Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
 “Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.” – Ernest Gaines
I remember as a child, being asked to stop talking in class, a few minutes later, when the teacher turned away from the board, she asked me, “Are you still talking?” I remember looking at her perplexed and then replied, “Yes, because you’re asking me a question, and I need to talk to answer you.” Hmmm…I was sent home with a note from school that day! :)
(Image: ©2011 Indigene – Title: “Dream Sequence 11“)
We are told to question everything, yet we are sometimes ostracized as being too inquisitive, attention-wanting, time-suckers, with a rolling of eyes, etc. There were times in my life when I didn’t want to ask the question, but I needed to know why I’m asked to do things without reason or question. It’s my way of making sense of the world. I know that there are some questions that cannot be answered, but the search for the answer is a response to a life worth living.
Silence is great for meditation, but not as a response to life. Art making for me is answering a call/question from within me. I do this to explore every stripe, star and to make a mark as an answer or to question my spirit’s leanings.
If you are from the 50+ age crowd, you may have had to curb your questioning as a child, because it was better to be seen and not heard, back then! Can you imagine?
How do you respond to questions? As an adult are you embarrassed to ask questions? Do you fear the answers? Do you fear asking questions?
I love hearing from you.
In peace to you and yours.
Tags: acrylic paint, answers, color pencils, Dragon Fly, eyes, graphic, http:indigeneart.com, Illustration Friday, Indigene, Indigene Theresa Gaskin, life, markers, mixed media, Questions, society, Stripes, Wisdom
Posted in Art, Illustration Friday | 21 Comments »
Friday, October 21st, 2011
 I love winding down on Fridays, I look over my week’s work and feel a sense of accomplishment and order. Did I get everything done? Nah…that never happens…that’s what’s so wonderful!
I wake up in the morning, grateful for another day and I get to start all over again.
The days, when I’m stumped or can’t get the creative flow going, I look to my fuel packets…my art journals! :) I either create pages in my art journal or I look through art journals, I’ve created in the past and that usually gets me going.
It’s good to revisit my art journals from time-to-time. I especially look through all of them, at the end of the year. This year will be more meaningful to me, than ever. There is a lot of emotions in this year’s collection.
Art Journaling is the best fuel for me and it’s accessible at any time.
What fuels your creativity, your peace and/or happiness? I would love to know, leave me a comment(s).
Have a great weekend and fill up on the things that make you happy and at peace with yourself.
(Photo Image: On-going 2011 Art Journal Collection – ©2011 Indigene)
Tags: Art Journal, Creative, creative block, Diaries, facebook, Fuel, Happiness, http://indigeneart.com, Illustration Friday, Indigene, inspiration, Journals, photograph, Studio, Theresa Gaskin, twitter, window
Posted in General, Illustration Friday, Studio Time | 30 Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
 I have been super busy!
Attending workshops, creating new work, gearing up for my Holiday Studio Tour, conference calls, video summits and taking care of my daily business routines!
I’ve also spent some incredible time with new friends and old friends, (Thank you, awesome goddesses, you know who you are); which always fills me with love and adrenaline…:)
My thoughts have been scattered, but focused…is that possible, you ask? Yes, because these scattered thoughts and actions are an abundance of energy, that I believe are coming together, to bring another dimension to my life, creating richer experiences for me. They are only scattered, in the sense that I’m snatching time from here and there, because I want it all (insert, Vincent Price loud laugh here)!
I want to do so much and every waking moment is filled with something I love and need to get done, but at the same time, I’m savoring every nano-second and loving it! Now, how’s that for scattered thoughts and feelings?! :)
Every day, I miss my Mom and my sister, Renee, but I remember their beautiful spirits and then I live…in all my moments!
Savor your scattered moments, they have a place in your life, too.
In peace to you and yours.
(Image: collaged page from my “Creative Entrepreneur Business Journal”, Date: Friday, Oct.14, 2011)
P.S. I didn’t have time to edit this, so pardon any typos or scattered thought processes (insert more Vincent Price laughter!)
Tags: collage, Creative, entrepreneur, Family, Friends, fun, Happiness, http://indigeneart.com, Illustration Friday, Indigene, life, Life circle, living in the moment, love, memorial, memory, mixed media, moment, personal, scattered, spiritual path, Theresa Gaskin, Vincent Price laughter
Posted in Art, Family, Friends, Illustration Friday, Studio Time, Work | 14 Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
I’ve been in hibernation, as far as my blog is concerned. I will remedy that immediately!
I try to blog weekly, but I’ve been working very hard on some left brain activities, like updating my office systems, reorganizing my files (yes, again) and adding more art to my inventory!
I’m also preparing for a Holiday Studio Tour, releasing a new product line, working on my newsletter to my collectors, creating a new painting series and attending some workshops!
So that’s what I’ve been up to, instead of blogging, I’ve hardly had time to think!
I need to get a lot done before the winter blahs and then my bear-like tendencies will be in full effect, especially when it snows, and I’ll be hibernating for sure! Are you hibernating or burning energy? Let me know. Peace to you and yours.
(Detail from “Sky Life” – 30″x22″ – Mixed Media)
Tags: activities, Art, Bear, blog, celestial, goddess, Hibernation, http://indigeneart.com, Indigene, Indigene Theresa Gaskin, inventory, left-brain, planning, Sky, studio tour, Work
Posted in Art, General, Illustration Friday, Studio Time, Work | 22 Comments »
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
 (“Dream Sequence-13″- 3″x 7″ – Mixed Media/paper)
You ever wake-up in the morning and feel like you’ve just come back from an exciting place? Or know that your dream had some significant meaning, and you try to hold on to it, to remember it, before it fades away?
I do that often, in my dreaming and at times, in my conscious life. Dreams are especially hard to hold onto, with its colors or lack of color, feelings, sense of place, things and sometimes people. Which is why I keep a pad and pencil, on my night stand, to capture all the symbolism of my dreams.
I think, that’s why I’m mesmerized by faces, places and things.
I find faces mesmerizing, they stay with me long after the person has left my vision scope. I’ve been accused of staring, but it’s because I’m putting that face into memory and the face has fascinated me in some way. Be it, the eyes, or that little space between the nose and the mouth, or their eyebrows.
I feel that way about places, too! When I travel, I feel the pulse of a place as it attaches itself to all my senses, it can be the food, the sounds, the scene, or the meeting of new people. A place has history and stories and my senses try to get a sense of it or add my own unique slant to it.
I have a fascination with things, also, since I’m used to be that kid, who would come home with beautiful rocks, I may have found, or a brilliant color button, strings and that old fashioned key (I’m that adult that still puts found things in my pocket). These are things, I can pick up later and in that instant, I’m back to that moment that I found that thing!
I am mesmerized by people, places and things…or maybe it’s just as my grandmother used to say, “Life, baby, it’s just life.”
What has you mesmerized, today? Is it just for today or are you always mesmerized by that person, place or thing?
I’m listening…
In peace, to you and yours.
Tags: acrylic paint, child, Dreams, grandmother wisdom, http://indigeneart.com, http://indigeneart.com/blog, Illustration Friday, Indigene, indigenous child, ink, life, living, marker, Mesmerizing, people, places, Pondering, symbolism, symbols, things
Posted in Art, General, Illustration Friday | 24 Comments »
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
 This blog plays a part in my success, because it captures some of my creative processes, dreams, experiences of art and life, as a daily practice, I share with others. Since my creative processes are often done in isolation, my blog is a way for me to interact with others, which in turn helps me to network, connect and share!
After some difficult months and major changes, I spent some time soul searching, reestablishing boundaries, redefining goals. My definition of success needed to be adjusted, tweaked and changed at various times in my life. What I defined as success in my twenties, looks very different from what success looks like in my fifties!
In the Native American tradition, there is no word for art, because it is in every aspect of daily living and life. That’s how I wish to live my life, not with art being something separate, but as something that is a part of my life, like nature is, family is…because art is not separate from me! It is the authentic me. This is the formula used to define my success.
(“Define Your Success” – 5″x7″ – Mixed Media/Paper)
So a major part of defining my success is creating art, selling art, living with art and letting others know how what this means to me and what it can mean for them. I would like to reiterate: this is how I make a living! I love sincere compliments, who doesn’t like hearing pleasantries about something they’ve made?
REMEMBER, it is cash, that pay the bills, feed my family, gas up the car, pay for health insurance and allows me to continue being me. This is my economic circle of life.
All of the above makes me a success! How are you defining your success? Are you allowing others to define success for you? Forge your own path.
In peace to you and yours.
Tags: Art, Artist, blog, Boundaries, circle, Creative Process, culture, Definition of Success, Dreams, economics, Experiences, http://indigeneart.com, Illustration Friday, Indigene, Isolation, life, money, Native American, network, Selling, share, success, Theresa Gaskin, Tradition
Posted in Art, Family, Friends, General, Illustration Friday, Studio Time | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
 The spiritual and mythical lore of women have, through history been erased, plundered, burnt and forced into a non-important resource. I believe, all of these stories share an instinctual archetype and there is always an element of innate danger in anything mysterious, wild and uncontrollable. The mystery of the feminine is being reclaimed and etched into our psyche again.
I love exploring the spirituality of the forgotten feminine, be it in dreams, myths, or truths hidden in mysterious legends. It is one of the things that my art allows me to explore…the mysterious!
There is a Navajo legend of the Changing Woman. According to this legend, Changing Woman comes closest to representing Earth and the natural order of the Universe. She represents the cycle of the Seasons, Birth (Spring), Maturing (Summer), Growing old (Fall) and Dying (Winter), only to be reborn again in the Spring. Changing Woman is mysterious and meant to be explored and shared.
(To find out more on this Native American legend, visit: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Changing_Woman-Navajo.html).
(Image: “Changing Woman/ShapeShifter”- Mixed Media)
There is a sense of the mysterious, everywhere, our challenge is to bask in it, share it fearlessly and allow it to shape us, not conquer it until it is only dust that slips through our fingertips.
How do you define mysterious? Does it excite you or make you tread carefully? I look forward to reading your answers and comments.
Our humanness is a mystery. Peace to you and yours.
Tags: American Indian, archetypes, Art, colored pencil, danger, Dreams, facebook, Feminine, feminine mystique, Folklore, Graphite, http://indigeneart.com, http://twitter.com/indigene1, http://www.facebook.com/indigeneart, Illustration Friday, Indigene, instinctual, Legends, mixed media, mysterious, mystery, Myths, Native American, painting, patriarchal, pen/ink, psyche, reclaim, seasons, spirituality, truths, watercolor, wild, women
Posted in Art, Illustration Friday | 12 Comments »
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
 Night Flower Since August 22, 2011, at 9:30PM, I am disguised…Mum died.
I appear strong to my family, I thanked people who gave me their sincere condolences. “Not now, maybe later” is what I’ve said, to the many well-meaning offers of support. I have nodded my head appropriately in conversations, completed household routines, consoled my children and clung to my husband.
I am a dependable, responsible and strong daughter, a calm sister and a quiet mother. I keep my disguise intact.
Disguised this week, making the phone calls, finalizing information and writing Mommy’s obituary, (because my siblings think, I write better than them). Trying to capture a woman, “the Mommy”, who I was connected to from conception to the end of her life; the container of my childhood, my maiden years, parts of my mid-life, the starter of my creativity, the strength of my stubborn will, the fierceness of my independence, the sweetness of my caring and the sour of my temper.
But in the dark soul of every night since August 22, the disguise comes off… like some insidious poison, grief drips into my heart, gently at first, waking me from my tenuous sleep, as if someone is calling me sweetly from sleep. This grief pummels me awake, until I’m finally sitting with my knees to my face. A sharp sliver of anguish piercing my chest. I cry hard and long, with bouts of inconsolable anger, ill-formed regrets and wracked with confusion, I pick up the phone, and call my mother’s home. After several rings, her message comes on, “This is Gloria, I’m not home right now, would you please leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you. Thank you and have a good day.” I leave a message, “Mommy, I need you, call me back, I miss you.” I realize, just how corrosive grief is, at night. Like some dark, insidious poison, it drips into my heart so gently, it goes unnoticed during the day. In the morning, the disguise comes back.
I will work every day, because routines and rituals help keep me sane and thriving. I put pencil to paper, paint to canvas, my hands are in the habit and my mind pushes for it. My heart is broken.
I am more determined now, than ever to continue a artful legacy, my Mum gave it to me…a love of creating. It is the one thing, in this ending that I can begin anew…my art. It is the thing that goes on with or without a disguise. Thank you, Mommy.
It is morning, I wish peace to you and yours.
P.S. My mother loved flowers, birds, all things of nature. I generally do not create flowers, every time I have, it’s been with her in mind.
“Night Flower” 9.5″ x 8″ Pastel/Paper
Tags: 2011, 9:30PM, Art, August 22, child, condolences, creativity, Disguise, Family, Friendships, Grief, http://indigeneart.com/blow, Illustration Friday, Indigene, legacy, love, maiden, mid-life crisis, Mommy, Morning, mourning, night, Night Flower, Pain, Paper, pastels, Sympathy, Thanks
Posted in Art, Family, Friends, Illustration Friday | 22 Comments »
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
 This image, right now sums up my feelings and I do not have the strength to create anything else, that fits these feelings.
I listen everyday, as my Mum’s voice gets weaker and weaker and all that is happening to me is my heart swells and I wear it on my face.
I hold on to all the sweet and sour that is her and pray that it lasts me a life time.
I pray that everyone holds what is dear in life earnestly and closely, so that they may be able to let it go when it is time.
In peace to you and yours.
Tags: Broken, charcoal, everlasting, Graphite, heart, http://indigeneart.com/blog, Illustration Friday, Indigene, love, Ma, markers, Mom, Mother, Mum, Peace, pen/ink, Sour, Sweet, swells, torn
Posted in Art, Family, Friends, Illustration Friday | 9 Comments »
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
 I am in the middle of my life, my children are long from babyhood, my youngest will leave the nest in two years, and my eldest is creating his own wisdom, apart from mine. Where the preciousness of life takes on a new meaning, because I may be closer to an ending than a beginning. Why do I write this?
As an artist, I gravitate toward the visual; it’s just my particular way of interacting with my world. With so many things, to catch my eyes, I am in a constant state of over-stimulation and creating art is the passionate thing that calms me down. It is the constant, throughout my life that I believe keeps me interested, sane, stable and alive!
“Art is an articulator of the soul’s uncensored purpose and deepest will” - Shaun McNiff
Art influences every part of my life, not just in the pictures I create, but it draws me to others who create as well, whether their form of expression is dancing, writing, performing, healing, meditation, etc. They are all forms of art…people creating something that is a manifestation of themselves to give to the world, a beauty that only they can give.
My life is changing, and I want to commemorate this change. No, it’s a change that society may remark upon, but it is a change that has long been coming, a change from being just a child, woman, wife, mother or sister. I am becoming my authentic self! You might ask, well, who have you been all these years?! I’ve been all those labels, I’ve just mentioned…totally embracing, living and being in them, because they were necessary.
Those labels defined me and I made decisions based on those labels. I absolutely do not regret the decisions or the labels! But, I can no longer just be that. I must listen to my intuitive voice and follow it’s leading, with my life force, in order to make this physical journey true to what I am. So this perennial journey has become more than a whispering, it is my new art, my new self!
The labels are still there, but in a very different sense. My perennial journey is drawing out shapes, images and memories that may not belong to me, personally, but that will fashion a self-portrait to engage in my process of self-discovery; that is so essential to the discernment of my calling to authenticity. I use my art to bring me in line with my calling. Through it I have access to timeless sources of wisdom in myself, deep drives and memories of who I really am, who I am becoming.
I am changing…needing authentic people to grow along with me…I am changing.
Such are my perennial thoughts on this hot summer night…
I want to profusely thank Andrea Pratt for her beautiful talent and inspiration, she has shown me how a soul can travel through her art. I appreciate her help and direction in creating these memorial images.
In peace to you and yours.
Note: These images are a part the background of my memorial portrait of my sister, Renee Marie Bryant – (Feb.10, 1960 – June 27, 2011).
Tags: Andrea Pratt, Art As Mediciene, authentic, becoming, beginnings, Birds, circles, direction, eggs, endings, Friendship, http://andreapratt.blogspot.com/, http://indigeneart.com, Illustration Friday, important, Indigene, inspiration, journey, life, patterns, Perennial, Shaun McNiff, soul, support, teaching, thoughts, ties
Posted in Art, Family, Friends, Illustration Friday, Studio Time | 17 Comments »
|
