Fabulous day, art therapy, making more monsters, and flocking love

Had a wonderful day with Bebe the dog I'm petsitting who is just pure love. So beautiful to be around. When I take him walking he has such a spring in his little terrier step, it's infectious. Worked on some sample monsters for Saturday's class and then went to my art therapy group with the fabulous Majica Phillips of @Midtown Art Therapy. We did our check-ins and lo and behold we were going to make art about our shadow selves and inner monsters - woo-woo. Got to make some dark art (way darker than we will be doing on Saturday, tho who knows) and and wrote a few words describing our feelings about this part of ourselves on the back of the small canvas panels. Then we did this neato thing of passing our piece around with the instructions for each of us to to make the next person's shadow self beautiful with what we know about this person, so once again it was going to a place of giving love and ultimately receiving gobs of it. Each person added art to the front and words to the back and mine went from being this dark sad and spooky painting to full of light and joy as it went around the room. I loved working on everyone's piece and experimented with glitter and flocking powder and I flocking loved it! Really. Flocking is awesome. Our pieces turned out so beautiful, and the words on the back were incredibly touching. We had to read them out loud saying "I am" and then each of the words our group members had written. I got teary with mine as I've been a little hard on myself for not being more of a mainstream success (i.e. money maker) lately. Sigh. Someone wrote that I was bountiful which was a lovely affirmation, also that I was beautiful, talented, funny, smart (I think) and glistening. Must write these in flocking somewhere so I remember them in those self-judgement moments.

Here's what I love about art therapy: It's all about getting stuff out quickly and visually (not about the aesthetics) which is hard for me because I like to take my time and craft each piece so that it is as beautiful as I can make it, but not doing this is incredibly liberating and unprecious and this approach or loosening up is spilling out into the art I make at home. I alos love how art therapy acknowledges, validates and utilizes the healing power of art for personal growth, and working thru blockages, and for me personally, I get to experiment with materials I would never normally use, be unconcerned with outcomes, have lots of fun, and form community with wonderful people. My Transformational Arts Practice courses are like a modified version of art therapy that also teach systematic art skills and allows more time for an aesthetic experience. It works more on an affirmation and exploration level integrating what I've learned from research, being an art ed prof, teaching art, and being involved with personal growth for many many years. Have I mentioned how grateful I am to be in Northern California where this way of being is so accepted? Right now am in a place of gratitude.

Teaching, Painting Animals, Bebe the Wonder Dog, The Central Valley

From http://www.fieldcam.com/ 

Returned from the Central Valley where I taught classes in kid's books and graphic novels for teens in the afternoon and adults at night. Had a wonderful time and met some delightful talented people. Was pretty pooped afterwards and stayed at a friend's who lives in a fabulous house but in a suburban area with no community. Lovely houses on a lovely street and no-one walking or talking on the street, no nearby cafes or bookstores. Made me think about suburban versus urban alientation and the importance of community. The land was full of golden siennas, ochres, and beiges. A surreal beauty with the occassional swath of green produce in abstract shapes. Came back late Friday and Saturday morning taught the first class of my Transformational Arts Practice course which was about self-portraits, self-knowlede, self-care, and portraits in general. Not many students but the ones that were there were very happy. It was so magical teaching things that they've never done before and watching the beauty and magic of creativity and self-care.
Next week's class is teaching students how to draw and paint realistic and/or stylized animals that are personally significant. I have a whole pantheon of totemic animals that I call upon for different occassions - bears for strength, alligators when I need a thick skin, hummingbirds when I feel like a small miracle and want to give thanks and so on. Because the classes stand alone am making them 3 for $75, 2 for $60 and single classes $35. Kind of an incentive plan. If you know anyone within a 2 hr radius of Sacramento - please let them know. I have a flyer a few postings below with contact info etc.

And now I'd like to introduce Bebe the Wonder Dog. Bebe is a wonder dog because he is so wondrously loving. Up for a cuddle, a belly rub, a walk, anytime. He also loves to kiss, but I draw the line at tongue kissing. I'm housesitting a beautiful house and getting some exquisite solitude just me and Bebe. We love gazing into each other's eyes and plumbing the depths of each other's souls. The only other time I get to do this is when I'm doing portraits and can really look at someone without having to self-consciously avert my gaze. Reminds me of how much I love doing portraits. I had a wonderful time doing my self-portrait sample for class. My old publisher, Harriet Rohmer, used to say that I liked to "reinvent the wheel" by experimenting with different materials and techniques so this one I used charcoal and an acrylic burnt umber glaze, then introduced different subtle glazes on my dolphin, hummingbird, and blossoming flower. It's not finished yet but am loving the process. Am thinking of using this technique in one of the books I'm working on. It has a really nice loose quality, but because the white is the white of the paper (like watercolors) it's not very forgiving. No idea how it's going to end up but will show you when it does.