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.

Breakout, the wine, food, flowers, music and love! I’m celebrating!!!

I have a brigade (the Home Love Brigade), aka “My peeps, my tribe, my love buckets, my family” and the nick names go on and on. No matter how I’m feeling or who I’m yelling at, my brigade is my stronghold.  They love me fiercely and I them! :)

The last few weeks were extremely busy, holiday stuff, school work, household junk, workshops, sales, art fair preparations, holiday studio tour preparation, marketing and creating (my only grip on sanity)!!

My brigade has been there through the thick (which is me) and the thin (my patience)! But, they still love and support me! So this is my special way of giving them a shout out and absolutely begging them to continue…:)

(c. Indigene T. Gaskin – “Food Celebration” – 10″x10″, Mixed Media/Paper)

So meet the Home Love Brigade:

Jon: Commando, BBQ-Meister, Security, Confidante, Framer, Baker,  Kindest man in the whole world and my Go-To Snuggler!

No. 1 – Radical Son: Web Meister, Great Cook, Creative Buddy, Listening Ear, I have to beg to snuggle him and who now can say no to me, with no repercussions (except Mom-guilt, it still works)!!!

The Baby:  The Love Bucket, Assistant Baker, Chief Eye-roller to certain demands of mine; Major Art Fair Helper; aka: “messy-haired girl” and a sweet snuggler!

I love and have absolutely the best brigade in the world!!! (Uh, love brigade, you are going to be helping at the next two events, right?!) :)

Loving your people, makes life pretty spectacular!

In peace to you and yours!

P.S. I am so in the dog house for putting their pixs on my blog! It’s holiday time, maybe they’ll forgive me…again?!

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/soaring-round/feed/ 12 http://indigeneart.com/vanity-or-confidence/ http://indigeneart.com/vanity-or-confidence/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:43:34 +0000 Indigene http://indigeneart.com/?p=2307 Illustration Friday‘s prompt for creating this week is vanity. It got me to pondering whether confidence is sometimes mistaken for vanity.

Of course, I know the definition of vanity, but there have been times when I’ve mistaken someone for being vain, and after getting to know them, I realized that they had a confidence of self, that was enviable. Which brings me to my next pondering…do we see vanity because we envy the confidence of an individual?

The lesson learned for me, is not to judge, since it is only when I get to know the person, do I begin to see the true self, and there have been times, when I would have missed out on knowing a wonderfully confident and loving individual.

(Image: “Da Bronx” – 9″x12″ Mixed Media/Paper)

I captured this beauty sitting on a stoop in the Bronx. My first thought was “what a vain young woman.”  She exuded confidence, beauty, which many took as being vain. I glad I got to know her, she had a mighty story, where vanity had no play in it.

How do you know when you’re dealing with vanity or confidence?

How do you know the difference? Have you ever mistaken one for the other?

Does culture play a role in your viewpoint of vanity of another?

Have you ever dismiss a vain individual without getting to know them?

Love to hear what you think!

Peace to you and yours.

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.

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)

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!)

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.

]]> http://indigeneart.com/faces-places-things/feed/ 24 http://indigeneart.com/defining-success/ http://indigeneart.com/defining-success/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:42:29 +0000 Indigene http://indigeneart.com/?p=2177 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.