After sending out a link to this blog, I've been absolutely overWHELMed with the response from so many of you...! Lovely compliments, many "oohs" and "ahhhs" ... my mother and my mother-in-law forwarded it to their friends ... and even the "real" artists had wonderful things to say ...
(True-confession time: As a self-taught folk artist, I can often fall into the mindset of "I'm just the step-child-artist who snuck into the back door". So, when a "real" (i.e. trained) artist throws a compliment my way, and tells me that I *earned* it, well, it gets me all warm and fuzzy and glowy...!)
Sales are happening now in earnest, demand is rising ... the commissions are starting to flow in (yes, I love to paint things that people already own ... transforming drab into dramatic ... working with the owner regarding their desired colors and patterns, and even - my favorite! - being told, "wing it - let it speak to you!). If it holds still, I can paint it. I once told my neighbor that his old Mercedes would look fabulous with zebra stripes ... and he started parking it in the garage, LOL!
I'm hearing from shop and gallery owners ... they want my stuff! Oh, the joy of being wanted...! Perhaps it's just that it took me four long years to get back into painting again, for it feels like AGES! However, it's only been four months since I was challenged to paint a lamp for a local benefit auction (& the delightful woman who won it has become a regular client!).
Within short order, there will be eight shops and galleries featuring my art ... this is so gratifying...! What's more, I have a rewarding relationship with each owner ... for me this is ALL about schmoozing with the people ... not about making money (& most of the proceeds go back into making more art -- I'm just supporting my art-habit, LOL!). I could churn out quickly-produced quick-to-sell furniture in a heart-beat ... but that's not what I'm about ... that's too much like factory-working, sacrificing creativity to merely make a profit.
This is about sharing my heart, my creativity ... pouring myself into the transformation process ... envisioning a thing of beauty hidden in a plain appearance, and then seeing it manifest before my own eyes ... and getting to be a part of that! I put myself, my own essence, into each piece ... a bit of me goes with it ... and to think that others are drawn to this, thus to me ... it's the *connection* I'm after ... the inspiration of coming ALIVE to all that we are ... sharing that joy, unleashing the creativity in the heart of another soul ... inviting them to join me in this wild adventure of coming to know Who We Really Are ... discovering the all-goodness of all that is ... overcoming all manner of confusion, pain, fear, with clarity, joy, and LOVE...!
THAT is what I'm after.
And I won't settle for less...!
Shalom, Dena
Shows & Events (Past, Present, Future)
Local 14 Art Show
Foresty Center
Portland, Oregon
October 14-17, 2010
http://www.local14.org/
Charbonneau Art Festival
Wilsonville, Oregon
October 1 & 2, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2dudb4o
Silverton Fine Art Fair
Silverton, Oregon
August 21 & 22
Art in the Forest
West Linn, Oregon
August 14 & 15
Davenport Days
Silverton, Oregon
August 6, 7, 8, 2010
Dallas Summerfest
Dallas, Oregon
August 1, 2010
Salem Art Faire and Festival
Salem, Oregon
July 16, 17 & 18
http://salemartfair.weebly.com/index.html
Cracked Pots UnGarden Show
Forest Grove, Oregon
March 6, 2010 - 11:00-6:00
Portland's Christmas Expo
December 4, 5, 6, 2009
McMinnville Crazy-Christmas Bazaar!
November 27, 28, & 29, 2009
(After-Thanksgiving)
Charbonneau Arts Festival
Wilsonville, Oregon
October, 2009
Hops & Heritage Festival
Independence, Oregon
September, 2009
Master Gardener Fall Fling
Dallas, Oregon
September 2009
Summerfest
Dallas, Oregon
July 23-26, 2009
Foresty Center
Portland, Oregon
October 14-17, 2010
http://www.local14.org/
Charbonneau Art Festival
Wilsonville, Oregon
October 1 & 2, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2dudb4o
Silverton Fine Art Fair
Silverton, Oregon
August 21 & 22
Art in the Forest
West Linn, Oregon
August 14 & 15
Davenport Days
Silverton, Oregon
August 6, 7, 8, 2010
Dallas Summerfest
Dallas, Oregon
August 1, 2010
Salem Art Faire and Festival
Salem, Oregon
July 16, 17 & 18
http://salemartfair.weebly.com/index.html
Cracked Pots UnGarden Show
Forest Grove, Oregon
March 6, 2010 - 11:00-6:00
Portland's Christmas Expo
December 4, 5, 6, 2009
McMinnville Crazy-Christmas Bazaar!
November 27, 28, & 29, 2009
(After-Thanksgiving)
Charbonneau Arts Festival
Wilsonville, Oregon
October, 2009
Hops & Heritage Festival
Independence, Oregon
September, 2009
Master Gardener Fall Fling
Dallas, Oregon
September 2009
Summerfest
Dallas, Oregon
July 23-26, 2009
~ The Story Behind the Art ..! ~
What a delight it is to discover the many ways in which we are creative beings! Whether as artists, or writers, or gardeners, or cooks, or actors, or salespeople, or entrepreneurs, or singers, or organizers, or parents, or students, or whatever our particular bent..! What joy to join God, as co-creators, in this life we've launched into! I love the sense of *beingness* that I experience when I'm lost in the moment-of-now, in the midst of the creative Process & mindset ... I forget time and even my surroundings ... as the clamor of the tyranny of the urgent fades mercifully into the background, and I just get to BE who I Am... ahhhhh, sweet Rest-infused-with-energy!
Recently, I've REdiscovered my artistic-bent ... the past several years have been tumultuous, and creative in other ways ... and quite frankly, my spiritual/emotional/transitional journey took over my life with a huge intensity. And so, something that I love to do had to take a backseat for a while ~ a temporary hiatus.
However, it's become clear to me that it's time to bring it back, to reclaim this sidelined part of who I AM ... that my inner-creative-bent must come out to play! And so, I've started to paint again ... not portraits or still-lifes, or even walls (I do that too, as a faux-artist), but in painting my wild and wacky furniture as art, or FurnARTure. I've shared the photos on the side-bar ----> (& then down a wee bit), but I'd like to share a little bit about why I do what I do ...
I was bulimic for many years, from 1979 - 2000 (ages 18-39)... very seriously addicted, and came close to dying many times ... tried everything to recover (you name it, I did it, to no avail). I felt like a totally spent, useless, discarded human being, a complete failure ... utterly hopeless. In the fall of 2000, I got the sudden out-of-nowhere urge to paint-over a little stool in my house (this after having had all creativity sucked out of me by the addiction - when one is in "survive mode", there's no room for thriving).
This particular stool had a Pennsylvania Dutch "hex" sign on the seat, of a two-headed bird ... each head looking into different directions. It suddenly spoke to me of "double-mindedness"... conflicting inner desires - a confused-compulsion for self-destruction on one hand, and a haunting desire for life (rather than merely existing) on the other. That stool wordlessly taunted me, reflecting the inner-judgment that tormented my soul. A silent indictment. I couldn't bear to look at it for a moment longer!
I primed that little stool, marveled in the inviting clean-whiteness of it, and launched into the creative process ... it was as if the life and joy was coming to me, more like through me, from some forgotten place deep within me, as if the stool spoke to me about what it wanted to be -- somehow reflecting what I wanted to be, or to remember who I am...
I was delighted with the final outcome, and quite frankly astonished -- I felt a spark of long-forgotten joy in my heart. I continued, transforming many items, just for the sheer joy of it. It was a thrill to take old, discarded, unwanted, useless items (which I found in yard sales, thrift stores, and dumpsters), to clean them up, prime them (that fresh blank slate), and bring out the hidden inner-life. Something within ME was feeling the hope-of-life again...
Three months later, in an incredible moment of transformation, I was healed of bulimia (the tool/mode was Theophostic prayer) ... it was as if something said to me, "as you did with the furniture, so I do with you ... you are not old, discarded, unwanted or useless ... you are a conduit of joy and life, which I'm now bringing forth, from where it was long-hidden." The outward manifestation was a pronouncement, a foretelling if you will, of what was happening within me, where it could not yet be seen.
Out of the ashes of a life deemed hopeless, beauty has emerged. I am the most astonished & grateful of women! I've transformed from barely surviving, to gloriously thriving!
And so, my painting continues to be an affirmation of life and joy ... complete with the inherent imperfections that come with the rescued, and forgotten, and passed-over things of this life ... testimonies of where they once were, and what they have now become. Nothing wasted, nothing regretted. All good.
I love that I rescue these diamonds-in-the-rough out of the landfills (recycling in a sublime form - more rewarding than merely rinsing out cans, LOL!) ... that I give them new life and purpose again ... that they serve to bring joy and delight to those who see them. They're meant to be beautiful and useful, if "only" to bring a smile to the face and the heart, when they catch the eye.
I call my art Serendipities by Dena ... for each piece is an unexpectedly-revealed treasure, a reminder that within each of us, without exception, there is a hidden source of joy and beauty, a spark of Life, that can come forth if only we take the time to draw it out...!
I dare you, I challenge you, and I hope to inspire you to freely-express YOUR joy and creativity today...!
Shalom & Namaste,
Dena
Recently, I've REdiscovered my artistic-bent ... the past several years have been tumultuous, and creative in other ways ... and quite frankly, my spiritual/emotional/transitional journey took over my life with a huge intensity. And so, something that I love to do had to take a backseat for a while ~ a temporary hiatus.
However, it's become clear to me that it's time to bring it back, to reclaim this sidelined part of who I AM ... that my inner-creative-bent must come out to play! And so, I've started to paint again ... not portraits or still-lifes, or even walls (I do that too, as a faux-artist), but in painting my wild and wacky furniture as art, or FurnARTure. I've shared the photos on the side-bar ----> (& then down a wee bit), but I'd like to share a little bit about why I do what I do ...
I was bulimic for many years, from 1979 - 2000 (ages 18-39)... very seriously addicted, and came close to dying many times ... tried everything to recover (you name it, I did it, to no avail). I felt like a totally spent, useless, discarded human being, a complete failure ... utterly hopeless. In the fall of 2000, I got the sudden out-of-nowhere urge to paint-over a little stool in my house (this after having had all creativity sucked out of me by the addiction - when one is in "survive mode", there's no room for thriving).
This particular stool had a Pennsylvania Dutch "hex" sign on the seat, of a two-headed bird ... each head looking into different directions. It suddenly spoke to me of "double-mindedness"... conflicting inner desires - a confused-compulsion for self-destruction on one hand, and a haunting desire for life (rather than merely existing) on the other. That stool wordlessly taunted me, reflecting the inner-judgment that tormented my soul. A silent indictment. I couldn't bear to look at it for a moment longer!
I primed that little stool, marveled in the inviting clean-whiteness of it, and launched into the creative process ... it was as if the life and joy was coming to me, more like through me, from some forgotten place deep within me, as if the stool spoke to me about what it wanted to be -- somehow reflecting what I wanted to be, or to remember who I am...
I was delighted with the final outcome, and quite frankly astonished -- I felt a spark of long-forgotten joy in my heart. I continued, transforming many items, just for the sheer joy of it. It was a thrill to take old, discarded, unwanted, useless items (which I found in yard sales, thrift stores, and dumpsters), to clean them up, prime them (that fresh blank slate), and bring out the hidden inner-life. Something within ME was feeling the hope-of-life again...
Three months later, in an incredible moment of transformation, I was healed of bulimia (the tool/mode was Theophostic prayer) ... it was as if something said to me, "as you did with the furniture, so I do with you ... you are not old, discarded, unwanted or useless ... you are a conduit of joy and life, which I'm now bringing forth, from where it was long-hidden." The outward manifestation was a pronouncement, a foretelling if you will, of what was happening within me, where it could not yet be seen.
Out of the ashes of a life deemed hopeless, beauty has emerged. I am the most astonished & grateful of women! I've transformed from barely surviving, to gloriously thriving!
And so, my painting continues to be an affirmation of life and joy ... complete with the inherent imperfections that come with the rescued, and forgotten, and passed-over things of this life ... testimonies of where they once were, and what they have now become. Nothing wasted, nothing regretted. All good.
I love that I rescue these diamonds-in-the-rough out of the landfills (recycling in a sublime form - more rewarding than merely rinsing out cans, LOL!) ... that I give them new life and purpose again ... that they serve to bring joy and delight to those who see them. They're meant to be beautiful and useful, if "only" to bring a smile to the face and the heart, when they catch the eye.
I call my art Serendipities by Dena ... for each piece is an unexpectedly-revealed treasure, a reminder that within each of us, without exception, there is a hidden source of joy and beauty, a spark of Life, that can come forth if only we take the time to draw it out...!
I dare you, I challenge you, and I hope to inspire you to freely-express YOUR joy and creativity today...!
Shalom & Namaste,
Dena
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1 comment:
You put everything you are into everything you do, Dena, and you inspire that in everyone you touch. I'm not in the least surprised at the responses, and I don't suppose anyone else is either. This is God doing God-Stuff!
Go with the Warm Fuzzies!:D
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