1000 Hearts Art is Moving

1000 Hearts Art has gotten its own domain and a new and improved website. Go to 1000heartsart.com so you can see the new look and also resubscribe to the blog. There are more paintings to come and also some clay hearts are on the way. Come by and take a look.

New Mexico is Now Home

Sunrise view of the Sandia Mtns.

This is the amazing view I get to wake up to in the mornings. New Mexico truly is a gloriously beautiful place full of skies, light and color. I often gaze at these mountains and hear them calling. My husband and I have started hiking around them and even have begun to practice our ascent of these 10,000 foot peaks. As our Florida lungs have begun to acclimate since our arrival, we were able to make it over half of the way up to the crest last weekend. When we reached our stopping point, I took my hiking shoes off so that I could feel the loose gravel which we had been plodding over for the last odd hours between my toes. Something about being here among these mountains and high desert soil is making me long to place my fingers in the clay and play. I could not resist this call which is why I have started to work on pottery again and will be signing up for studio space soon. I have a few pieces partially completed and am looking forward to posting some of my new interpretations of the Heart soon. Thus 1000 Heart Paintings has now been transformed into 1000 Hearts Art.

Sing Your Song!

16/1000, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas, sold

This particular piece was inspired by a dream I had about a bird flying freely and peacefully through my mind's eye. It was this beautiful rust red, roundish bird, who I watched fly gracefully, zigzagging between the trees. It was full of life, zest and song. It reminds me of what we can all do when we stop long enough to listen to what our heart is asking for. When we connect with the core of who we are, we can sing our own unique song!

A Heart Blooms With Love

15/1000 Hearts, 18"x18", acrylic on canvas, sold

We all have a true calling, and when we listen to this, when we listen to what our hearts long to do, we bloom. When we are true to ourselves, when we live the life we are meant to live, our heart sings, and love is in everything that we do.

(Prints and cards available at Wild Iris Books.)

1000 Hearts Exhibit

The show opening night was all I had hoped for and more: family, friends, colleagues and the wonderful women of Wild Iris. For those of you were not able to be there, here is a small taste.

Getting Ready for the Show

 As I prepare the final touches for the show next week I am realizing how much more there is to do: organizing cards and prints, framing, finishing one or two last pieces, preparing the food for the reception and then hanging the show of course. Feels like I am getting ready for a wedding and in a sense this is a wedding of sorts, metaphorically speaking. I am formally committing myself to expressing my soul and sharing what my art has to say with others. No more occasional paintings here and there and an art show every 5 years. From now on my paintings are here to stay.

Looking forward to seeing you at the show this coming Thursday, April 28th at Wild Iris Books. The reception is from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. The show will remain hanging for the following five weeks.

One of My Inspirations

"Arbol de Luz" by Julio Montesinos

One of my dearest inspirations and role models is my uncle Julio. I remember about twenty to thirty years ago he quit his day job as an architect and devoted himself full-time to painting. He has been painting ever since and actually making a living from his art. I had the opportunity to Skype with him the other night, as he lives in Cuenca, Ecuador, and we were discussing my upcoming show and my plan to paint 1000 paintings. He mentioned that he has been numbering his pieces for a while now and is at about #800. That is when the realization hit me of what 1000 paintings really means and thought "what have I gotten myself into?". It is a life's work! But that is what I want after all. So here I am, preparing for the show and happy to say I am at #18. 

My upcoming show will be on Thursday, April 28th at Wild Iris Books from 5:00 pm til closing. Hope to see you there! Wild Iris Books

Outdoor Studio

After a recent red paint spill on my white carpet, and in light of the warming weather, I have decided to take my studio outdoors. Aside from enjoying this gorgeous early spring, I have developed a steady fan club of two, Diego my maltese, and Tico, his brother.

Currently I am preparing for my first solo show which will be taking place towards the end of april at Wild Iris Books in Gainesville, FL. http://blog.wildirisbooks.com/

Exact date and details soon to come. In the meantime, I am painting away and will not be posting as many of my pieces until after the show. Want to save a few suprises.

Gentle, My Tender Heart

14/1000 Hearts, 14"x11" acrylic on canvas, $225

Mary Magdalene

13/1000 Hearts, 14"x11", acrylic on canvas, sold

Throughout history there are so many women whose lives will always essentially remain a mystery to us. Mary Magdalene is one of these. Although historians and anthropologists have attempted to reconstruct her life, to a large extent, it remains unknown. In the world of art there is also a lack of  images of female spiritual leaders and I started wondering what some of these women, had they been depicted more by artists, might look like. Perhaps by daring to imagine these women, we might in some way fill in some of the bits of history which are missing.

While working on this piece I did some of my own research on Mary M. and found that the short of it is that she likely had a much bigger role during the beginnings of Christianity and the formation of the church than what has been known until now. Also, the belief that she was the prostitute that washed Christ's feet is erroneous (according to the sources I found), but has been promulgated in spite of that.

This painting was started during a shamanic journey which I was led on by one of my teachers, Katherine Skaggs http://www.katherineskaggs.com/. I started this painting not knowing what would happen and not even planning to paint Mary M. Initially all I painted was one of her eyes, but slowly, she revealed herself to me and as I worked on the canvas, she appeared.

I completed Mary after taking a class at the Cosmic Cowgirl University with Shiloh Sophia McCloud, an amazing artist and teacher! Check her out.
http://www.cosmiccowgirlsuniversity.com/

Listen to Your Song, Listen to Your Heart

12/1000, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas, $170

This is My Prayer

11/1000 Hearts, 18"x18", acrylic on canvas, $290

It amazes me that in spite of the fact that there are millions of us on this planet, on some level, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, we are completely alone. Most of the time it is easy to fill our lives with activities and distractions, but when things get very quiet, and we have time to sit and realize that in the end, the only thing we truly have for sure is ourselves, we can feel quite small and scared.

This painting was created on a day where I just felt overwhelmed, insignificant and alone. As I worked on it, I was surprised to see how in spite of this feeling, a radiant and beautiful central focus developed on the canvas. There was something about just sitting with this feeling of aloneness that transformed this emotion into a tall grounded tree full of life and soul.

You Are Loved!

10/1000 Hearts, 10"x8", acrylic on canvas, sold

Modern society is full of distractions, from the internet to gaming to texting and tweeting, there is always a focus outside of ourselves, and it is endless if we want it to be. There are hundreds of messages being sent our way on how we should look, dress and think and with so many distractions, and a constant outward focus, it is easy to forget how much we are loved.

The truth is that we are already loved by most everything else in this world, including the air, the trees, by many of those around us, our family, our pets, strangers. What is often the main road block in our feeling loved is our ability to receive it. 

Each of us is innately worthy of love regardless of the circumstances and at the core, the most important thing is to, firstly and foremost, give this to ourselves. 

Brilliant Heart

9/1000 Hearts, 6"x5", acrylic on canvas, N/A

This is the first piece I completed while learning from Shiloh Sophia McCloud, an amazing visionary artist, writer and teacher. 

Bloom

8/1000 Hearts, 8"x10", acrylic on canvas, N/A

This is another piece that I started during a shamanic journey that Katherine Skaggs, one of my wonderful teachers, was leading me on. This is also about opening the heart, letting go of that tight protective grip we have on ourselves in order to reveal the pearl inside.

7/1000

7/1000 Hearts, 9"x12" acrylic on canvas, sold

As this image came to me after a shamanic journey, I  am still trying to figure out what mountain I am looking at on the canvas. During this journey I saw myself standing at the edge of a cliff looking at this incredible view and remembering a long-lost past where we were all connected to the earth in a much deeper way. Connecting to our own hearts means having to ability to feel a deeper connection to everything around us. This image is a reflection of what we all have inside of us and it is not just our hearts and our souls, but the flowers, a rock, a hill, the sky, the moon, each other.

What Radiates Inside

6/1000 Hearts, 14"x11", acrylic on canvas, sold

Further exploration of shamanic journeying with the focus on the heart again, without any intention or design other than that. When we focus on our heart and open up to what is there, what truly is within us, beyond the mask or our thoughts of what we should be, we find a beautiful gentleness and vulnerability. This opening sheds light and provides space which allows us to see who we truly are and consequently, see others as well, with more clarity and compassion.

5/1000

5/1000 Hearts, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, $36

This came forth after a morning of meditation and shamanic journeying which focused on my heart. It felt very different from what I had just finished but I went with it nonetheless. After I finished it and took another look at it, I thought about the view I had from my hotel room in St. Thomas, where I had been a year ago. However, I had no idea that it would really be reflective of my next journeying experience as evidenced by one of  my next pieces.

Shamanic Journey

 4/1000 Hearts, 16"x12" acrylic on canvas, $230

                                    

What wonderful things can happen when we let go of old ways and allow something new into our hearts.

 As opposed to past paintings where I usually carefully plan everything out, the only intention I set forth before starting this painting is that I paint from the heart. So with that in mind, I spent some time meditating and then going on a brief shamanic journey which I had recently learned about from a wonderful artist and shaman named Katherine Skaggs. During this journey I focused on what was in my heart and allowed this thought to lead me. As I placed my brush on the canvas, without even a small sketch to guide me, I let my intuition show me what to do next. What took root in me and blossomed both surprised me and delighted me and with that I knew that that I must explore this visionary method of painting further.


For more information about visionary art and shamanic journeying you can visit this site:
http://www.katherineskaggs.com/

A Heart for a Friend

2/1000 Hearts, 2"x2", acrylic on canvas, N/A

                                

For My One True Love

1/1000 Hearts, 2"x2" acrylic on panel, N/A