wee bit behind on other things, like creating this blog post.

So, rather than not post anything, I decided to share a video of the artist Addie Lynn Rementer, as she paints in her studio.

Addie Lynn uses bold colors, bold marks, bold shapes, and seems to create from the playful center of her being.

I adore this video, and hope that you will, too.  

 

 

Have a wonderful day or night, wherever you may be.

Blessings and Happy Creating!

-Briana

Watercolor Wednesday-Liquid Watercolor in Altered Atlas Art Journal

Hello Curious One!

Today I am sharing some photos of using liquid watercolor in my altered atlas art journal.  This is just the type of colorful, abstract, mixed media technique I will be demonstrating this weekend in the Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop, happening in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  If you are local, it's not too late to grab your seat!

The liquid watercolor I use is from Discount School Supply.  (I used to teach preschool, and we ordered a lot of great supplies from them for the classroom!)

Liquid watercolor is . . . well . . . liquid; like water, it gets your paper wet.  That means it soaks through thin paper, like the atlas paper.  However, it is vibrant in color and that color can be really awesome to see on the neighboring pages in your atlas.

Note:  If you gesso the paper first, that does create a buffer.  However, I found this paint still often soaks through to the other side.  You'd need many layers of gesso to prevent any seep through.

Let me show you some photos from start to finish, including pictures of how the liquid watercolor soaks through to the other side.

Below is my initial set up on my work table (aka the dining room table). 

 

I am using a plastic placemat from Target to protect the pages underneath.

The paint does seep through to the other side of the page.

At first this might seem alarming and unwanted, but before you let yourself feel upset, consider the following: 

One of the things I love about the book The Diary of Frida Kahlo:  An Intimate Self-Portrait is that you can see her drawings and writing through to the next page!  It looks so interesting!!

Here's a look at the liquid watercolor on the opposite side of the painted pages.

All of these lines, marks, and layers is what makes an art journal so intriguing to page through.  It makes the curious mind ask, "How did she do that?"

Since this is a journal, I decided to do a little writing.  

I asked the question, "How are you going to make it through?"  

I listened to my intuition, and painted the answers on the right-hand page.  

The answers read:

listen

have hope

believe

envision

ask for help

step-by-step

move forward

take positive action

pray

love yourself and others

I could not end my painting session without creating a page spread with some drips.  

I used warm colors on the right, and cool colors on the left.

That's all for this Watercolor Wednesday.  What ideas or questions do you have for me? Feel free to add a comment below.

I hope to see you local Twin Cities creative types in class this weekend for the Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop!

If you liked the question and answer process I shared here, you might like the Vision Board E-Course I have available.  The Vision Board E-Course walks you through some big questions to help you gain clarity about where you are and where you want to go. There are several videos and resources galore included in the self-paced online class. You have unlimited access to the content.

 

Mark Making Monday-Mixed Media Mandala

Hello Wonderful Artful Soul!  Thank you for visiting the Orange Spiral Arts blog for this edition of Mark Making Monday.

Today I am sharing some stepped out photos of making a mixed media mandala.  I was inspired by the work of Faith Evans-Sills, found in the 21 SECRETS Fall 2015 E-Book.

As I was working on my mixed media mandala, I was noticing my call to make marks on the piece. I love how the marks of every artist are unique and show that the art was made by a human being.  My marks tend to be imperfect, more organic in shape.  What are your natural mark making tendencies when you make art?  What type of marks are you attracted to when you look at the art created by other people?  

Without further ado, here are a few photos of the process I went through to create this mixed media mandala.  If you, too, feel inspired, I highly recommend the 21 SECRETS FALL 2015 E-BOOK.  

 

Below is the mark making that shows my unique hand as an artist.  For example, the tiny black dots over the white painted areas within the mandala are marks that catch the eye.

Below, you'll notice the pale yellow dots in the top right.  Those were made with my finger tips dipped in paint.

 

Below is a close-up of the tiny pink marks made with a brush.  All of these marks add interest to the art piece, even if they are subtle.

 

Below, you'll see a close-up of some painted circles and stripes.

To finish the mixed media mandala, I painted an orange border around the edge of the paper.  You might also notice that I painted a small orange spiral in the center of the mandala, too.  

Thank you for viewing this edition of Mark Making Monday.  If you have any thoughts to share, please leave your delightful comment below!

Have a beautiful day!

Blessings,

Briana

PS  After receiving some feedback from some local Twin Cities folks, I've decided to add a new option to the Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop, happening this coming weekend, October 17th-18th, 2015.  Are you interested in attending, but can only commit to one day? No problem!  Choose the day that works best for you!  I hope to see you this weekend!