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Dream Paint Flourish!
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August 18, 2009 | |
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Greetings!
Lots of food for thought in this week's issue ... a painting from my past ( On My Way Home) which I didn't even recognize as my own helped me to see that I am in my own Haven now. (story to the right) This past weekend a friend of Jim's showed me that I am ready to coach others in finding their own creativity. (See How to Make it Flow below.) And a vision I have had for contributing to land conservation and earth stewardship has suddenly become tangible! (See Kindred Gardens article below.) All in all, it's been a pretty magical kind of week! Press releases for Demonstration Saturday have gone out and post cards are at The White Dog. If you plan to come, I strongly suggest you reserve a seat online. The event is free, and I want to make sure everyone who attends can see and hear well. My Kindred Gardens project is moving along well. A new painting from the shores of the Chickahominy River tells an interesting story below. As always, thank you for your feedback! I appreciate hearing from you. I am always inspired to write and paint more ~ each time I hear that what I painted or said meant something to someone besides me! Enjoy!
PS There is a 10% OFF Coupon for anything on my Website at the bottom of this email. If you've had your eye on something, perhaps now is the right time?
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PAINTING DEMONSTRATION
On My Way Home
7 Paintings Trace Path to Haven
Like a jig-saw puzzle, a series of seven paintings done from 1982 through 2009 ~ last week ~ map out how I made my way through the dark years and found peace.
I received an email recently from Longwood University's art museum director, Kathy Bowles. She wrote:
Dear Ms. Fagan,
Recently Jack Blanton gave the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, the art museum of Longwood University, one of your works "On the Way Home" 1982 pastel on paper. The work will be on permanent exhibition in the University's new Center for Communication Studies and Theatre this September. I was hoping you could provide some information as soon as possible:
1. The year and place (city and state) of your birth
2. Anything you may recall about the piece or other works you were doing at the time.
Thank you for your help.
With appreciation,
Ms. K. Johnson Bowles
Director
When I first looked at the photo she provided, I didn't recognize the painting as mine!
Looking more closely, I zoomed in and read the title, "On the Way Home" handwritten with my signature at the bottom. There way no way to deny this was mine! The title is one I have used repeatedly, though I had not realized how long ago I had been 'on my way home!'
Begging for time to resurrect my memories, I emailed Ms. Bowles and told her I would sleep on it and write something very soon. Since, images and titles have been playing through my consciousness like a slide show, each showing me another piece of the puzzle ~ my road map home.
This morning I saw the paintings on my easel now flip into place with the others! Amazed at the serendipity of it all, I sat down to get it all on paper before it slips away again. I will start at the beginning with this small pastel.
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ON VIEW NOW
Right in My Own Back Yard
Plein Air Paintings
from Mathews County
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OIL PAINTING ~ WATERCOLOR MURALS ~ WET INK TRANSFER TILES
Demonstration Saturday ~ Sept. 12
9:00 - 5:00 at my Hallieford, Vriginia Studio
Space is limited. Reservations Highly Recommended!
 Creativity ... everyone wants it! This is your opportunity to come and be inspired!
10 - 11 a.m.
Painting: Building Layered Color
REGISTER
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Watercolor Wallpaper Murals
REGISTER
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Wet Ink Transfer Marble Tiles
REGISTER
This is a FREE event. Reserve your seat early!
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IN THE STUDIO
How to Make IT Flow?
 I worked with a gentleman this weekend who said he felt he didn't do much really creative work. "Everything is structured, precise ... it has to be right," he said to me. I don't know how to be free flowing and loose. Everything I do is for someone else, not for me," he went on.
"This is good," I told him. "You are very directed and grounded. You know how this part works! Now I will show you how to catch each little wave of inspiration."
"I don't know where to start," he objected sure that he was the hardest case to come down the pike.
"Great!" I jumped out of my chair across the kitchen table from him. "That's exactly where you need to be! A BLANK! This is exactly where your true partnership with The Creative begins! Would you like to do a session in the studio?" I invited.
Startled, he looked at me as if to say, "Who? Me?!" The thought settled into the kitchen around us. Then his eyes lit up again and he accepted my offer.
In the studio, he talked about his work. He told me about how truly structured and rigid he felt his work is, how he didn't see how it could be any other way. He told me about how he sometimes felt overwhelmed.
"OK, this is perfect!" I said to him. You are very, very good at grounding your creative energy. Think of yourself as a conduit." To transmit impulses of energy, you must be grounded. The feeling of overwhelm is static. In this exercise, you will distinguish the difference between you and your Creative Source and learn how to get the inspiration you want when you ask for it.
"Really? I'm ready. I would love to be able to do that!"
I custom tailored several exercises to his specific needs. Then he spent an hour with pastel and paper, something he had never done before, testing them out for himself. When he was done, we talked about his new insights and where he wanted to go next. As he left the studio with the pastel he created, he was talking with his girlfriend of twenty years about going to the JP and getting married this week! "Wow!" I thought to myself as he drove away. I can't wait to hear where he takes it next!
Creativity Sessions
One-on-one Session
Personal creativity is a birthright. It does not require artistic talent. Like learning to read, becoming literate opens a whole world. A starter session takes approximately 3 hours. You do not need to have any prior experience with art materials. Your intended use for creativity does not need to be in any artistic field. The things you will experience in the session will translate automatically for you ~ into your day-to-day activities.
$200. EMAIL TO SCHEDULE
 Ping Journal
Find the creative energy you've been missing!
Improve your concentration, your energy levels and more ...
Get started on your own. This little book is the condensed version of the creativity program I developed for Baker University last summer. It will help you recognize your creativity and show you how to manage it in a way which helps it flow more smoothly in hands-on, day-to-day exercises. You exercise you physical body, now learn how to exercise your creative muscle.
$15.95
PURCHASE BOOK
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THE CONSERVATION COLLECTION
Uncle's Neck Provides a Refreshing View of the Flow
 I painted this view of the Chickahominy River from a composite of vantage points. Uncle's Neck is the bend in the river. This view is just upstream from that bend.
While the river on the other side of the bend is significantly wider, this view upstream is divided by marshes and lilies. I was intrigued by the abstract patterns made by the trees in the foreground and I like the three 'depth zones' which are established by the marshes in the foreground, mid-stream marshes and the far shore. The floating lilies create additional visual aids in helping the viewer to step across the river. The tree on the far shore, framed by the abstract pattern of the foreground trees, provides the focal point. Like looking through a telescope, one can and zoom in and out easily from the foreground tree to the distant one and back again.
This is how the creative process works, like a zoom in and out telescope which allows a close-range touch stone grounding us AND a specific point of focus out there at the Source. Each time we reach out with a focused question and a blank slate, the Creative Muse provides an inpulse of inspiration (creative energy.)
If I think about this in context of the landscape itself, this view is upstream ~ beyond where the river doubles back on itself. If you think about this image as it were a dream image. In a dream, water can represent emotion (e-motion or energy in motion, how it feels.) The river can represent the Source, the flow, the divide between this side and the other, between self and soul. Water flows downstream, not the other way around. If we stand facing downstream (focused only on results,) we cannot see what is being sent our way from the Source. If we turn around and face upstream (asking questions), we are now in the flow. Inspiration comes to us easily, as a matter of natural course.
Nature's cue: When it feels like swimming upstream, notice your position in the river. Asking questions will open the flow.
Pictured above: Uncle's Neck, oil on canvas, 24 x 36, $1800. (w/frame) INFO>
This painting is part of Kindred Gardens, protected landscapes. This landscape is located near Toano, Virginia on the site of Rivers Bend at Uncles Neck, a new plat of home sites which incorporates 190 acres of protected landscape with 35 homes on the Chickahominy River.
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NEW AT THE WILLIAMSBURG WINERY
Kindred Gardens
 CONSERVATION SERIES Handmade prints and note cards are now available at the Wine Shop! It is my vision to create a stream of income to support earth stewardship. The first step in accomplishing this has been put into place here with this series of limited edition prints and note cards. By enabling The Winery to purchase these wholesale, together we have opened the first trickle of the stream to go to land conservation via The Williamsburg Land Conservancy. Once my materials and production costs are covered, a check will be sent to The Conservancy. Each time The Winery restocks, another check will flow through the stream. As I issue other editions such as prints of; Ford's Colony, Uncle's Neck, Govenor's Land, Colonial Williamsburg (all of which have conservation easements held by The Williamsburg Land Conservancy) ~ I am looking for opportunities to create additional streams. You can help support this project by 1~ purchasing and using these to share with your friends and colleagues, and 2~ suggesting appropriate retail venues which would benefit by selling them. Pictured: Bottle of Red, handmade pigmented print on handmade linen-weave and lakota fiber papers, $65
The exhibit of oil paintings at Wedmore Place gallery will continue through September 30. PREVIEW THE SHOW The Gallery is located at the entrance to Cafe Provincal. Enjoy lunch, see the paintings and don't forget the wine! Daily Tours and Wine Tastings, wine shop & more... Wedmore Place is located at The Williamsburg Winery, 5800 Wessex Hundred, just beyond the Williamsburg Regional Airport. Get Directions
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I appreciate hearing your comments and feedback on my articles and paintings. I invite you to use the comment boxes on my website or email me!We are now offering monthly payments for painting purchases. Pick out your favorite painting and call me for details. 804-725-1183 studio or 804-366-0990 cell.A Special Thanks to Archie Fripp for the great photos of me painting! Dolphin Watch Photography, Williamsburg, VAMy husband Jim Waggener has become the resident geek! In addition to keeping my internet connections in top form, he is helping others with the same. He is offering Rivah Broadband (see his ad below). He knows how to get the signal even off the tip of Mobjack! He comes to your house, demonstrates the signal, installs it for you and helps you tweek it to get it just right. I'll loan him to you if you send him back for dinner!
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Free Site Survey
Mathews - Middlesex - Gloucester
www.rivahbroadband.com
Jim Waggener
804-725-1183 office
804-647-9467 cell
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10%
OFF
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Dorothy Fagan Gallery Shop
Dog Days Sale
10% DISCOUNT on all orders placed through my website.
Use Discount code sub459 to get the discount.
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| Offer Expires: Midnight August 30 |
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| Offer Expires: August 16, 2009 | |
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