Migrations, Dreams & Habits

new work 16"x20"

I am part of a migration, not one guided by the moon or involving birds or butterflies. No one has fixed a metal band round my leg or tagged my ear as part of a study, but still it's happening out there. I suspect you are aware of it too.  It's a technological migration of sorts, one where I sense small currents quietly causing people to drift from the blog world over to facebook or follow the shifting breezes to instagram. Robyn Gordon's lovely curated collections have migrated from her Art Propelled blog to facebook. Jeane Myer's moved house from her blog, Art It to Instagram and I have joined her there for no other reason than to see her amazing work as she creates and shares it.

There are many other bloggers, that were part of community when I ventured here with my first post in December 2008, that like me, simply post less often. I am not leaving quite yet, but it's more of a second home than a primary residence these days. I sense this is true for blogger friends like Lynette Monteiro of 108Zenbooks and Lynne Hoppe (who is also sharing her work on instagram).  Do I have less to say? Do I think about painting and practice less? Not really. It's just that those thoughts don't make it to these pages so often anymore. The excitement of sharing on a blog has met time and they have wandered off together. The Buddha talked about this (not blogs, facebook and instagram) but change. It's the one thing we can always count on. Change is a constant.

Noticing the virtual migratory patterns did give me cause to think about why and what I post. There are artists that share what materials they're using or simply post the work they've been doing. There are those that write about where their practice is at the moment. It's about connecting, sharing what they know in the spirit of offering help and inspiration to others. When I thought about what I want to share these days, it's the things that excite me most, things that I think others might be interested in discovering too.

Trails 12"x12"

So here's a little goody bag of what I've been exploring lately. There's lucid dreaming with Charlie Morley. Lucid dreaming just seems like such a good thing to me and Morley talks about it with passion and clarity. We sleep 1/3 of our lives so being lucid in our dreams expands the time available to us and offers a connection to our inner life that the conscious mind doesn't. Probably most importantly, if you believe in any intermediate state between this life and the next, it prepares you to navigate that.

We listened to this great series of talks , called Awake in our Bones by Martin Aylward on a short home retreat. They were inspiring and expanding, a great companion to a few days of sitting. He has a fresh and clear way of speaking about life and the dharma.

I am curious about all the new brainwave technology and ended up on a site called iAwake that has lots of little samples to listen to and a freebie if you care to share your email address.

Canyon Rain 6"x6"

I've also been re-reading "Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself" by Joe Dispenza and doing some of his meditations. His work is part of the quantum consciousness movement that focuses on how our thoughts create our world. That belief is part of basic Buddhist thought but Dispenza and others focus on using this to create conditions we might want to find in our lives. I'm not talking about "let's get a new car" but working with more stubborn mind states that might affect our health, how we use our time, our worldview and our happiness. I am finding it particularly helpful in my attitude to my painting. In Buddhist thought we might call it trust or faith. For athletes an aspect of performance is wrapped up in mental attitude. Is it any different for artists?

On January 1st I kidnapped a vintage mason jar from the cupboard and made it in to my gratitude jar. I cut up cute little pieces of paper and find things to be grateful for each evening and pop them in the jar. I find the physical act of having a jar a much more powerful reminder than a journal for recording these tidbits. I am finding that simply turning the mind from grumbling over little things to appreciation is a powerful reorientation for a somewhat aversive mind. Here's a lovely little website on gratitude.

And back in the world of things the wood stove in my studio finally got hooked up so other than some storage and a comfy chair my studio can take a bow and pronounce itself finished. It is amazing to have this space to work in. I can while away the hours, listening to the rain on the metal roof or keep company with the big trees out my windows and the ducks on the pond. I look forward to warmer days when I can throw open the door and windows.

And you, what have you been up to that fills your days with joy and passion?

Working With Hope, Fear And Blocks

Field Notes 16"x16"

Life is full of painting right now. My work table is covered in open tubes of paint, bits of oily rag, and multiple canvases and panels. I am doing an online course called "The Sacred Arts" with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, though nothing about my workspace looks sacred. The focus of the course  is creativity and part of that is working with what blocks us.

It is a given that true art, whatever it's form, comes from somewhere other than the head. Does it come from somewhere deep inside us or are we tapping into something outside of us, or maybe a combination of both? A lot of artists will tell you," I didn't feel like I painted that or wrote that, I felt like something came through me."

In the west we put a lot of value on our thinking minds.  The old "I think, therefore I am" permeates us at such a deep level we hardly notice it.  We believe in the power of our minds and in part we are right.  What we believe strongly influences what we do.  And yet it is not the whole picture.  My old Zen teacher used to say, "the mind is a good servant, but not a very good master.  This sounds a little medieval but there is truth in it. Sometimes the thinking mind is not enough.  Sometimes the thinking mind is the obstacle.

How To Get There 16"x 16"

In this course we have been exploring what blocks us in expressing our authentic creative selves.  We've been exploring fear and hope as blockages to our work.  Pema Chodron says the human condition consists of bouncing back and forth between hope and fear.  To allow our creative voices to speak we need to move beyond these conditions. Working from a place of stillness and spaciousness allows us to be open to what wants to be expressed through us. And yet we can't brush aside or ignore those hopes and fears.  What are your fears about your creative self and work? Do you fear you are a talentless lout? Do you hope it will be easy? Those thoughts flying below your radar might be standing between you and your best work.

On Mountain Time 12"x 16"

The course is a reorientation for me. I have big tendency to work from my head, to muck, to get frustrated, to believe I can't yet hope I will. (I think that last bit should be added to the definition of insanity!) And in the end it is about the having habits that support us and spending time working.  Ultimately our work will teach us everything we need to know if we pay attention. And the process is transferable to the ultimate art, the most precious canvas of our own lives.  Whatever we learn from our art practice seeps out into our life and the other way around. It is a rich, interconnected tapestry that we have the good fortune to be weaving. May your needle be sharp and your glasses never far away.

The Honest Scrap Award Washed Down With Lemonade!

On Monday when I stopped by Marcus' Journal to see what was up on his Dharma radar there was a pleasant little surprise waiting for me, all wrapped up in this rather charming retro sign.  I was the recipient (along with 6 others) of  The Honest Scrap Award.  It is a little blogging tag game that I was unfamiliar with.  Marcus received the tag-your-it-tap-on-the-shoulder from James Ford over at Monkey Mind and has passed it along to 7 of us.  (Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it...)  You must brag about receiving the award.  You must name 7 blogs you find brilliant and tell 10 honest things about yourself.

EEk,  I guess I'll give it a go, I thought.  And then last night when I checked my own blog for comments I found the Humble Yogini had stopped by and dropped off a lovely pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade (better known as the lemonade award) which "is given to bloggers who show a positive attitude, gratitude, and a willingness to share their ideas, support and online friendship. In other words, people who make lemonade when they get lemons!  The rules for this award are that you  put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate at least 7 blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude and link your nominees within your post.  Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog."

So it seemed fitting to partake of the Honest Scrap Award (you've heard of those people in Ripley's Believe it Or Not who eat a bus?) and wash it down with a freshly squeezed Lemonade Award.  Ah, a satisfying repast!  So enough pre dinner chit-chat, let's get down to the main course.

Now I must say I didn't notice Marcus brag about receiving the award???? and you know how you hate those celebrity speeches at the Oscar's where we fall into a Sleeping Beauty soporific stupor, so we won't even go there.  I could thank my suffering for getting me interested in the Dharma.  And I can thank my neighbour who through an incident that involved the ripping of much ivy from a fence, the tearing of some then applied bamboo beach mats and an exchange of some angry words for bringing me to a life of serious practice.   There's something about an intense dust up with anger that gets you to see what  a serious poison it is. So pssst, wake up, I'm going to tell you what blogs I love and why ( in no particular order, kinda like me)!

Peter's Monkeymind is a great blog by a serious Zen practitioner who is willing to bare his soul, share his tender spots and does the amazing work of a Buddhist Chaplain at Hospice.  He has a broad range which covers the Dharma, art and poetry.  His site is a wonderful resource and he looks at things with precision and depth.

The Humble Yogini was going to get the Honest Scrap Award before she  delivered the lemonade so I will go right ahead and pass it along.  I have been reading her blog since I arrived as a recent immigrant to the Blogosphere in Dec/08 and am always impressed with her willingness to share her stuff and her wise and upbeat attitude.  She covers a wide span too with lots of reference and links to info on yoga as a spiritual practice.  She is also intensely interested in environmental issues and offers lots of food for thought, resources and inspiration on that  subject too.

Dangerous Harvest  is a blog I've only just discovered and oh, oh, you've been tagged twice here, Nathan, once by Marcus and now I can't resist doing it again.  I hope it's not like a bee sting that sends you looking for a hit of steroids.  I love what I've read of Nathan because not only doess he live the Dharma but he is very funny.  Check out his Zen Cat post, it's hilarious.  

Full Contact Enlightenment is also a recent discovery.  I am embarrassed to tell you that I found this site while googling myself ( that sounds vaguely rude, don't you think?)  You gotta keep up on the gossip about yourself out there!   A young woman out of Montreal serves up some really good Dharma writing with a large side of funny.  I found "The Untrashing of Brad Warner" to be an especially entertaining piece of writing.

An Artist's Journal is another blog I frequent.  I love the art of Floridian, Martha Marshall.  It is colourful, spontaneous and beautiful.  She writes about process on pretty much a daily basis and her kind a generous spirit shines through.  She freely shares little art demos and writes about different techniques that she's trying out.  You feel like you've just stopped by and had coffee with your wonderfully creative and inspiring artist friend, Martha.  Now you are ready to go home and roll up your sleeves and get to work.  I have learned about paint skins and how to create an animoto video for free here (although I wasn't quite clever enough to figure out how to post it to my site!)

Hey Harriet's Blog is a fun site.  Her banner is made up of scrabble tiles and her name is not even Harriet.  A "random surreal generator" welcomes you each day with bizarre statements to expand your mind like "My jester is full of slippery ice floes.  Please spear my supermodel."  This is the home of "The Sunday Shadow Shot" where people from around the world post shadowy pictures they have taken and then you can tour (compliments of Mr Linky) and see as many as you like.  I've been to Finland and Sweden and goodness knows where, viewing shadows.  I can feel Tracey's fun and generous spirit in her comments that she leaves on people's shadow shots and her comments.   I like that there's this slightly exotic flavour of Oz with all the links to Australian sites.

Gallery Juana is another site I visit on a regular basis.  I love her Asian flavoured art and the fact that I feel like I've had a little visit to Japan when I stop by.  There are pictures of Tokyo and sometimes her washing machine or her cat, or her shoes.  And she tells little stories that give you a feeling of what it's like to be a foreigner living in Japan.  Again her spirit of kindness and generosity shine through.

And now for the 10 Honest things.  Should they be brutally honest, amusingly honest, embarrassingly honest, or a combination?

1. When I was 5 I was bitten on the butt by a very large dalmatian dog.  If that wasn't enough, the police officer asked if he could see where the dog had bitten me!

2. When my daughter was a couple of months old I locked her in the car (by accident, kids)  By the time I'd finished freaking out because all the neighbours were out and I couldn't call anyone, I realized the back of the old toyota station wagon was unlocked!

3. I love salt & vinegar potato chips. (In fact as a small child I used to sneak into the kitchen cabinet every now and then for a swig of vinegar.

4. I don't own a watch that works.

5. Once when my daughter was young and we were staying in a hotel we went out to get ice from the machine.  I didn't pay any attention to our floor or room number and much to her mortification I knocked on at least one wrong door before I found our room.  If you ask her she will tell you a similar story about a car parkade.

6.  I am shy and hate mingling at parties.  I might even prefer a visit to the dentists, which I also detest.

7. I once deposited a scoop of dog poop by the driver's door of a young neighbour's porsche when all other attempts to get his dog to stop using my garden as a toilet had failed.

8.  I love the Home & Garden Channel and Food Network TV.

9. I am a self confessed food snob (ie I only like certain coffee and only muffins from Wildfire Bakery etc, etc, blah, blah blah)

10. I get nervous when we're driving through the mountains (which you must do to leave BC) and have been known to hang on to the door handle when we pass big semi-trucks (I'm the passenger in this scenario).  My daughter used to say, "mom's afraid of tipping over".  She finds this quite amusing.

Fairfield Artist's Tour

Here's a little peek at some of the set up I had for my in home Christmas show.  I had some fun shots with people in them but didn't feel good about posting people's pictures without their permission so alas all you get to see is the empty dining room.  Set up will be a little different this time.

I have somehow managed to end up in a space where I am not feeling rushed or stressed (how did that happen??!) and just chugging along getting things done.  Maybe it's when you have so many things on the go, you just give it up after a while.  It's kind of like the really intense Zen retreats where they are trying to push you to experience the unreality of self by intense periods of sitting and lack of sleep.   At a certain point it just all dissolves.  I am theorizing now about where the stress went!  Just to keep things interesting this week I threw in a doctor's appointment, a haircut, a dentist's appointment and  a long ago planned evening at the Opera (this Saturday night) a first for me.  Oh and some friends will spend Sunday night here before flying to England on Monday.

Somehow I have managed to keep reminding myself that a lot of things just aren't that important, remembering the comments of the Zen master to his disciple.  I have also tried to focus on enjoying the process of getting ready!  This morning as I was sitting it came to me that it was important to not push away the stressed out, fearful part of me, that part of compassion (which we always seem to think should be directed toward others) was to embrace it all, the stressed out me (if that's what comes up), the settled me.  It's so easy to want to reject all that we deem unpleasant, undesirable but if we can be a big enough container (this is a term Joko Beck uses) we can hold it all, the good the bad and the ugly (oh, oh I might need to get out cowboy boots to do that).

So if you're in the neighbourhood, drop by and say hello.  Here's the link to the  website  http://www.galendavison.com/fast_2009.htm#L   for the tour so you can find me.  There are lots of wonderful artists in the neighbourhood and it's a lovely walk through the cherry tree lined streets of this old neighbourhood right now.  Many of the houses are a similar vintage to mine (1914) when there was a mini building boom in the area.  Lots of "Art's & Crafts" style homes and lots of variety.  The gardens are looking quite splendid in their Spring finery.  The local shopping street in the Cook Street Village is filled with places to linger and find treats: the 4 coffee shops (Cafe Fantastico on McKenzie has the best coffee),  Bubby Rose's Bakery is filled with delicious lunch goodies and bakery treats.  Then there's Ethiopian Food, Thai Food and Sushi in the old house on Mckenzie St.  One Fish, Two Fish (an offspring of Red Fish Blue Fish) has set up a cart next to the old Dry cleaner's and serves some tasty treats.  Then there's pizza across the street and a you can finish off the day with a glass of something at the Beagle if you are so inclined.  I've heard rumours that the weather is supposed to be quite Spring like (the other day it was snowing cherry blossoms in a gust of wind!)  I opened the front door and in they came.

So stop by if you can.  Otherwise I will try and snap a few photos without faces so I can post them for all to enjoy.