Brave Intuitive You

I am currently taking Flora Bowley's online class called Brave Intuitive You. I got it as a Christmas gift from my family. I guess it's their way of keeping me from galloping around the country taking classes ;o)

Step one of painting one

I find it so interesting how similar her techniques are to Jesse Reno (if you want to read about my workshop with him last year you can check it out here). I've heard people say that she is a female version of Jesse. I'm not sure I would word it just like that but I think there is something to be said for the comparison.

Step two of painting one

I can tell that Flora has given a lot of thought and detail to the process of teaching so that she is able to guide us in a process that can be hard to articulate.

 

Step three of painting one

There are also some interesting interviews that help us get to know her better and to get a little more in depth.





Step two of painting two



Of course we are in the very beginning stages of the process so there is a lot of trust involved and letting go of expectations.



Step 3 of painting 3

I am having the most fun playing on the canvas and just moving the paint around. I'm dancing up a storm and dancing on my canvas. Typically I step back and let out a gasp at the chaos I am creating and then I let it go and go back to trusting and playing.

I really love the bits and pieces of the overall canvas that make me say ooooh and aaaahhh.

 

It's really all just an experiment. Experimenting with the paint, the tools and experimenting with letting go.

Because these paintings are experiments I've decided that I'm not going to worry about how they turn out. I'm not expecting a masterpiece but I'm also not expecting a train wreck either.

I just think that when I let go of the pressure of "creating art" it is easier to get into that flow.

Of course when I can get into that flow, things emerge and the process is that much easier and successful.

There are times when I notice my negative voices pop up and I tell them  "Shut up and sit down! I'm busy painting right now."

There are plenty more steps to go and I can't even imagine how these are going to turn out which I think is totally cool!

An Artful Journey Continued

We could all learn a thing or two about living from Jesse Reno. He is living his dream life, living his purpose. He said that it's more than just painting to him. He needs to have a purpose in his work. To make it personal and to learn a lesson in each painting.

His main inspiration for becoming a successful artist was his intense dislike of work. He got his first job and told his mom how much he hated it. She told him to get used to it because that was life. He decided there was no way he was going to work for the rest of his life so he was going to figure out a different way.

He said that he is always trying to get back to the kid he once was. The kid who was fascinated with all things tribal, who loved to draw, and wanted to sell his drawings for a buck. He said, "The answer to all the questions is, 'What did you like when you were seven?'"

What a concept! Now he wakes up when he wants (not early at all), paints, and enjoys his life. He's is traveling around the world teaching and showing his art in galleries. I guess that seven year old kid knew something. He said, "When you do whatever you want you cure the crazy."

He kept encouraging us to take risks with our paintings. Not to be afraid. He said, "If you can't take a risk on a piece of paper, how are you going to do it in your life?" Wise words from my tattooed friend.

On day three I had this epiphany while I watched him paint. It was so strong it was like a slap in the face. I went up to him and said, "Jesse, I just got it. I know what you do. You are practicing non-attachment painting. You're like a Buddhist painter!"

"Right on dude!" he said. "I totally forgot to tell you but it's true. I once watched these Buddhist monks create a sand mandala. They worked on it all day and then swept it away and I thought, if they can do that I can paint over my painting."

This was a great lesson for painting but to be honest I was beginning to feel like him, it's more than just the painting. What a great lesson for life!

Jesse had all these great stories about how living his passion and trusting created these incredible synchronicities. He likes to call himself a magic man and he likes to sprinkle his magic dust. It seems the Universe is bringing just what he needs to continue to live the life of his dreams.

But don't think he is all magic and no work. The cool thing about him is that he does what he needs to do. He talked about just putting one foot in front of the other. When his friends told him they thought he should start showing his paintings he didn't just sit around and think about it. He went out and made it happen.

When he was rejected he kept going. He knows that not everyone is going to love what he does and he knows that there are plenty of people who will so he focuses on that. He is a creative businessman too. He comes up with new ways to do things to save money and to market himself.

While I am impressed with the way he paints I am equally impressed with the way he lives his life. I feel like I had a lesson in Life Painting. Thanks Jesse!

An Artful Journey

What a wonderful time I had in California at the Artful Journey Retreat. Cindy is a really great woman who planned a terrific event. Look at the welcome gift I received. It was beautiful! She was my angel on the last day when I lost the keys to my rental car! She went above and beyond to help me out and I am forever grateful.

I signed up to take Jesse Reno's class. I told you a little about him the day I left. I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought he might be a little rough around the edges. Let me tell you, he was great. He was really funny too. He told so many great stories and he genuinely wanted to teach us all he could. I even appreciated his grumpiness in the mornings. It reminded me of my 17 year old. :o)

His supply list was basic. Inexpensive paints, inexpensive paper and some brushes. That's it. Look how neat and clean everything looked when I first got there.

Nothing stayed neat for long. The first thing we did was apply the paint with our hands. It was fun. The idea is that you create this interesting "ground" with texture and color. This is done exclusively with your hands. We weren't allowed any brushes until day two. Can you imagine?


Once you have your ground down you begin to block out shapes and forms. I had THE HARDEST time with this part. I am telling you that I was so angry with myself. This flower was my first attempt and he brought it up the front of the room to show everyone what NOT to do. Hee hee.

The idea is that you are supposed to let things emerge slowly instead of making a hard shape. Now it was going to be a lot harder for this painting to be anything other than a flower.

We worked on 2-3 paintings at a time. He works on 10-15 in his studio. I had my grounds down on 3 of them and a flower on one and I was STUCK. He told me what to do to help me and I got back to my seat and forgot everything he said. I left for lunch so pissed off. I really could have punched someone. He kept looking over at me and he knew I was all kinds of messed up.

When we got back from lunch he sussed out the energy in the room. I don't think I was the only one struggling but I was definitely the most vocal about it :o) He told us that sometimes you just needed to get something blocked out so he was giving us 5 minutes to do it. What?! I about died.

I was frozen and he walked by and said, "You now have 4 minutes, now 3." Ugh! I finally just jumped in and created some weird animal like thing. Some people thought it was a dog. Others, a horse and still others thought a sea horse. I didn't know what the hell it was and I didn't like the looks of it but I felt so much better. My energy shifted immensely and I thanked him for pushing.

The painting continued to morph. I added a woman.

And then I stole the bottom of my creature and gave it to the woman. Now I had some funky animal woman. I have no idea.

I kept playing with it...blocking out the eye and repainting it (about 10 times), playing with the colors. Jesse called me his "every five minute girl" because I kept going up there to pick his brain. I figured I was there to learn his techniques and the best way to do that was to ask questions. He helped me so much.

This is pretty close to the final product. Like I said, who knows what or why. :o)



One of my favorite exercises was when he had us draw random things. He would say, "Draw a face. Now put a face coming out of the side. Now have an appendage coming out of the head." We just followed along. I have to say we were a bit taken back when he told us to paint a skull. What? We were a bunch of girls. We didn't want to paint a skull. He said he was going to be the only guy in a room of girls all weekend and since he knew about accessories we could paint a skull. We all laughed and painted our skulls.

My flower managed to transform itself into a face. A wacky face for sure. I worked on it for quite a while to get it to this stage. When I brought it up to him he asked me if I liked it and I said no, not really. So he told me to change the shape of it. To wreck it. In fact, he said that if we didn't wreck our painting at least twice it wasn't done.


I was a bit timid to wreck it I guess but I did change the shape and I hated it even more. So, change it again.

When I created this shape in the head it began to like a mask to me. You can see how the layering can really change things up. Suddenly my blue background made stripes so I put some lines and shapes on top to integrate it so it looked like one piece.

I tweaked the background a bit and we were out of time. This was my finished painting.

I really enjoyed learning this type of painting. He makes it look so easy but it is REALLY HARD! It is sort of the opposite of what you would normally do. Instead of building up shapes you are blocking shapes out of the background and then layering and blocking some more and on and on.

I have to tell you that I loved Jesse's take on life. I wrote down a bunch of things he said and I will share them with you in my next post.

I've Got a Little Secret!

I am heading back to California for ANOTHER painting workshop today! I know, it's so exciting! I have to tell you that 2011 is starting out fantastic for me!

I am going to The Presentation Center in Los Gatos, CA for a 3 day retreat called An Artful Journey. I am signed up to take a class with Jesse Reno! I am so excited.

I first saw his work in the fall of 2010 and I have to tell you that I fell in love. Well, not so much with his actual paintings. They are a bit too primitive for me...you know, kind of dark. But let me tell you, when I watched a video of him painting I was hooked.

He is paints with his hands, smearing the paint and working it onto the surface. You can see that he is painting intuitively. His paintings are layers and layers deep which gives them a richness and depth that is beautiful.

I've embedded a video to watch. If you enjoy it you can go to Vimeo and watch a 20 min video where he is working on several paintings at once.



Wish me luck!