My image, “Gabriel’s Horn” (30″ x 40″ – Oil/Canvas – Sold/Private Collection) is on the cover of Dream Network Journal.

Yes, I’m shamelessly happy and wanted to blog about it. I often write about the creative process, post the end results and let you know how I’m feeling!  So, it’s only appropriate to share my glee here, also!

What makes this so exciting is that this painting, marked my ten years of being a professional artist! Much of my work has been derived from dream experiences.

So, this weekend, I’m doing the thankful happy dance, anyone want to twirl around with me in thankfulness and happiness?

Have a fantastic weekend, mine is off to a great start!

Peace to you and yours!

P.S. The quarterly magazine is sold at Barnes & Nobles – $7.00

The Highs and Lows of my 2011 year:

1.) I RESOLVE TO PROMOTE MYSELF SHAMELESSLY.  (Those of you who read my blogs, encountered me on Facebook and Twitter know this is true! :) I also handed out many business cards and postcards during 2011.

2.) I RESOLVE TO CULTIVATE A GREAT WEBSITE. Well, it’s great website to me! My wonderful webmaster son and I spent an enormous amount of time on it, updating it!

(© 2011 Indigene Theresa Gaskin – Frontview of my 2011 journals).

3.) I RESOLVE TO CONTINUE OPERATING WITH COMPLETE INTEGRITY.  This was done a 100% of the time and gave me great satisfaction, since this is one of my values, to act and serve with integrity!

4.) I RESOLVE TO CONTINUE EDUCATING MYSELF IN THE BUSINESS OF ART. I did this through workshops on and off-line! I made it through 9 workshops this year and in the midst of completing the last one now! I’ve read over (120) books this year, with thirty (30) of them being about art business and marketing (My bookstore receipts state I’ve purchased about 250 books, I still haven’t read them all yet)!

5.) I RESOLVE TO CONTINUE CONNECTING WITH OTHERS AND SHARE INFORMATION. I joined a guild and participated in meetings and continue to mentor others.  This was really big for me, since I am incredibly introverted and enjoy my solitude greatly!  These were all the resolutions I made in the new year of 2011 : (See http://indigeneart.com/happy-new-year-happy-birthday-to-me/)

Additional highlights included winning an award in arts and culture and participating in (2) Art Fairs!

So I feel so incredibly wonderful that I accomplished all my resolutions and lived in true abundance that I gained this year.

(© 2011 Indigene Theresa Gaskin – sideview of all my journals completed in from 2011)

Wonderful highs, also come with lows. The lowest points of 2011 and which will make 2011, unforgettable is that I lost my Mom (August 22) and my sister, Renee (June 27). I can honestly say that I have been in the abyss and on the mountaintop in 2011. I was blessed with the abundance of kindness from strangers and family. The outpouring of love from my internet friends still continue to overwhelm me and kept me held in the abundance of hope and warmth.  I learned so much from this heartbreaking ordeal and I still continue to learn from it. I realized what true friendship meant during this time.

So, 2011 brought me a fire of grief, a rainstorm of love and true growth and will never, ever be forgotten by me.

So with the old year, only a few hours left, I wish you all a very, wonderful, peaceful, spectacular, loving, prosperous, healthy and loving New Year!

I will see you in the New Year, with my intentions and resolutions and I hope to see yours as well! :) Peace to you and yours.

I haven’t forgotten my blog readers! I’m just in a contemplative mood…thinking about my intention for the new year, setting goals, looking over the year…the great losses and the abundance that kept me going…

Take some time to separate yourself and sink into the peace that’s yours by going inward.

In peace to you and yours.

(©2011 Indigene Theresa Gaskin – Journal Time)

This is an extremely busy time for many people, running round with end-of-year activities and holiday stuff, me included!  So, I’m happy to offer some beauty and words to live by.

Here is the first of (18) inspirational card series, I’m launching:

Dream Sequence #7  - Inside Text: “You soar above life’s chaos“ ©Indigene Theresa Gaskin

Price: $5 per card – 5″ x 7″ Card

Shipping is Free in the U.S.A. and Canada

I will be featuring all (18) cards through my blog posts, Facebook and Twitter.  All cards are $5 each, the messages are inspirational and the art is frame-able, they’re great as a keepsake or as a gift.

I’m really excited to be able to offer my art and words that I live by to you at an affordable price.  For now, the cards can be purchased directly from me.  Purchase can be made through me with PayPal, credit card and/or with check by approval first.

Email: indigene (at) indigeneart.com    (Write in subject line: Card Purchase Only)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigeneart

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Indigene1

All (18) cards will be available, plus many other beautiful items at the Holiday Open Studio Tour – 212 Wakefield Road,  Rosemont, PA  - December 9 – 11, 2011. Please stop by can view my art and the art of five other amazing artists/artisans. You can pick up a map from the aforementioned location to all the other studios involved as well!

So let me get back around to my chaos and remember to breathe, life is good and you’re alive!

In peace to you and yours.

]]> http://indigeneart.com/2011/11/28/soaring-round/feed/ 12 http://indigeneart.com/2011/10/06/temporary-blog-hibernation/ http://indigeneart.com/2011/10/06/temporary-blog-hibernation/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:58:41 +0000 Indigene http://indigeneart.com/?p=2268

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)

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.

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.

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

When Linda Hensley, sent me this, I thought it was a good time to do something fun and show my appreciation of these artists.

First, I want to thank Linda Hensley, for giving me this award. Linda writes and blogs over at: http://lindahensley.blogspot.com. She’s a thoughtful and informative writer and an amazing illustrator. Linda adds value to the blog world! So this wonderful artist has given me an award! Yeah, thank you, Linda!

There were some rules for picking up the award, why, Linda, why? Rules…ugh! :)
The rules for receiving the award:
- Thank the person who gave you the award.
- Write a post about it.
- Answer the questions below.
- Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and send them a message to let them know.

So here’s some miscellaneous stuff you didn’t want to know about me! :)

Q & A:
01. My favorite color: Orange & Turquoise – never could choose between them!
02. My favorite animal: I should say my daughter’s cat, Oscar, but we have a love/hate relationship! So I have to say my German Shepard, Keisha, who has gone to doggy heaven!
03. My favorite number: 3
04. My favorite non-alcoholic drink? Limeade
05. I’m a member of Facebook and Twitter
06. My passion: I’m not sure there’s enough time to list them all! I’m fanatical about My family, Women and Children Issues/Advocacy; The Elderly, The Environment, and Art, which is not last or least!
07. Getting or giving presents? I love both equally!
08. My favorite pattern? I don’t have a favorite.
09. My favorite day of the week? Friday.
10. My favorite flower? Sunflowers, because when I see them the make me smile, no, matter the mood, there’s something about their brown faces and bright yellow/gold flower hair, that brings out the best in me.

10 Favorite Bloggers:
I hate choosing just 10, because I love so many, but here goes this time around:

1) Vanessa Brantley Newton – http://oohlaladesignstudio.blogspot.com. Her joy and enthusiasm, and pure madness always keeps me laughing!

2) Valerie Walsh - http://www.valgalart.com/blog. Valerie thoughtfulness and beautiful aesthetic always gives me food for thought.

3) Bella Sinclair -http://bellasinclair.blogspot.com. Bella’s art is wonderful and Bella has enough warmth and love for the whole world, and I’m so happy she give me some of it!

4) Jack Foster - http://jacktoon.blogspot.com. Jack’s expressive illustrations are always fun, warm and so easy to relate to.

5) Josh Pincus -http://blog.marshotelonline.com. He is always over the top, and his posts has me laughing out loud with memories and amazed at his knowledge and research!

6) Paula Kuitenbrouwer – http://mindfuldrawing.com - Paula’s posts are always calming and meditative with a smile factor, proving life is in the moment.

7) Ellen Byrne – http://ellenbyrne.blogspot.com. Her blog always has a nostalgic feel and sparkles with her personality.

8) Laurel Gaylord – http://www.studiololo.blogspot.com. Who for the longest time, I only knew her by “Lolo”. She’s an amazing talent with several wonderful blogs!!!

9) Roberta Baird -http://www.robertabaird.com/blog. She is the only illustrator who can get me to look at a mouse, longer then two seconds! Her illustrations makes the child in you dream.

Last, but never least:

10) Sharon Wagner -http://sharonrwagner.blogspot.com. Sharon’s color and designs always jumps off the page, in a fun and whimsical manner.

Sharon has given me a beautiful award, which I want to acknowledge here, also so that you can see her beautiful style and of course to end this blog post in vivid color as well. Thank you Sharon!

I’m truly blessed to know so many talented, amazing, fun-loving and caring artists. It makes life bearable and memorable!

Appreciate your friends, they are your extended family.

In peace to you and yours.

As an artist and entrepreneur, I am always looking at unique and successful strategies to promote my art. (Yes, we artists, need to work and promote our art, just like anyone else, trying to financially support themselves in this world, imagine that).

So imagine my delight when I met amazing artist, coach and consultant, Kesha Bruce. Kesha. She is one of those individuals who’s enthusiasm and no-nonsense approach to promoting one’s art is contagious. Kesha’s consultation on my self promotion has been rewarding and successful!

I wanted to give my blog readers, some new ideas and concepts on how artists  promote their art, especially around the concept of galleries. I got a chance to pin this busy woman down, for a little Q&A and what’s happening new in her world.

Me: I find that there is a comfort factor for people, if they have some background info, so what’s yours?

Kesha: I was born and raised in Iowa. I left the mid-west to seek my fortune in the big city of New York, after studying art at the University of Iowa. I finished my MFA in Painting at Hunter College in 2001 and I’ve been working ever since.  It hasn’t been an easy road, to say the least.  I had to figure a lot of things out by trial and error.  That’s part of the reason I decided to become a consultant for other artists.

Me: How did you come up with the concept for your gallery Baang and Burne Contemporary?

Kesha: To be honest, Baang and Burne was born completely by accident.  A couple years ago, I was in New York for work and my friend and artist Charlie Grosso and I started having one of our long conversations about art, careers, and selling and just general things about the business of art.   By the end of the evening we had decided that instead of talking and wishing that things would change, that we should actually do something to contribute to changing the way art is bought and sold.  We produced our first event six weeks later.

Me: What’s 6×6 all about and why do artists need it?

Kesha: Basically 6×6 is the answer to the question:  What if there were no more art galleries?  The answer, of course, is that if there were no more art galleries, artists would have to take complete control over their careers by creating their own opportunities and ways to market and sell their work. All of the programming events that will take place during 6×6 are about exactly that.

Plus, for artists that aren’t able to actually come to the events we’re going to take the video footage, workshop notes, and podcast recordings and package it all up into an affordable, easily downloadable, step-by-step DIY guide to how independent artists can take all of the tools we used to produce and plan 6×6 and re-create their own exhibitions, festivals, or creative events in their own communities—no matter where they may be located.

Me: What are the nuts and bolts of this concept?  How would you recommend a group of artists start this process?

Kesha: Well I would simply start by getting together with other artists and figuring out one common goal. The goal could be to stage an exhibition. It could be to organize a fundraiser, or even to plan a series of workshops in their community.  The key idea is to work together to share not only responsibilities and tasks but ideas. Ideas are powerful!  Artists can work together to create something that not only benefits the artists involved, but that contributes to the greater artists community. I say this all the time, because it’s true: When a small army of creative people get together–magic happens.

To read Kesha’s weekly articles on art, art marketing, and creativity and to download a free copy of her guide “The 5 Step Art Career Make-Over” visit www.KeshaBrucestudio.com.

If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself: Click Here.

Web: http://www.KeshaBruce.com
Blog: http://www.KeshaBrucestudio.com

Gallery: http://BaangandBurne.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KeshaBruce

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KeshaBruce