tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76816468290659952172024-03-12T21:10:27.090-07:00Purchase an Art PrintKristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-89681254337155877292017-12-27T12:44:00.002-08:002017-12-27T12:44:50.950-08:00Painting with Chalk Pastel<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sln_HJbS550/WkP9t42tZKI/AAAAAAAAGAQ/ri_CvyEdwOcTFsVuM5uc02d1QZwDDtPVwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/a65-DSC04562v2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sln_HJbS550/WkP9t42tZKI/AAAAAAAAGAQ/ri_CvyEdwOcTFsVuM5uc02d1QZwDDtPVwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/a65-DSC04562v2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have recently completed a series of painted chalk art and although this is not a new art technique, I have not seen my method taught anywhere, and so I thought it would be interesting to share.<br />
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I begin with a loose pencil drawing of the entire image so I don't have to think about where shapes and colours are going to be placed. I begin in the upper left corner, applying a rough layer of chalk over a small area. I then smooth the chalk with a paper stump so I am not trying to work uneven areas of pigment.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oiSyBB2q1m8/WkP3PK91oxI/AAAAAAAAF_s/CzGhXsN8HQghMDQkftB_HBuMBgSD86s6QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_0458.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oiSyBB2q1m8/WkP3PK91oxI/AAAAAAAAF_s/CzGhXsN8HQghMDQkftB_HBuMBgSD86s6QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_0458.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I next apply a wet brush as if I was "polishing" the surface, smoothing and blending colours and areas in a spontaneous way.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uNBa6GPq07E/WkP4DawWXnI/AAAAAAAAF_4/S0kyl_hOfEgajTiiks6PmoGiZCEgpVkOQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_0460.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uNBa6GPq07E/WkP4DawWXnI/AAAAAAAAF_4/S0kyl_hOfEgajTiiks6PmoGiZCEgpVkOQCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_0460.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As each area gets added to the last, the water seems to fix the chalk so the painting surface becomes stabilized as I work across the image.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HD_uFYn2k0Q/WkP6HgNsorI/AAAAAAAAGAE/_Zs5ShmvmycK2pUZhRdbVhsaWWVcg_4rgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_0464.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HD_uFYn2k0Q/WkP6HgNsorI/AAAAAAAAGAE/_Zs5ShmvmycK2pUZhRdbVhsaWWVcg_4rgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_0464.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I discovered this way of painting because chalk pastels are sticks of pure pigment and I figured pigment and water mix, right? What I didn't know were some of the ways of working that this technique would require.<br />
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I create detail, not by adding in but by lifting out. Even when dry the chalk will lift off with subsequent water applications so light areas are pulled from the already dark surfaces. This is the technique that created the water flowing over rocks.<br />
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It is possible to add in white and other light colours, just the opposite of my watercolour training when white areas must be left as the original paper.<br />
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Since I love detail, it was a hard lesson for me to grasp that less is more. Minimal gestures seem to read as a more complex surface because the texture the chalk creates is already complex.<br />
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It is hard for me to just stop. Yet this is perhaps the most demanding working requirement using this technique of painted chalk. Areas can be worked and re-worked two or three times and then watch out! The paper surface begins to degrade and the delicate relationship between color and texture is lost.<br />
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This finished piece titled <i>Naming it makes it so</i> has a complexity and liveliness that really captures my interest. But then I took the title to heart and turned the image over, and a whole different world emerged. Art is like that.<br />
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More about the other four paintings featured here in a future blog. This series, titled <i>5 Conversations with Water,</i> will soon appear on <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">my website</a> and as prints in my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">Etsy webstore</a>.Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-16600302025909119032016-11-16T11:49:00.002-08:002016-11-16T11:50:47.565-08:00Paint a beautiful picture of nature<div style="text-align: center;">
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Here is a beautiful picture of nature. Autumn leaves amid birch trees in Nova Scotia. Something about this image compelled me to paint it, but how?<br />
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I use acrylic like watercolour on paper and so I anchored a large sheet of Arches watercolour paper to a board and began painting leaves. How disappointing and frustrating! My attempts looked amateurish and so I cut off the top several inches of the paper and began again. Again with the disappointment and frustration. More cutting.<br />
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On my third attempt I asked myself, "What am I really seeing?" What a discovery--I am not seeing a leaf at all but a brown shape with this slightly darker area near the lower edge. And so I painted that. No attempt to name the shape, or render what my mind was saying this was--just paint the brown shape.<br />
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And suddenly the leaves appeared in all their usual magic.<br />
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The lichen on the tree trunks came alive with shadow and shine.<br />
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A complexity emerged without my emotional engagement. Indeed, it emerged because I was't emotionally entangled in "getting it right." I was just painting what I saw.<br />
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This painting is titled "<i>The day I learned to read</i>." I remember that day more than 60 years ago. I was sitting in bed on a Sunday morning with my Mom and Dad, insisting that I could read the funnies by myself. And as a little kid I was quite insistent. I think to humour me Dad propped the paper in front of me...and I could do it! The black squiggles in the balloons made words. I didn't get every word right, but suddenly something clicked and I was reading.<br />
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This ability has extended into all my art. My paintings on <a href="http://journeyoracle.com/journey-drums/">the frame drums I make</a> emerge from the patterns in the skin, and not from my imposition. The oracle cards images I painted for my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">Journey Oracle deck</a> were seen in fossil shells, dried rawhide, and slices of agate.<br />
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Perhaps in this way everything seen is given the respect of being able to name itself.<br />
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I have fine art prints available of many of my realist paintings of nature. Contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com to receive an annotated list of works, or visit <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">my Etsy webstore</a>.<br />
<br />Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-65857816246531970742016-08-05T15:44:00.000-07:002016-08-05T15:44:29.995-07:00Shamanic lessons from a photo-realist painting<br />
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I started <a href="http://journeyoracle.com/shamanic-paintings/">my artist’s life</a> early in watercolor classes after school, and the flow of paint over paper enchants me still. I see the magic everywhere without making it up anywhere. </div>
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Every shape and tone and shade really existed at the moment I saw it in nature, so when I paint every part, and every part between the part, is whole. </div>
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A “big” painting in acrylic on matte board takes me a year to complete. An underpainting of Hooker’s Green and Prism Violet creates a foundation of detail.</div>
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Ten or more layers of complexly mixed colors are laid over this foundation, like building a symphony of color above the base notes. </div>
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Broad washes of color tone the temperature and emotion to finish the work. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Luther Burbank said; "Nature is an exacting mistress and a jealous teacher; she does not reveal herself wholly to the amateur or the dabbler, and she will not cooperate fully and generously with the man who takes her lessons or her work lightly."</div>
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Such is the shamanic lesson of a bank of ferns and brush beside a gravel road. It asks of the student, "How do you like the Underworld?"<br />
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ORIGINAL ACRYLIC PAINTING OR FINE ART PRINT</div>
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<b><i>How do you like the Underworld?</i></b></div>
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please visit my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle?ref=hdr_shop_menu">Etsy webstore </a>for price and shipping information. </div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-40985843239989197992016-03-05T19:03:00.000-08:002016-03-05T19:03:56.995-08:00How I paint a photo-realist paintingIt may seem odd to those who appreciate <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">my shamanic paintings</a>, but I think that like an architect, I <i>build </i>a realist painting, rather than paint it. Although I begin with a photograph which is akin to seeing a finished house, many steps must happen before the space, or the vision, can be occupied,<br />
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My first step is to draw a light web of detail, indicating where the major shapes are, and more importantly, how these hook into the shapes already painted and yet to come.<br />
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<i> </i>I then mix acrylic paints into what I think of as the "base." Usually a combination of Hooker's Green and Prism Violet. Although this reads as dark grey, it has the ability to shade to the warmth of the violet, or the coolness of the green, depending on what brighter colors are laid over it.<br />
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This painted sketch mostly helps me find my way as I glance between the photograph and the painted forms. This ability to rapidly "find" the area I am working on is the single most important skill contributing to the success of the painting. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SgbFqT3Fds8/VtuXa07jZHI/AAAAAAAADpo/M6gctCpCWC4/s1600/paint2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SgbFqT3Fds8/VtuXa07jZHI/AAAAAAAADpo/M6gctCpCWC4/s320/paint2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As the painting progresses, this technique is like a colorless image gradually taking on life and light. Like a house is first a shell of framing timbers, and slowly receives a skin of sheathing.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXhLDKXIiQI/VtuYnUJ47VI/AAAAAAAADp0/kesT4Z1jB-o/s1600/paint4.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXhLDKXIiQI/VtuYnUJ47VI/AAAAAAAADp0/kesT4Z1jB-o/s320/paint4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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While I am painting the monochromatic sketch, I am also painting back into the surrounding areas.<br />
First with pale washes of color which build in intensity and richness.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BbqpdQbBYEU/VtuZbSLlg0I/AAAAAAAADqA/HnTxuxjhPZ4/s1600/paint5.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BbqpdQbBYEU/VtuZbSLlg0I/AAAAAAAADqA/HnTxuxjhPZ4/s320/paint5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Every overlaid color washes back into an area already painted with the base color, just as the interior wall treatments and trim layer onto the basic construction of a house.<br />
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Eventually the intensity of form and color become a place worth living in. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">So what am I painting?</a><br />
A painting of this scale and complexity takes me about a year to build, and the construction is not yet complete so you will just have to wait a bit longer for the open house. Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-45800038138875961482015-11-24T20:55:00.002-08:002015-11-24T20:55:49.596-08:00A personal style in art making<div class="MsoNormal">
A personal style in art making is not the same thing as a style of art in history, or culture. A personal style in art is a deep reflection of how I, as an artist, respond to the world. I am thinking of the visual arts because I am a painter, but this response to the world is parallel for writers and dancers and musicians; for all creative effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To catch a glimmering of my personal style in art, I look for patterns that emerge across the years of my art making, and not just within individual pieces. I have discovered three patterns of apprehending and responding to my lived world that form a core of my personal style as an artist.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Psmwk6Ynbds/VlPjKKz1Z5I/AAAAAAAADX8/g-8KcfsmHLU/s1600/stylewalkpashD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Psmwk6Ynbds/VlPjKKz1Z5I/AAAAAAAADX8/g-8KcfsmHLU/s320/stylewalkpashD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I attend to density. Every part, and every part between the part, is whole. Density is not just physical complication, it is a feeling tone that suffuses every mark and material.<br />
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This painting originated from a failed drum head intended to be a frame drum whose surface just kept inviting me in and then in again--layer upon dense layer until I realized I was creating an ovum and the sperm were reaching its rim and the blood was coursing around the feather soft nest of the mother dreaming her child to her. In <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">my art making</a>, my style is saying density is not a result of confusion or a welter of data, it comes from a full weight of meaning.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SU7-aE0-RSg/VlPmwGml2zI/AAAAAAAADYQ/mEBgqWbFYOY/s1600/stylecardedgeE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SU7-aE0-RSg/VlPmwGml2zI/AAAAAAAADYQ/mEBgqWbFYOY/s320/stylecardedgeE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I attend to edges. The lost and found edges in these original paintings for <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">the Journey Oracle cards</a> are what pulls me into the mystery of who and what I am seeing. We are none of us complete, and when I allow an image to be incomplete, I feel a kindred vibration. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9tAb1CHVsc/VlPn2hFWIcI/AAAAAAAADYc/dOsCGzSXIjg/s1600/stylebccoastE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9tAb1CHVsc/VlPn2hFWIcI/AAAAAAAADYc/dOsCGzSXIjg/s320/stylebccoastE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Even a simple sketch of the BC coastline made while leaning on a ferry railing can become suffused with awe if I do not anchor the sensory impression to my urge to control the form.</div>
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Perhaps the most predominant aspect of my personal style in art is my love of curves. I seem to not be able to render a form with a hard angle--</div>
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no matter how sharp and dramatic are the angles of the total composition.<br />
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The qualities of a personal style in art are mostly unconscious. These Oracle cards are filled with lines, and yet the overall sensation is of density, lost and found edges, and curves. We each respond to the feeling tone of forms and spaces based on our unique way of being in the world.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CV3CHpws5DQ/VlTR9XHE3oI/AAAAAAAADZY/Uw3JVQoRh5Q/s1600/stylecardroundA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CV3CHpws5DQ/VlTR9XHE3oI/AAAAAAAADZY/Uw3JVQoRh5Q/s320/stylecardroundA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you are not sure you have a personal style in art, just look at your signature. The pressure, width of line, boldness of stroke, size and flourish are all a mirror of the patterns and preferences that flow from your fingers whenever you sign your name.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9vckMGdhYQ/VlTB3GjwDAI/AAAAAAAADZI/0E6uCP43qYM/s1600/styledrumA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9vckMGdhYQ/VlTB3GjwDAI/AAAAAAAADZI/0E6uCP43qYM/s320/styledrumA.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Of course, there are times when the Art in nature conspires to show the human artist a deeper version of her style. For this remarkable <a href="http://journeyoracle.com/journey-drums/">image on a frame drum </a>I only added the eyes, the ochre and black iron oxide of the nose, and the lines defining the mouth. It was mostly painted by mold as it grew the dense, curved, indeterminate edges of its art across the hide surface while the skin was drying. </div>
Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-6311930868579869912015-10-08T20:28:00.004-07:002015-10-08T20:28:43.618-07:00Best sources for names of paintings.The unexpected comment is one of my best sources of names for paintings. Just like a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/journeyoracle?ref=hdr_shop_menu">Journey Oracle card reading </a>singles out images, aspects of nature and dream-like pronouncements that empower forces to speak that are beyond one's conscious control--chance is my favorite origin of painting titles. A name that both conveys a sense of my intended meaning and also provides <span style="font-family: inherit;">insight </span>into the mystery behind all art.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XSIsTY1B8go/VhbTA8BHLYI/AAAAAAAADR4/jUnf-A0af1g/s1600/title1magic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XSIsTY1B8go/VhbTA8BHLYI/AAAAAAAADR4/jUnf-A0af1g/s320/title1magic.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>usual magic</i></span></span></div>
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This large acrylic painting completed during my tenure at the <a href="http://www.nscad.ca/">Nova Scotia College of Art and Design</a> had one of my favorites sources for painting names: the television. While watching TV one evening I was suddenly brought to attention by an After Eight chocolate advertisement. The announcer's voice said, "Catherine worked her usual magic at the dinner party...." That's it! A title that both captures my sense of nature, and also opens to the sensation that just beyond reach there is something more. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TbAR9Ui730Q/VhbU0AOyxfI/AAAAAAAADSE/_u1Kxkh13FA/s1600/title2fern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TbAR9Ui730Q/VhbU0AOyxfI/AAAAAAAADSE/_u1Kxkh13FA/s320/title2fern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>What time is this?</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U0ur37n4XKE/VhbVNwjKu2I/AAAAAAAADSM/lhya_HrDZEc/s1600/title6pipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U0ur37n4XKE/VhbVNwjKu2I/AAAAAAAADSM/lhya_HrDZEc/s320/title6pipe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>What story is this?</i></div>
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These two drawings in colored pencil were completed as nature lessons for a young art student. The titles are literally two assignments. Can you look out at nature and say what time of year this is just by identifying the presence and condition of the plants you see? Can you tell the story of the plants you see: their First Nations lore, medicinal uses and local mythology?</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFe7lysADMI/VhbcJR06GmI/AAAAAAAADSc/G59XwjciGXk/s1600/title3noexit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFe7lysADMI/VhbcJR06GmI/AAAAAAAADSc/G59XwjciGXk/s320/title3noexit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>not an exit</i></div>
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While attending <a href="http://www.floweringmountain.com/">Martin Prechtel's school of spiritual ecology</a> in New Mexico, I would go for walks to sketch the area cemetery. When standing next to the fence gazing at possibilities for a composition, a local man mistook my interest for trying to find a way through to the road beyond and said," There's not an exit from here, you know." <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YcFSoT3wm0Q/VhbdSe6eDQI/AAAAAAAADSo/hp0u0ty-1zA/s1600/title4nowait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YcFSoT3wm0Q/VhbdSe6eDQI/AAAAAAAADSo/hp0u0ty-1zA/s320/title4nowait.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>no more waiting</i></div>
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Later I was telling a friend about my work with Martin and how the study was changing my sense of purpose, especially with my work on the <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">Journey Oracle divination deck</a>, and she said, "There is no more waiting for the time to be soon, or better, or whatever. Just do it now!" </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p8fCeM3yIjE/VhbegphjWVI/AAAAAAAADS0/0xabo33cRcA/s1600/title5nothing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p8fCeM3yIjE/VhbegphjWVI/AAAAAAAADS0/0xabo33cRcA/s320/title5nothing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>nothing is coming</i></div>
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My favorite name for a painting in this cemetery series is the one that I completed after I returned back to <a href="http://www.cortesisland.com/">Cortes Island</a>. I asked my partner John what he thought would be a good name, and he said, "nothing is coming." </div>
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The true magic of these three sketches is that no one title carries the full impact of the three pieces together. When taken as one statement these three names certainly open to the sensation that something deeper and more thought-provoking is afoot. </div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-86710886901226119452015-08-16T18:19:00.000-07:002015-08-16T18:19:03.470-07:00Make new artI paint large photo-realist <a href="http://journeyoracle.com/shamanic-paintings/">acrylic paintings</a>, make native style <a href="http://journeyoracle.com/journey-drums/">frame drums</a>, and teach about my <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">Journey Oracle cards</a>, but some of my most fun comes from always trying to make new art. New in every way: new materials, new techniques, new ideas for subjects and ways of working.<br />
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This watercolor work was continuously turned in a circle as I painted faces I saw in a stone. A wonderful example of how art changes with one's point of view.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--dtWIcLxwjc/VdEpjl14qBI/AAAAAAAADMY/IOj9dGRRtXs/s1600/newshellwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--dtWIcLxwjc/VdEpjl14qBI/AAAAAAAADMY/IOj9dGRRtXs/s320/newshellwood.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Some of the most exciting, and dangerous, art I have made involved sealing drawings, found objects and extruded letters inside Plexiglas boxes.<br />
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This tiny extruded acrylic letter inspired a favorite phrase that I still use when writing my artist's statements: "I feel like a little hook reaching into mystery."<br />
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When I learned that throughout history <a href="http://environmentaldefence.ca/issues/toxic-nation/healthy-artist-guide-less-toxic-studio">artists have died from toxic fumes</a>, I decided to put down the propane torch and chemical mask, and go for safer materials.<br />
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The drawing became beading on a loom, the wood became the frame, and the construction process itself became rain.<br />
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While this small acrylic painting seems to echo the painting I do on my frame drums with raw earth pigments, the new art here is the process itself. Lots of different kinds of mark-making materials were smeared around inside a cereal box. While this was drying a slip of paper was drawn from three different piles of nouns and verbs. A section of cereal box was copied and then embellished to become the image for the title made from the three words: <i>Welcome to Swim House</i>. Years later this is still one of the most enigmatic pieces I have ever painted.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQxg-uzdG7A/VdEuOJOtYGI/AAAAAAAADNI/_Zootrc1czc/s1600/newwait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQxg-uzdG7A/VdEuOJOtYGI/AAAAAAAADNI/_Zootrc1czc/s320/newwait.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
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Sometimes what makes new art is not doing anything new at all. This accidentally double exposure while on a camping trip became a symbol of <i>Waiting for Apocalypse</i> to me, made all the more potent<br />
with the technology itself as the subject.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mgIHfxmB2oU/VdEvmb5rnFI/AAAAAAAADNU/ddffNdes-pA/s1600/newfeather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mgIHfxmB2oU/VdEvmb5rnFI/AAAAAAAADNU/ddffNdes-pA/s320/newfeather.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think my favorite way to make new art is to transform something old and damaged into a new form.<br />
This failed drum head became a pen and ink drawing, and then a raw earth pigment painting, and then was sewn inside a warped drum hoop which became filled with turkey feathers. Somewhere in the middle of this process I realized I was creating blood lines, and swimming sperm, and the egg of new beginnings.<br />
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-30909501210019448122015-07-07T16:01:00.000-07:002015-07-07T16:01:07.226-07:00Acrylic painting of mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2n-aOYkKQg/VZxWOXRxMmI/AAAAAAAADHc/ZgYkA-mrz18/s1600/grief3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2n-aOYkKQg/VZxWOXRxMmI/AAAAAAAADHc/ZgYkA-mrz18/s320/grief3.png" width="261" /></a></div>
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Sometimes I feel compelled to paint an image that is more than just 'mysterious'. It is like the image itself has a task, a something to do that is not of this human realm. The composition and title may push me further into the depths of confusion, rather than bring me to the surface of comprehension.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8BPFWl0nKs/VZxWheKtDcI/AAAAAAAADHk/oDnjWDf_87Y/s1600/grief4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8BPFWl0nKs/VZxWheKtDcI/AAAAAAAADHk/oDnjWDf_87Y/s320/grief4.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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This painting is named <i>Grief's true reckoning</i>. When I think of these words their meaning seems to just slip pass my sensation of aha! into a darker place of what? Webster's Dictionary says to "reckon" is to consider, to judge, to estimate. Grief's true consideration, judgement, estimation.<br />
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The image came as I was walking about in the garden looking for some photo ideas that might make a new painting. Suddenly I felt compelled to return to the house and take the bear skull from above my altar and return to the little waterfall that flows into the splash pond. This is it. I put the skull in the pond without considering any of the art qualities of arrangement, balance, form or color in the scene. Just take the picture.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KMddrbhv1WQ/VZxXAej8lGI/AAAAAAAADH0/osRvHInwVOw/s1600/grief5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KMddrbhv1WQ/VZxXAej8lGI/AAAAAAAADH0/osRvHInwVOw/s320/grief5.png" width="192" /></a></div>
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I don't remember how the title came, or why I call it this, or what my action completed for the bear skull so long separated from its body and the earth. Art may be the only thing that makes us pay enough attention to know there is mystery. As I quote from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Schoemperlen">Diane Schoemperlen</a> in the book that accompanies <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">my Journey Oracle cards</a>:<br />
<i>The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance, by Mystery,</i><br />
<i>the opposite of truth is not lies but Revelation.</i><br />
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GRIEF'S TRUE RECKONING</div>
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To purchase a print of this painting, please go to <a href="http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/journeyoracle">my web store</a>.</div>
Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-68616123465213563752015-02-15T18:41:00.002-08:002015-02-15T18:41:32.196-08:00How I title a paintingThe titles for my <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">acrylic paintings</a> are very important to me, because they reflect the idea behind the image, and also direct how I apply the paint. Often, I have the title at the same moment I have the image--sometimes even before. This dappled forest image was taken while walking in the backwoods of Nova Scotia, near <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Tourism-g2413221-Tantallon_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia-Vacations.html">Tantallon</a>.<br />
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At home that night I was watching TV when an commercial came on for After Eight Chocolates. There was a line of dialog that when something like, "Marie worked her usual magic" showing a woman offering a plate of after dinner mints to a guest. I remember saying, "that's what that stream was today--usual magic." And so the painting, and the idea directing the painting, had a name.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">The first thing I establish is the focus which is a function of light and distance. This is </span><i style="text-align: start;">usual</i><span style="text-align: start;">, which to me means common, regular; downed branches, twigs and moss.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Light is movement.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Focus, light and movement create magic on the painted surface. </span></div>
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Contrast is drama. Watching the usual magic of water flowing, and how the light juxtaposes darkest dark and lightest light becomes a lesson in creating drama. </div>
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I think the secret of usual magic in nature, as well as in art, is to not let the net be broken. No matter how dense or small the detail, every part and every part within the part, is whole.</div>
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Usual Magic</div>
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acrylic on matte board</div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-90493471060835235552014-11-20T19:16:00.004-08:002014-11-20T19:16:58.104-08:00Painting the atmosphere of the Oregon coast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is an interesting concept in art called "lost and found edges." This to me is the secret of how to paint atmosphere. This concept refers to the fact that our eye will fill in, or complete, ill-defined areas in an image, and in turn our mind will label this area with a motif it recognizes. When I was painting a <a href="http://theoregoncoast.info/">southern Oregon seascape</a>, I used this concept to paint the atmosphere of a sunset evening sky with heavy weather approaching.<br />
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In order to create the heaviness of the cloud cover, I painted the sky upside down!<br />
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This is because my mind "reads" these forms as land in this position, and this in turn influenced how I applied the paint, even when I was trying to be atmospheric.<br />
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Lost and found edges can also create the illusion of iridescence.When edges are left indistinct and each shape is shaded very gradually from the lightest color in the center area to the darkest intensity of that color at the outer edge, the affect is a sense of glowing light.<br />
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Lost and found edges also create a sensation of movement. Each form dissolves into the next, and nothing stays fixed and certain. Just like life. It feels significant to me that this painting, made with lost and found edges, is titled <i>The Longing of Memory</i>.<br />
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Enjoy more of my paintings on <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com./">www.journeyoracle.com.</a></div>
Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-90209899326829536062014-09-15T11:53:00.002-07:002014-09-15T11:53:47.254-07:00Why I make art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I do not visualize images in my mind. I make my art in order to see it. I ask my work to teach me, knowing that nothing is only what it seems but also something else.<b> </b>This poem is one of my oldest teachers. It came to me in 1972 while listening a lecture about Christopher Alexander’s Pattern Language at the University of Oregon where I was completing my PhD.in Art Education.</div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">In a painting of space<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Of light and light, you paint to be alive.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Every part, and every part between the part is whole<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">And you are artist enough to call forth it riches.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">For you there will be not past indifferent moment<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">There will be no forgotten place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b>I have remembered these phrases again and again across the years of my art-making. They remain the ground upon which my choices for ways of working are made. </div>
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<span lang="EN-US"> </span>I moved to Cortes Island in 1990 from Halifax, where I was teaching at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, because one cold dark morning I was shocked to not recognize myself in the mirror—I looked so tired and stressed. I gave up money and career advancement to become an overeducated oyster farmer who paints large <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html">photo-realist images of nature</a>, makes <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/journey-drums.html">frame drums for shamanic journeying</a>, and continually creates <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">the Journey Oracle card deck</a>.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"> </span>I compare my best painting moments to singing Opera. I strive for making that elegantly floating line of pigment unfurling like an effortless aria, all the while knowing years of discipline and practice are supporting the voice, and the mark.</div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-81749355008862760752014-04-16T17:38:00.000-07:002014-04-16T17:38:16.583-07:00Lunch in the garden: Original chalk pastel and fine art printIt is not quite warm enough yet to sit out on the deck, cup of tea in hand, and gaze into the garden. Having lunch in the garden is one of my favorite summer moments. Yet this chalk pastel did not have its origin in that memory, but rather in the inside of a cereal box. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-434bB2tutXc/U08ffkJh1GI/AAAAAAAACRU/zmSSOcZC9Y4/s1600/lunch-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-434bB2tutXc/U08ffkJh1GI/AAAAAAAACRU/zmSSOcZC9Y4/s1600/lunch-1.png" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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One set of flaps were cut off a cardboard cereal box with a plain interior, and then all kinds of art materials were used to make marks inside the box without looking inside. The messier the process, the more exciting and unexpected the results!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWlmKtkMY74/U08fw5jsNuI/AAAAAAAACRc/sYKgbnCpCwg/s1600/lunch-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWlmKtkMY74/U08fw5jsNuI/AAAAAAAACRc/sYKgbnCpCwg/s1600/lunch-2.png" height="299" width="320" /></a></div>
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The artistic challenge, and fun, of making a creative mess--is in finding shapes and figures that tell a story in the squiggles and splashes, and then in trying to replicate exactly those marks using just one material. Chalk pastel is a great media for this project because its nature is boldly dramatic and intensely colorful--just like the surprising collisions of form and color found inside the box.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y45wL0tpKzU/U08gC2vHLsI/AAAAAAAACRk/diwSo7Dp3vc/s1600/lunch-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y45wL0tpKzU/U08gC2vHLsI/AAAAAAAACRk/diwSo7Dp3vc/s1600/lunch-3.png" height="320" width="268" /></a></div>
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Of course it is also important for the eye to find a place of rest in an art piece, and this is an image of "lunch in the garden" so the hand and tea cup, by their recognizable representation, become the quiet place to sit and appreciate a never-before-seen flower. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2EqORaVItc/U08gZrz7e_I/AAAAAAAACRs/09uOhMseNBA/s1600/lunch-4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2EqORaVItc/U08gZrz7e_I/AAAAAAAACRs/09uOhMseNBA/s1600/lunch-4.png" height="320" width="283" /></a></div>
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LUNCH IN THE GARDEN</div>
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Original Chalk Pastel on Matte Board</div>
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20" x 26.5 " framed...$900.00</div>
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shipping additional</div>
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Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper </div>
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with archival inks</div>
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11" x 17" unmatted...$150.00</div>
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shrink wrapped on foam core</div>
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shipping additional</div>
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for more information contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com</div>
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See more shamanic art originals and prints at</div>
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www.journeyoracle.com</div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-84485322313727099982013-11-14T16:29:00.000-08:002013-11-14T16:29:39.776-08:00New Shamanic Painting and print: The Last Morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zr50wfuhuUw/UoViVK0ILLI/AAAAAAAAB9k/qu6ATUwFamE/s1600/painting-full.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zr50wfuhuUw/UoViVK0ILLI/AAAAAAAAB9k/qu6ATUwFamE/s320/painting-full.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have just completed a new acrylic painting and it shows why I call my paintings shamanic. When I write about <a href="http://www.journey-oracle.blogspot.ca/2013_09_01_archive.html">being shamanic</a> I do not mean be a wannabe shaman, I mean being Nature. Knowing that everything that is, is alive. Everything wants the dignity of its own lived experience. Even the most altered of man-made materials originates from the Earth and continues its vibration in whatever form it has. My <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic_paint">acrylic paints</a> are highly altered, for example, the natural iron oxide that is the pigment of raw sienna is suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion which is in turn inside a plastic tube. And yet these elements still sing on the paper, creating a feeling of being in Nature.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LuUDs6MV5cg/UoVjETqToKI/AAAAAAAAB9s/HFm-jXyQ_cA/s1600/painting-sky.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LuUDs6MV5cg/UoVjETqToKI/AAAAAAAAB9s/HFm-jXyQ_cA/s320/painting-sky.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the sky moves as I move past the painted surface, and the clouds form and fade depending on my angle--this is the <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html">shamanic painting</a> being alive.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1b0_I0lSzc0/UoVkI4UtLfI/AAAAAAAAB94/jLv2Ksd5g_Y/s1600/painting-grass.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1b0_I0lSzc0/UoVkI4UtLfI/AAAAAAAAB94/jLv2Ksd5g_Y/s320/painting-grass.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the texture of the paint and paper combine to create a surface I cannot predict or fully control, this is the painting showing me its lived experience.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyKvUuMxhIY/UoVlaZhUbLI/AAAAAAAAB-E/HbfMT9Yvy6E/s1600/painting-head.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyKvUuMxhIY/UoVlaZhUbLI/AAAAAAAAB-E/HbfMT9Yvy6E/s320/painting-head.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the feelings of vast space and peace arise in me as I look at the painting, this is the song of being in this place--of passing though the veils that cause the layers of reality to appear separate--and I am again on the beach, and it is the last morning. <br />
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THE LAST MORNING<br />
acrylic on matte board<br />
33.5" x 42.5"<br />
framed to museum standards with acid-free materials<br />
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$3,000.00<br />
shipping additional<br />
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Fine Art Print<br />
printed on acid-free velvet art paper<br />
with archival inks<br />
11" x 17" (27 cm x 43 cm)<br />
unmatted<br />
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$150.00<br />
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shipping additional<br />
To order contact Kristen at <a href="mailto:journeyoracle@gmail.com">journeyoracle@gmail.com</a><br />
See more shamanic art originals and prints at <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">www.journeyoracle.com</a><br />
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-74559556591007986042013-09-05T16:34:00.000-07:002015-07-05T11:08:50.004-07:00Shamanic painting original and print: Altar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oJMM0JRqmzM/UikMrvMsCYI/AAAAAAAABzc/flhcYdsEOSE/s1600/altar-salal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oJMM0JRqmzM/UikMrvMsCYI/AAAAAAAABzc/flhcYdsEOSE/s320/altar-salal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I love to find altars in nature, as if Gaia herself were making little rituals of beach logs and salal twigs where I can sit in wonder and meditate on the play of light and shadow in patterns of wood grain.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t3KoZErbJl4/UikNHQEPWGI/AAAAAAAABzk/L7fxuGWMqgI/s1600/altar-detail-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t3KoZErbJl4/UikNHQEPWGI/AAAAAAAABzk/L7fxuGWMqgI/s320/altar-detail-1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sometimes I see that other than human creatures emerge in the shadow play of these altars in nature. Here a child climbs toward me, there someone calls out strongly.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TkyETxlYfvY/UikOf2_VIxI/AAAAAAAABzw/sF3MJ1GZ5JE/s1600/altar-child.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TkyETxlYfvY/UikOf2_VIxI/AAAAAAAABzw/sF3MJ1GZ5JE/s320/altar-child.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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In my shamanic paintings of nature, I paint to remember each part, and every part between the parts. I want there to be no past indifferent moment, no forgotten place.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vaSu8O8Mnag/UikPjWr2-GI/AAAAAAAABz8/_ioZw_ILluQ/s1600/altar-full.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vaSu8O8Mnag/UikPjWr2-GI/AAAAAAAABz8/_ioZw_ILluQ/s320/altar-full.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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ALTAR<br />
fine art original of acrylic on matte board<br />
fine art print<br />
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For more information about purchasing my art go to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.etsy.com/your/shops/journeyoracle/tools/listings/stats:true">my web store</a><br />
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-7433939090952883642013-06-19T20:36:00.001-07:002013-06-19T20:36:14.288-07:00Celebrating Summer Solstice in Art of the Desert<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7cOQeBIxwg0/UcIbORaacEI/AAAAAAAABpM/7jjK9GDI-Rk/s1600/solstice-flint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7cOQeBIxwg0/UcIbORaacEI/AAAAAAAABpM/7jjK9GDI-Rk/s320/solstice-flint.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When planning ways to celebrate summer solstice, find a place where the sun can easily attend. My understanding is that summer solstice is the Sun's wedding day, and so of course He will want to be there. If you do not live in the desert--choose a location with a big view, or mountain or massive stone; choose a place that has the Sun in its majesty and scale already present.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdDOSRWZNmY/UcIctv_ZoQI/AAAAAAAABpc/cWnBzFTr72Y/s1600/solstice-footprint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdDOSRWZNmY/UcIctv_ZoQI/AAAAAAAABpc/cWnBzFTr72Y/s320/solstice-footprint.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bring gifts to the creatures whose homes you are disturbing with your wedding festivities. The animals, birds and insects will likely feel better about you descending on their neighborhood if you come with shiny colorful objects and feast foods just for them.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1v0E0Pp-BOA/UcIfcac6wdI/AAAAAAAABp0/sb6mMp8sdrs/s1600/solstice-bead.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1v0E0Pp-BOA/UcIfcac6wdI/AAAAAAAABp0/sb6mMp8sdrs/s320/solstice-bead.png" width="233" /></a></div>
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Invite the spirits of place in their sacred plant forms to sit with you to honor the Sun. Bring special handmade offerings, food and incense. Spirits are attracted to our effort, and want to taste a little bit of the bounty we create at this summer solstice time.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8kA0FGQAg/UcIfDPU472I/AAAAAAAABps/9l22IBi6pFw/s1600/solstice-cup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8kA0FGQAg/UcIfDPU472I/AAAAAAAABps/9l22IBi6pFw/s320/solstice-cup.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Leave something precious for the place to enjoy after you go. At this time of year a cup of water may have great value. So might also a song given to the wind, who could play with the vibration and keep flowing your breath long after you depart.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cRHzg5HXA9M/UcIicPX-1_I/AAAAAAAABqE/TSb47DS4ngM/s1600/solstice-sprout.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cRHzg5HXA9M/UcIicPX-1_I/AAAAAAAABqE/TSb47DS4ngM/s320/solstice-sprout.png" width="233" /></a></div>
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Leave spirit in place when your festivities for summer solstice are complete. Leave every small deliciously attractive natural object in its true home. When we take what is not freely given we leave a hole in the spirit of place, and this in turn leaves a tear in the fabric of our obligation to the other-than-human-creatures, forms and forces that share this earth with us. </div>
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Happy Solstice from <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">the Journey Oracle</a>. May you find yourself dancing at the Wedding Feast, and may you remember the taste of the Groom's cake long after the Sun has left the party. </div>
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This series of 6 works in watercolor pencil are from the desert near</div>
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Ojo Caliente, New Mexico </div>
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made while I was studying with <a href="http://www.floweringmountain.com/">Martin Prechtel</a>. </div>
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For more information about purchasing these fine art prints</div>
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individually or as a set</div>
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contact Kristen at <a href="mailto:journeyoracle@gmail.com">journeyoracle@gmail.com</a></div>
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Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-81947545893137826342013-06-12T19:19:00.000-07:002013-06-12T19:19:24.017-07:00Shamanic painting original and fine art print: Praying for Rain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkVBI2ZVY6Y/UbkjBl32jDI/AAAAAAAABoQ/K2vbIRIUIuE/s1600/pray-for-rain-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkVBI2ZVY6Y/UbkjBl32jDI/AAAAAAAABoQ/K2vbIRIUIuE/s320/pray-for-rain-1.png" width="236" /></a></div>
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This chalk pastel painting is the image of a true story of a ritual made to pray for rain. Many years ago on <a href="http://www.cortesisland.com/">Cortes Island</a> the rains did not come and the salmon were circling and circling in the sea, waiting to come into the rivers to spawn, but there was not enough water to bring them home.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yct928El8TM/UbkkE3dH65I/AAAAAAAABok/IhP8Xi9A50A/s1600/pray-for-rain-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yct928El8TM/UbkkE3dH65I/AAAAAAAABok/IhP8Xi9A50A/s320/pray-for-rain-3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Myself and two other women spent a day pounding on an ancient stone on the Cortes shore, calling the rain to come and help the salmon. Earlier I had been given a Heron's wing by someone who just left it in my living room, with no note of explanation. Since I understand that the Heron is the sentinel of well being in these waters--we burned the wing so that its breath could rise to the clouds and call the rain.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLoQ04fbUKk/UbkjMPnTk-I/AAAAAAAABoY/1i2bZlQuh0Q/s1600/pray-for-rain-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLoQ04fbUKk/UbkjMPnTk-I/AAAAAAAABoY/1i2bZlQuh0Q/s320/pray-for-rain-2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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We danced in the smoke and cinders until two porpoise came close to the shore and in their spouting breaths we understood that our call would be answered. And a few days later, the rains came. </div>
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There are lots of ways to be of service. And many forms for <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">an Oracle speaking</a>. I am just now reading <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memories,_Dreams,_Reflections">Memories, Dreams, Reflections</a></i>, the autobiography of C.G. Jung. He describes how we can ultimately only tell our personal myth. "Whether or not the stories are 'true' is not the problem. The only question is whether what I tell is <i>my </i>fable, <i>my </i>truth." This story of my inner, invisible life with spirit--and how it irrupts into ordinary reality--is for me, the only art worth making.<br />
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<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shrink wrapped on foam core for shipping</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">For more information contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">See more shamanic art originals and prints at </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">www.journeyoracle.com</a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-36257902259406717742013-04-10T18:44:00.000-07:002015-07-05T11:11:47.657-07:00Shamanic painting and print: Ode to Stones that Speak<br />
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I am preparing to give a workshop in Edmonton on Speaking with Stones and find myself reflecting on this <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html">chalk pastel drawing</a> I created titled: <i>Ode to Stones that Speak</i>. This is one of those mysterious shamanic paintings that keeps its full meaning hidden even from me.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fo73BAutk3M/UWYRkMfJFnI/AAAAAAAABi8/H7FdtL5dm6I/s1600/ode-stone.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fo73BAutk3M/UWYRkMfJFnI/AAAAAAAABi8/H7FdtL5dm6I/s320/ode-stone.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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For many years I have been able to receive messages from stones--not in images but as vibrations that translate into Yes and No, and also into phrases that have the potency of poetry. I first had this experience after attending a workshop with a student of <a href="http://www.shamanism.org/">Michael Harner</a> who had attended sessions at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. We were supposed to receive images from the stone surface to translate into answers to questions we posed, yet I kept feeling a vibrating presence in the stone, and also hearing syllables that joined together to become phrases of archaic formality and beauty. I have courted this stone speech for many decades, and sometimes honor the presence I feel by creating art inspired by my experience.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SiK04QD5Og8/UWYR2zU94HI/AAAAAAAABjE/62ledhLBWys/s1600/ode-bird.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SiK04QD5Og8/UWYR2zU94HI/AAAAAAAABjE/62ledhLBWys/s320/ode-bird.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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This shamanic art of chalk pastel is a visual song to the mystery of stones that speak to me. While I cannot explain why things appear as they do--I am delighted and emboldened knowing that a stone knows that fish and whales can soar in water filled with the flight of birds, and that moss grows with a human face.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--3IhWFoPtPY/UWYSKBlbbRI/AAAAAAAABjM/1GWjwgUFIV4/s1600/ode-face.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--3IhWFoPtPY/UWYSKBlbbRI/AAAAAAAABjM/1GWjwgUFIV4/s320/ode-face.png" width="213" /></a></div>
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For more information about purchasing my art go to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.etsy.com/your/shops/journeyoracle/tools/listings/stats:true">my web store</a>.</div>
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<br />Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-16924722841709927442012-05-02T18:20:00.001-07:002012-05-02T18:20:06.112-07:00Fine art print of a shamanic story<br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The subject for this chalk pastel is a literal scene taken from shamanic work I have done with my students. The client of this work was a herd of buffalo spirits of place in Buffalo Lake, Alberta. In dreams and forms of divination we were shown that the buffalo were still part of the nature of the place, even though now the lake edge was massed with summer cottages, boat ramps and recreational vehicles. Their presence was strong in winter, when all the human toys were stored away and the lake edge whispered with the dry rattle of bare branches. We understood the buffalo were starving because no one was feeding them by remembering the beauty of their living there. And of course as spirits, they could not die, but could continue to starve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">In one of those synchronistic moments of inspiration before leaving for Edmonton, I asked my partner to make us some little arrows of wood, plus I cut some pieces of doweling and drilled holes to fit the two together—knowing not what the little boats were for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Upon arriving and settling in our guest house on the lake , my students and I realized that the winter birds could carry our prayers as food to the buffalo, and so we set about building boats full of seeds for the birds, that they would look kindly on our request for their help. In order not to build competition or jealous comparison into our project, which would not taste good to birds or buffalo, we passed each boat to the next woman at each next stage of its construction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">When all the boats were built and filled by everyone, we took them to every kind of terrain we could find so our prayers would fly in all the voices of the land. From high on hills, and in the tangle of sedge and willow, and along the lake edge—we sailed our boats to feed the birds who could carry our prayers of remembering to the buffalo. And later, it did seem like everything moving among the empty, silent summer cabins that night was warm and well, and had full bellies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">with archival inks</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">17” x 11” (43 cm x 27 cm) unmatted….$190.00</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shrink wrapped on foam core for shipping</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shipping included</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">To order contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">See more shamanic art originals and prints at </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none;">www.journeyoracle.com</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-50431950650366604292012-04-25T17:43:00.001-07:002012-04-25T17:43:48.149-07:00Shamanic Art Original and Fine Art Print<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CtIM9M7L3rY/T5iWcfDig7I/AAAAAAAAA2U/DZ1pI1Q9gfY/s1600/lunch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CtIM9M7L3rY/T5iWcfDig7I/AAAAAAAAA2U/DZ1pI1Q9gfY/s320/lunch.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">This original chalk pastel is titled “Lunch in the Garden” and captures the intense vibrancy of sitting in a still cool July morning, enjoying a cuppa and looking out at the extravagant ornateness of summer blooms. ..while perhaps wearing a fish hat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">As a visual artist who has taught many years of middle school and <a href="http://nscad.ca/en/home/default.aspx">university level art students</a>, as well as given hours of painting workshops to adults, I love to surprise my student’s creative process by creating images in unusual ways. This pastel probably wins the prize for the most peculiar source for an art image that I’ve ever suggested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">My students and I sat in a circle with all manner of almost used up art materials on a table in the center. Amid much laughter and increasing little kid messiness, we passed a breakfast cereal box around and around; each one of us selecting a tube of paint, crayon, pen, ink brush—anything that would make a mark—and covered the inside of the box without peeking inside. When we had as much color smeared on ourselves as we imagined was smeared inside, we opened the box to dry flat. What a riot of color and pattern! Such a wild story of shapes and textures could never be told by planning the effects or checking on progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">When the art materials were dry, we used strips of white paper taped into a small picture “frame” and moved these around the cardboard until we found forms that spoke back to our wandering gaze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Once we had located an area and taped our frame over it, this was cut out and became the source image for our painting. We then had the good fun and visual challenge of trying to replicate exactly the different materials and marks to a scale that ‘jumped up’ into art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LUNCH IN THE GARDEN</div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Original Chalk Pastel on Matte Board</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">20”(w) x 13”(h) (51 cm x 33 cm) unframed…$500.00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Matted to fit 26.5” x 20” frame</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shipping included</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">with archival inks</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">17” x 11” (43 cm x 27 cm) unmatted….$150.00</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shipping included</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">To order contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">See more shamanic art originals and prints at </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/">www.journeyoracle.com</a></span></span></div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-35950447065488375562011-03-16T18:20:00.001-07:002011-03-16T18:26:00.239-07:00Shamanic painting and print: Touching Trees<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4IeZ2vqh1Tw/TYFhJ2GiOvI/AAAAAAAAAcs/HPrYVjgt8aQ/s1600/trees-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4IeZ2vqh1Tw/TYFhJ2GiOvI/AAAAAAAAAcs/HPrYVjgt8aQ/s320/trees-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584851834685766386" border="0" /></a><br />In 2004 the 80 acre piece of forested land across the road from our property on <a href="http://www.cortesisland.com/">Cortes Island</a> went on the market.<span style=""> </span>Although my friends and neighbors joined me in ceremonies to call a buyer who would respect the elemental big forces that lived there, no one answered but the loggers. <p class="MsoNormal">When the wreckage subsided, I climbed over the broken forest to a large cedar still standing by a small stream almost gone underground from the silt-covered drifts of branched across its flow.<span style=""> </span>I asked, “What do you need that I can do?” and saw with my inner eye the jumbled remains of tree stumps stretching into the distance, and also a small jar of red paint.<span style=""> </span>I understood to touch every tree, and spent a year climbing over branches and falling through brambles, touching my finger into a jar of red ochre and then touching every tree stump.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxtOWOzcBSc/TYFgnI30VmI/AAAAAAAAAck/sbrywOJtOLo/s1600/trees-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxtOWOzcBSc/TYFgnI30VmI/AAAAAAAAAck/sbrywOJtOLo/s320/trees-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584851238428890722" border="0" /></a><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> At the very beginning of my impossible task, I found a small chip of wood with a beautiful burled patterning on its reverse, and I kept this with the ochre in the pocket of my old coat.<span style=""> </span>Each time I would complete my struggle for the day, I would wipe my finger clean on the cut side of the wood.<span style=""> </span>One year later at the end of my not quite so impossible task I decided to create a <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html">shamanic painting</a> of the clear cut to honor all the tiny shoots of green pushing up to soften the haul roads and cat tracks.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> When I paint I begin along the upper edge and paint, finished as I go, to the bottom edge.<span style=""> </span>The painting in progress looks like a completed work with a white film over portions of the image that is slowly being peeled off a few inches a day.<span style=""> </span>After I had completed about 1/3 of the portrait of the clear cut, I became bored with where it might be going.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I remembered the little piece of wood still in my old coat, and when <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/journey-of-the-oracle.html">I spent time gazing</a> into its ochre-stained surface—this is who I saw.<span style=""> </span>I do not know who she is and what she is holding, but if you take some moments to meet her gaze, she might tell you. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdrAT6gGYGY/TYFgLCiFuiI/AAAAAAAAAcc/FclxAdrjk6g/s1600/trees-3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdrAT6gGYGY/TYFgLCiFuiI/AAAAAAAAAcc/FclxAdrjk6g/s320/trees-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584850755690805794" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">with archival inks</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">17” x 11” (43 cm x 27 cm)</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">unmatted….$300.00</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">sealed on acid free foam core for shipping</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">shipping included</span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">To purchase email Kristen at </span></span><a href="http://journeyoracle@gmail.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">journeyoracle@gmail.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">See more </span></span><a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">shamanic paintings</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> at </span></span><a href="http://journeyoracle.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">www.journeyoracle.com</span></span></a></span></div></span></i></p>Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-17028542513158553852011-03-02T19:47:00.000-08:002015-07-05T11:15:39.690-07:00Shamanic art print: I never dream I sing<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sE8IZ_tc3RI/TW8OOmwcGsI/AAAAAAAAAcM/hTPiTzcYboQ/s1600/dream-1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579694107420007106" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sE8IZ_tc3RI/TW8OOmwcGsI/AAAAAAAAAcM/hTPiTzcYboQ/s320/dream-1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>This <a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html">shamanic painting</a> titled <span style="font-style: italic;">I never dream I sing</span> comes from literal experience. Although I consider my singing to be a core element in all my shamanic work--especially calling and feeding my helpers in the Spirit world with song--for a long time I noticed that I never sang in my dreams. I even spent time focussing my dream intention on singing before I went to sleep, but never did I succeed.<br />
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This chalk pastel work began as a scribble drawing on newsprint in an art mentoring class here on <a href="http://www.cortesisland.com/">Cortes Island</a>. I was demonstrating how our muse can inhabit anything of our making, if our intention is clear and our effort is honoring. I was gazing into the resulting pattern of scribbles to find a presence and saw the faint traces of what transformed into this haunting scene: youth and wisdom creating the breath of both worlds in song. Still, however beautiful, the finished piece also felt like a dream message of sadness because no singing came in my dreams.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j3bvNyYc2O8/TW8N-79UvGI/AAAAAAAAAcE/ZfKBc71mHqU/s1600/dream-2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579693838233287778" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j3bvNyYc2O8/TW8N-79UvGI/AAAAAAAAAcE/ZfKBc71mHqU/s320/dream-2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 212px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>And then one night after a community meeting in which I facilitated a discussion between a logging company and island residents--using all my humble skills and attention to hold a space for the other-than-human wisdom of nature to also be present and to be included in the dialog--I had this dream.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">A man who is sitting on my left asks me who I am--and then before I can answer he says "you are a shaman with a family." I begin to sing one of my medicine songs to the tune of Amazing Grace. While I am doing this I am aware that for the first time I am singing in my dream. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v74PxL0Mo94/TW8NlSvukxI/AAAAAAAAAb8/EyZqtTn3QvU/s1600/dream-3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579693397673677586" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v74PxL0Mo94/TW8NlSvukxI/AAAAAAAAAb8/EyZqtTn3QvU/s320/dream-3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 238px;" /></a>I think our ancestors and spirit guidance do not waste these precious moments, but save them until the dream sequence can be aligned to an important experience in ordinary reality, and so use these dream messages to be <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/wade-davis.html">wayfinders</a> along our path.<br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">I NEVER DREAM I SING</span></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">For more information about purchasing this art, go to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.etsy.com/your/shops/journeyoracle/tools/listings/stats:true">my web store</a>.</span></span></div>
Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-65750290194953049752010-04-08T17:15:00.000-07:002010-04-09T14:19:10.452-07:00Shamanic Painting of Breaking Doubt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u2j7vHrgdKI/S79gmNU5WYI/AAAAAAAAAN0/dZ67fDKN94E/s1600/breaking-doubt-b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u2j7vHrgdKI/S79gmNU5WYI/AAAAAAAAAN0/dZ67fDKN94E/s320/breaking-doubt-b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458187482924931458" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u2j7vHrgdKI/S79gTzfGXAI/AAAAAAAAANs/S0WgNbBKZ2I/s1600/breaking-doubt-a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u2j7vHrgdKI/S79gTzfGXAI/AAAAAAAAANs/S0WgNbBKZ2I/s320/breaking-doubt-a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458187166750759938" border="0" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><div style="text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><i>Breaking Doubt</i><br /></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">This chalk pastel work captures a moment in a ritual when I literally had to “break doubt.”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">I understand that one of the greatest obstacles to our receiving wisdom from the Spirit World is our doubt.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">The moment we question what we see, or hear, or feel—this opening between the worlds, through which this communication is flowing—erodes and frays.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">In the ceremony I knew I could only strike the clay disk in one place in order to break the disk evenly all over, and that this one spot would only be visible to my sight if I believed I could see it.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Relax and be confident.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p>One movement, one strike; breaks doubt.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Original Chalk Pastel on Matte Board</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">22.5” x 16.5” (57 cm x 42 cm) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><span></span>unframed…$900.00</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">shrink wrapped on foam core for shipping</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">shipping included</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Custom fine art print on acid free velvet art paper</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">with archival inks</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">17” x 11” (43 cm x 27 cm)</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">unmatted….$190.00</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">shrink wrapped on foam core for shipping</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">shipping included</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">To purchase email Kristen at </span></span><a href="http://journeyoracle@gmail.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">journeyoracle@gmail.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">See more </span></span><a href="http://www.journeyoracle.com/shamanic-painting.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">shamanic paintings</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "> at </span></span><a href="http://journeyoracle.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">www.journeyoracle.com</span></span></a></span></div></span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681646829065995217.post-45012403326141362532010-04-06T23:09:00.001-07:002010-04-06T23:19:04.775-07:00Mystery of Sacred Art<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In my shamanic painting, I feel I am caught on a little hook that reaches out from the Mystery of Sacred art. My large acrylic paintings are ways for me to go back through this physical world into a shamanic landscape. I believe the shaman’s world is this world with the veils removed. I see this sacred landscape better with my eyes open, journeying into shamanic worlds within my painted ones.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">My art with chalk pastel is inspired by dream creatures, rituals for spirits of place, and visionary images that come during shamanic journeys. I understand that this work is food for the Holy.</span></span></p> <span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When I make art with watercolor pencil, I learn how to observe nature without editing out details. I draw from the wisdom that every part, and every part between the parts, is whole. </span></span></span><!--EndFragment-->Kristen Scholfield-Sweethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00728506078666565401noreply@blogger.com