As Promised a Few more Pocket Shrines to see...

And so, without further ado, here are some more photos of pocket shrines that members of the Medicine Art Group made.  Weeks ago I promised to post these.  Since it has been about a month since the time that we made these, we are now onto new directions and art processes.  As a natural evolution we are exploring themes in cigar boxes, dream boxes, intention boxes, dia de los muertes altars and...who knows where it will go..

When those are completed I will share them as well.

Enjoy these little gems~

Each one has a story to tell......

                                                        As well as an intention or focus......

              And some were made just for the pure fun of embellishment and decoration......

I am now off to cleaning and reorganizing my studio once again, to get ready for a SoulCollage® workshop on this Friday morning and then our Seasonal  Fall Equinox Mandala Retreat day on Sunday, which this time is focusing on the Tree of Life.. What fun ...until next time.   Ciao..Caterina

The Artist's Creed

I just recently came across this wonderful testimonial to creativity by Jan Phillips, so here to inspire you is the Artist's Creed..   Enjoy!

The Artist’s Creed by Jan Phillips

I believe I am worth the time it takes to create   whatever I feel called to create.

I believe that my work is worthy of its own space,  which is worthy of the name Sacred.

I believe that, when I enter this space, I have the right to work in silence, uninterrupted, for as  long as I choose.

I believe that the moment I open myself to the gifts of the Muse, I open myself to the Source of All Creation and become One with the Mother of Life Itself.

I believe that my work is joyful, useful, and constantly changing, flowing through me like a river with no beginning and no end.

I believe that what it is I am called to do will make itself known when I have made myself ready.

I believe that the time I spend creating my art is as precious as the time I spend giving to others.

I believe that what truly matters in the making of art is not what the final piece looks like or sounds like, not what it is worth or not worth, but what newness gets added to the universe in the process of the piece itself becoming.

I believe that I am not alone in my attempts to create,and that once I begin the work, settle into the strangeness, the words will take shape, the form find life, and the spirit take flight.

I believe that as the Muse gives to me,so does she deserve from me: faith, mindfulness, and enduring commitment.                

More SoulCollage® cards...still making them

Well lately, life has been grounding me a bit.  I did something to my left knee, and have had to slow down tremendously.  I am trying to let it heal, but it is real slow going.  My impatience has me up and running in my head, but my body can barely hobble.  Today, I wound up canceling on a excursion, and then losing the keys to my studio, and finally, my car was dead when I tried to go somewhere needlessly.  So the universe is truely forcing me to be still and slow down.  Nonetheless, I made 3 new SoulCollage® cards today.  So I am sharing them here, as well as a few more that I did about a week ago.
Without further ado....

                                       Transforming the ordinary to the extraordinary....

                   Trust has always been an issue, but really it is a non issue... because there is a greater story afloat here.

                         I guess I am meant to write about all the wonder, awe and musings....
                                         These first three are the ones I made today....


                                                the following were created in the past few weeks..

 I Am The One Who celebrates  in nature ~ I transform through my connection with the earth

                                   This is the essence of soul..

 The waterfall of abundance.......

I Am The One Who looks within, who notices the patterns of life around me, often taking me  away from what is right on front of me, that is  blossoming and ready to fly right in front of my very eyes.  So . Pay attention.


Today I came across this Mary Oliver quote, it fits to end with this.  


"Instructions for living a life. Pay attention.   Be astonished. 


Tell about it."   — Mary Oliver

Abstraction is a challenge for me

I work in so many different media, that I have to find ways to trick myself into doing some of them.  I love to paint with acrylics, but rarely do these days because I am so pulled by many different processes. One way in which I get myself to paint, is to never leave paint unused.  

I have a magical little girl who comes to paint with me at my studio.  She loves to use lots of color, so after we meet I always use the paint she has left over to begin a new painting.

I give myself permission to do whatever, 

not worry about outcome

spread the paint across the canvas impulsively

know that I can use this as a base for collage so anything goes

be thrifty- and have fun

I have begun a series of these paintings.

This is one that I just recently began and then subsquently

worked on over a series of studio sessions.

This painting kept changing from its initial impulsive, expressive beginning.  I was hoping to stay completely abstract with it, but the last time I worked on it, the image of the bird and then the flower emerges.  I loved each in their own way, so let them stay.  I however, really respect abstract painters and wish I could stay completely abstract and free from imagery.  But I really find that a challenge.  Nonetheless, I like this piece and feel it is complete.

If you are an abstract painter, how do you stay committed to the non representational, I would love to hear from you.  

Art Therapy Without Borders - So Far 10 Postcards...

So far I have only gotten a total of 10 postcards, from art therapists around the world who participated in the Art Therapy without Borders Project.  I have already posted 5 of them, and at this point I would be really surprised to get any more of them.  So I decided to post the newest ones for all to see and let it go at that for now. 

 This first one is from Renee Bond an art therapy student at NDNU in San Francisco

                             The above postcard  is from Christy Wolfram living in Northern Kentucky

 Natalie Coriell an art therapist from a small southern Illinois town sent the one shown above.  Natalie is the only one with links to an online shop and a blog.  nostalgicscraps on etsy ,  and urbannostalgicscraps blog...unfortunately her blog link doesn't work.  Oh well.
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 Be My MIrror comes from Christine Hennig in Omaha Nebraska

 And lastly, the one above is from Paul Lee and art therapist in Singapore.

I wonder if I will receive any more of these.  What do you think.  I obsessively sent out about 36 of them at the very begining of the project.  It was fun to participate, but whether or not I will do this type of thing again, I am not sure.  Should I?

New Years Mandala Retreat Day Process Photos to Share

On January 9th we had our annual, New Years Mandala Retreat Day, "Mandala as Visual Prayer".  We gave it that title, because, the act of drawing a mandala, or for that matter doing any artmaking with intention, is a visual active dynamic prayer.

The workshop was absolutely wonderful, with a very, lovely group of 10 engaged participants, plus myself and Patricia Waters.  We co-facilitate these mandala workshops four times a year, around the change of the seasons, and at the New Year.

The next day, however,  I got hit with a pretty virulent cold virus. It totally laid me up, and I have been in dream time ever since. 10 days later, I am on prednisone and still not too well.  I realized that I wasn't feeling good that day, because I didn't feel up to photographing the mandala's at the end.

So without further ado, here are all the photos I took that day.  Unfortunately,  my energy was very low at the end of the day, and I didn't photograph everyone's mandala drawings at the end of the workshop.  I haven't added mine here, either, I will do that as it progresses on another post, as well as Patricia's completed one for the day.

                                                             Working in the studio.

                                My good friend Vicki down from Mt. Shasta for the workshop.

                                     Patricia and Sanna Rose, looking at her mandala's progress.

                                                  Judy and her daughter Kaila.

                                        Hearts within hearts within hearts, wonderful

                                                  Allysa proudly sharing her drawing.

                                                                       Release

Patricia Waters in process mandala.

                                              Here is Sanna Rose's completed Mandala

                                               Sue Wiseman's completed Mandala.
I will be posting other completed mandala's as they are sent to me.  Enjoy viewing them.  More to come
Caterina.