Saturday, December 3, 2016

Art, Synchronicity, and the Power of Yes

I recently accepted a friend's invitation to go through 12 weeks of journal-writing and creativity exercises together using the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'm three weeks into this intriguing process and in the third chapter Cameron discusses the idea of synchronicity, "We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart's dreams. The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come back to you again. Get willing to follow it again and a second mysterious door will swing open."


I know I'm not alone when I say that this is an incredibly busy time of year. I've been busy with the usual holiday preparations but also very busy making new art and accepting new art opportunities when they arrive.

This week the Diva gave us all a second chance to try out the ideas of Reticula and Fragments. There's that door swinging open again, and this time I'm saying yes.

Diva Challenges #294 and #295 


reticula and fragments
for diva challenge #294

reticula and fragments in offset grid
for diva challenge #295

I've been wishing for more chances to connect in person with other artists and hopefully meet mentors for my art learning journey. An internet search for local art classes a few months back helped me discover the nearby artEAST art center. They have a variety of classes just as I was hoping to find, but they also have opportunities for sharing studio time with other local artists. Yes!

I've already posted about the wonderful evening workshop on printmaking I took last month but I also enrolled in a colored pencil realism class that meets once a week. The class size is so small that everyone gets one-on-one time to be mentored by the instructor.

Realism takes a lot of time but I have some work in progress to show. I like how you can see the various stages and layers that each petal will go through from just the wispy beginning of an outline to fully saturated with color.

purple hydrangeas, work in progress: colored pencil

tulips, work in progress: colored pencil
I have been wanting some guidance in getting better at drawing people and places. Craftsy, a resource for online crafting and art classes, has been offering a ton of holiday specials lately. I snatched up a few drawing classes on urban sketching and capturing likenesses. Here's some of my "homework" (click the thumbnails to see a larger version).







I've been dreaming, and I've been practicing, and synchronicity has been bringing me opportunities to practice and dream some more. What are you saying yes to?


13 comments:

  1. Wow Julie, these are amazing. You are so talented! I can tell you what I'm saying yes too, but is's very different from art. After years of hesitating (I'm probably too old, I have no experience in nursing, a.s.o.) I went to a hospice to be a volunteer and have worked there now for about five months. I said yes to that dream and am sooo glad I did.

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    1. Thank you for you kind encouragement, Anne. Thank you for sharing with me how you overcame that inner voice and followed your dream to volunteer in hospice work. That is very powerful work to say yes to. I'm so very moved to hear about it. Thank you for the work you are doing!

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  2. Wonderful work Julie, hope you can live your dream all your life along - since I am retired, I am also trying and am happy that I have discovered Zentangle :-)

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    1. Thank you for that lovely wish for me, Gudrun! Zentangle has been such a blessing and I am so glad to meet you here through it. :)

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  3. So many wonderful pieces to see here! Great post!

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  4. Wow Julie!!! Your zentangle tiles are fabulous! As is your other art! I'm amazed and inspired! I remember looking at "the artists way" a few years ago... Now I'm wondering why I didn't pick it up. Thanks for the reminder! :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Deanne! I'm happy that I was able to remind you of The Artist's Way. I think there is a lot of value in the journalling and other exercises. I hope you give it a try too. :)

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  5. Good for you that you are active in following a dream. Classes are so wonderful and I'm happy for you. Beautiful work going on here, especially those pretty colored pencil flowers!

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    1. Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement, Jean!

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  6. Julie, your blog is such an inspiration to me. I think your work is absolutely amazing and the challenges you are undertaking in learning a multitude of techniques is to be commended. Your colored pencil work is beautiful, as are your Diva tiles. In answer to your question, I am saying "yes" to learning a number of new ink to paper techniques that I originally had tried to learn when I was making cards. I am working on designing some of my own cards now. Can't wait to see your next post!

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    1. Aw, LezliB, you made my day with these kind words! Thank you for sharing with me what you are saying yes to. I'm excited to see what happens with your card-making explorations. So fun to learn new techniques!

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  7. Again a wonderful and interesting Blogpost. It is so inspiring and your work is always beautiful. Thanks for sharing and I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year full of new challenges!

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