D'Muse ~ Issue 12

September 5, 2009

Greetings!

I hope you will like the new combination of interactive items in this issue!

I have added a "Dinner Menu" with step-by-step instructions for a Painting Lesson and Interpreting Dreams, complete with a list of the materials and my recommendations so you can try it at home!

So start at the top with the 60-second Mind-Body-Spirit Connection video with paintings which are on view at Glave-Kocen Galery and The White Dog Inn.

Read the two stories; What the Muse Says in the Wee Hours... and Using Dreams to Create Real Life which illustrate the Painting Lesson. Then try it out for your Self and by all means, go see the paintings! There are quick links at the bottom to all of my galleries.

Enjoy!

PS There are several seats left for next Saturday's demonstrations, so if you would like to come sign up now!

_______________

Vote for me...

To help keep D'Muse going stong and expand its reach, I have applied for an American Express / NBC Universal Small Business Grant. To be eligible, I need your vote of confidence!

If I get 50 votes of confidence, I will compete for the grant which will bring $50,000 worth of marketing assistance and $50,00 in cash to help jump my business into high gear.

To vote, all you have to do is go to the spotlight on my application. Read my 3 paragraph essay and vote yes or no.

Thank you so much for your support!

Rejuvenate Your MIND-BODY-SPIRIT Connection in Just 60 Seconds

WATCH VIDEO>

Pictured above: Tide Coming In Bethel, oil, 30 x 40, $2500
See enlargement>

See Picture Index of all paintings featured in this video

AT GLAVE-KOCEN GALLERY
What the Muse Says

in the Wee Hours . . .

Silver Lining II, oil, 30 x 40, $2200

The two most recent paintings, which I did on the beach at 6:30 in the morning this past week, still take my breath away as they did when painting them. I stood on the sand watching the sun peek over the horizon.

Anticipating the light show, I set up my easel facing the far shore of the marsh. I had painted this view many times. I knew the light would soon be spreading across the field of marsh grasses. I set up my easel, pushing it's legs firmly into the sand to brace it against the stiff wind which was blowing off the Chesapeake. And I would need all the help I could get in keeping such a large canvas (30 x 40) from taking off.

Flowing, oil, 24 x 20, $1400

These paintings are on view at Glave-Kocen Gallery, Richmond, VA through October.

Go to Glave-Kocen Gallery>

In This Issue

Vote for Me...

MEDITATION VIDEO

GLAVE-KOCEN GALLERY What the Muse Says in the Wee Hours

Using Dreams to Create Real Life

PAINTING LESSON Creating Neutrals

DEMONSTRATION DAY Saturday, September 12 Reserve Your Space Now

ON VIEW NOW
Right in My Own Back Yard
Plein Air Paintings

Kindred Gardens
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

D'MUSE PAINTING LESSON

Using Dreams to Create Real Life

What would happen if you could create the world you live in with the stroke of a pen or a brush load of paint? A new painting this week illustrates a new way of working with dreams. Jumping back and forth between several realities; dreams, art and the 'real world' ~ they are all one in the same ~ parallel versions of real life! Here is how it works:

When I arrived at Haven Beach to paint, it had just started to rain. The sun had not risen yet, though I could see the billowy storm clouds out over the Chesapeake. I parked and got into the back of the van with the egg sandwich I had brought from home. I sat on the tailgate and watched the storm and ate my breakfast.

Rain got heavier so I closed the back hatch. I looked out across the marsh and watched the mist rising in the trees. Like sentinels, they watched out over the Bay, subtle colors changing around them as the day grew brighter. I opened my paint box and set up a little canvas and took some color notes.

Pictured left: Storm Six am, plein air oil, 9 x 12, $300.

Two days later in the studio, the little canvas continued speaking to me. So softly did the canvas speak, I could not really distinguish what it was trying to tell me. So I set a larger canvas on my easel and set about finding out for myself. The urge to scratch it out with a big brush was strong. I followed the urge to see what it was all about.

I used three colors and white; permanent blue, premanent red and cadmium yellow. From these, all the neutrals could be created. My canvas was already toned with a warm neutral in a value of about #3. (on a 1 - 10 scale) So I began with a similar value, slightly warmer. The next, slightly cooler. Back and forth, I continued painting layers of subtle colors. Nothing solid. Painting atmosphere. Painting the reflected light which I felt emmanating from the marsh, trees and sky.

By now the little oil sketch was silent and I was listening instead to the landscape within myself. Eeking it's voice out, breath by breath, I listened carefully as if hearing it for the first time. I painted for the rest of the afternoon, slowly allowing the colors to build one upon the next. Finally stepping back at the end of the day, I see a different landscape than the one I saw that morning on the beach.

The landscape that morning looked dark and stormy. What I see reflected on this canvas shows no evidence of a storm. I feel warm light emmating from the landscape. I see the sun rising on an entirely new day. Indeed.

This week I have begun a new practice. In the days between this oil sketch and the larger painting, I have begun writing dream extensions in my journal. By this I mean that I have used myimagination to create, then write it in my journal as if I had dreamed it. Each of these entries extended a specific issue which was expressed in the previous night's dream. And each of these enabled me to stand up and 'walk into' a new and different kind of day.

Pictured right: August Sunrise, oil, 36 x 24, $1800.

On Monday I made the oil sketch on the beach. On Thursday morning I saw myself hunkered down in my castle in a dream image. That morning I wrote the first dream extension, writing myselfstanding confidently, graciously, proud of myself and my work in my castle. (rather than hunkered down awaiting attack.) I felt myself sigh as I wrote the words in my journal. And as I stood up from my chair in the den, I felt taller walking into my studio. Later that day, I felt drawn back to the oil sketch I had painted on Monday. From it I painted this warm, enlightened version of Monday's sketch. In it I feel the warm gracious woman emerging strong and tall. And again, I feel a sigh of relief.

Instructions for the PAINTING LESSON & DREAM JOURNAL follow. As you balance the neutral colors on your canvas, you will automatically be balancing your own mind-body-spirit connections. Humans are wired to automatically become one with Source. Doing the painting sets this in motion.

D'Muse Dinner menu graphic
PAINTING LESSON Creating Neutrals

Create two paintings (any size) using neutrals mixed from the three primary colors (Permanent Red, Permanent Blue and Cad. Yellow) plus white. Begin by toning the canvas with a neutral tone, slightly warm or cool, in a #5 value (on a scale of 1 to 10.) Use a bit of fast drying medium such as Liquin, so that your toned canvas will dry overnight.

When the toned surface is dry, with a palette knife mix a little of two of the primaries together and add some white. Adjust the mixture until you have a secondary color you like. Then nuetralize that color with the third primary (the one you haven't used yet.) Adjust this color to a #5 value, slightly warmer or cooler than the toned canvas. Use this color to scrub in the first shapes of your image.

Adjust the color slightly warmer or cooler and continue adding shapes. Adjust the color again, warmer or cooler, slightly lighter or darker. Continue adding shapes, overlaying colors as you go along. Be careful with the touch of your brush on the canvas to lay each color on the surface of previous colors, mixing only slightly. Let each of the colors retain its integrity, distinct from those around it. Your eyes will mix them optically when you step back across the room.

When your first canvas is at a stopping point, set it aside and tone the second one. If the first was toned warm, tone this one cool ~ or vise versa. Let it dry and repeat the painting process on the second canvas.

Notice how the process of mixing the colors becomes meditative. As you become 'absorbed' in the process of balancing colors, you are also balancing your Self. This is why you feel relaxed and inspired. You are in the flow with the Creative Source.

DREAM JOURNAL

When you are done painting, write a description of your painting process in a blank sketchbook or journal. When you are done writing, reread the process as if it had been your dream. Jot down any symbols or insights. Date your entry and keep it for reference.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

See Materials List