We started off the week with a special 2-day workshop by one of my classmates, Kevin Campeau (also from Canada) and Alexandra Moskovchuk. I first met Alexandra in class – she’s one of our models – but she also led one of the meditations during the Avaloka night I wrote about in a previous post.  I had felt a connection with her as a fellow energy worker, and so I was very much looking forward to this.

We spent most of the 2 days sitting / lying in a circle on the floor.  Through sacred rituals and various exercises, we delved deeper into our selves and our creative source.  We danced, did zazen meditation, automatic drawing exercises, creative visualization journeys, drum-induced journeying, and more.  It was great.  As one of our outside guests said “It’s good to be in a school where it’s not a bunch of idiots trying to feed you bullshit“.  I had to laugh even if I’ve been a teacher in schools and universities for over 20 years.  The Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts is simply a different kind of school – and I’m glad we have the space to experience this spiritual side of creativity as a group here.

Journeying:

I especially enjoyed my drum-induced journey.  First, Alexandra introduced 5 elements that are important when journeying:

1. being aware of our physical environment here on earth – the reality in which we start
2. being aware of the starting point in the dreamtime (in our vision)
3. setting an intention (and keeping it throughout)
4. asking for a guide to show itself as we enter our visualization and at each level
5. expressing gratitude

My intention was to focus on being an open-hearted loving being.  I found myself in a grassy tropical space 3/4 of the way up a waterfall that has been in my inner world for decades.  From there, my familiar black panther joined me (confirming that this childhood spirit animal is still by my side) and led me behind the waterfall, where a circle of First Nations elders sat around a fire.  One native elder approached me and offered me an emerald of the same green as the panther’s eyes (this stone, I later confirmed online, is used for the healing of the heart and its power is highest at the full moon – that night).  I asked him how I could become more unconditionally loving (to add to the amazing lessons I’m learning from my Real Love resources).  The instant I did so, I also had that “watch what you ask for” feeling and I expressed my resistance at learning to be so the hard way.  He started by explaining how many have become unconditionally loving in different ways – some through incredible hardships, some through caring for others in hardships, some by spending time with animals, etc.  He showed me several examples. There is no one way of opening one’s heart to unconditional love – we each have a unique path and I would be given clear signposts along the way.  I was already on the right path – learning to love myself and to be true to my personal power and path through my art and life’s journey.  My very intention of becoming more loving is part of that journey and I was asked to trust that once again.  For some reason, when he brought up being true to myself and my path, my old financial fears came up to the surface again and he handed me a little leather drawstring pouch like they had in olden days. It looked empty, but it wasn’t – when I reached in, I found there several gold coins – a reminder that I have never lacked for anything and that when resources were needed, they would reveal themselves to me.  I keep learning this lesson.  That’s about all I remember about the vision, except that just before the change of drum rhythm signaled our need to return to reality, my guide handed me a peace pipe.  I loved the symbolism, but objected to smoking.  He smiled, patiently, showing me how I loved smudging myself in sacred smoke to cleanse myself of what I no longer needed and how I had enjoyed the myrrh and other tree sap incenses that Alexandra had used that day. He smiled again – totally loving me as I am. I smiled.  I accepted the offering with gratitude, chuckling at myself and my hangups… (ever present, even in dreamtime 🙂  ).

Automatic Drawing/Painting:

As for the automatic drawing and painting, it was very close to how I approach my own painting sessions – simply following and trusting. We started by exploring one continuous line …

and expanding that to portraits of each other.  Here’s where non-judgement came in big time.  I was really hoping, of course, that by being in the energy flow and having asked my guides and Lizzy’s to help us co-create portraits of each other,  I would have suddenly mastered the art of drawing.  Yes, I believe in miracles and magic.  I must trust, therefore, that these are exactly as they are meant to be (and Lizzy was a great sport about them)  I’m including a picture of her too though, so that you can see that my images are definitely not realistic in nature 🙂 .

Here’s her wonderful energy portrait of me.  I definitely recognize myself on many levels.

portrait of Dominique by Lizzy

When I decided to draw Rachel and Alexandra, who were drawing each other at the time, I quite liked my results.

Alexandra

Rachel

I then tried it again during our live figure drawing class from 4-6pm and so here’s my automatic drawing of Daniel.

From here, I decided to play with the watercolour crayons that my sister gave me for Christmas.  Love them!  They allowed me to get into my preferred world of colour without all the prep and cleanup of acrylics or oils.  Fun!  I used this exercise to create a visual reminder of my drum-induced vision.  This bird (with markers) also came to being at some point during the day.

I am grateful for these 2 days, which resonated with my way of being and creating.  Indeed, there are many natural ways to journey and achieve visions.  Although the ritual use of drugs is common in the visionary art world, it’s simply not my path.  What we experienced early this week is more in line with my approach to tuning into the energy and journeying into the world of vision.  Different strokes for different folks!

Here are more workshop photos taken by Florence (unless marked otherwise).

photo by Alexandra

Wednesday:

We had our studio day on Wednesday this week since the Phantastenmuseum, which is attached to our classroom, was celebrating its 3rd anniversary with an open house.  We too, therefore, had our doors open while we painted.  I mostly worked on the spirit animals in my self-portrait painting.  This piece is still so far from finished – and teaching me so much.

During our live figure session, I graduated to colour – using my watercolour crayons to explore live figure painting instead of drawing (thanks Louise, I truly love these!).  I spent 45 minutes watching one of our talented Viennese participants paint with acrylics (we learn so much by simply watching others work) and then trying it out.  I’m happy with this start – this was a 20-minute pose and no, she wasn’t wearing a shower cap :-).

That’s it for now – time to head off to school after having done 2 loads of laundry and written this blog.

We started our 2nd trimester at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts on Tuesday – and we’re off to a great start!

It feels good getting back into the routine, although I’m still having to wake up with an alarm, which is quite discombobulating.  Still, I’ve managed healthy breakfasts, occasional yoga, and online art business studies before my walks to school.  I treasure these walks (despite the ever-present clouds of cigarette smoke) as there’s so much to see thanks to our school’s ideal location in the historic core.  Depending on my route, it takes me 30-50 minutes one-way.

Tuesday:

During our opening circle, we shared intentions, did a few sun salutations (yoga), and activated our classroom altar.  Laurence Caruana and Timea Tallian, our main teachers this trimester, gave us an outlook of the months ahead.  Unfortunately, one of the scheduled teachers cancelled, but fortunately, that has opened up exciting opportunities for special guest teachers.  The structure has also changed a little.  I was thrilled to find out that my positive feedback about my 2-day tutoring experience in Payerbach during the holidays has led to programming the trimester as a series of 2-day workshops that will allow us to focus on each subject more intensively: learn, practice, and integrate.  That sure works for me!  Fridays will be reserved for studio time, and we’ll still have live figure drawings for 2 hours twice a week.

Our theme during the winter trimester is – The Hieratic Style: The ‘Eastern’ Canon of Ancient, Islamic & Hindu-Buddhist Art.  I’m very much looking forward to this! Already, my interest was piqued as we reflected on what sacred geometry underlies our own art and how to apply this to a makara,a figure which is recognizable straight on, but also as symmetrical profiles.  There are many examples of these in architecturall elements of places of worship around the world, but especially so in Hindu ones.

Our group will be smaller this term – Donnalynne and Jake are now gone, but Rachel from New York has joined us – for a total of 7 students.  Now that the Academy has finally received its certification (received a few days after the end of classes in December – Congratulations Laurence & Florence for the materialization of your vision!), it will be easier for students to arrange attending for longer periods.  I’m still in the process of getting my residence permit, but it’s looking very good.  Stay tuned!

Wednesday – Thursday: Subject Matter

On Wednesday, Laurence opened a discussion on evoking inner Images through dreams, especially the symbolic ones that represent life threshold crossings.  We’ve become more and more focused on words in this age of prose, but life has a rich history of expressing itself through images.  If you’re interested in this, take a look at Laurence’s book “Enter Through the Image: The Ancient Image Language of Myth, Art & Dreams“.  We had been asked to write down our dreams for a couple of days, but I only managed to do so in my dreams, waking up to a blank paper beside me…  I’ve found dream journals very useful during major decision-making times, but so treasure my sleep that I haven’t gotten back into the habit this week, despite increasingly rich dreams.  I could see how dreams would be a rich source of inspiration for paintings – just look at Dali’s work!  Together, we looked at examples from our past/childhood that featured connections with animals, superpowers, etc.

We ended the day on Wednesday with 2 hours of life figure drawing – which confirmed that if you don’t use it, you lose it!  I confess – I haven’t been practicing, and my results show it.  Laurence warned us to be gentle on ourselves as this is to be expected…. Still, by the end, it was starting to come back to me.  I feel I’ve got much less psychological baggage around drawing this trimester – I’m certain, therefore, that learning will be much more fun now – so glad I decided to stay here more than 1 trimester!

What fun! On Thursday, Timea gave us a great presentation on Subject Matter: Natural History based on Max Ernst.  He found new worlds, for example, through his obsession with floorboards while snowed-in in the Tetra mountains.  If you’ve ever recognized figures in clouds or rocks (like this one I photographed in the afternoon), you’ll know what I’m talking about.  By rubbing (frottage) such textured surfaces, you can easily be inspired to create new worlds.

I really enjoyed playing with the decalomania technique of splattering watered down acrylic paint on a paper and pressing another on top and twisting – coming up with interesting foundations for new works.  My favourite, however, was doing so on half of a folded paper to create symmetrical blotches, which you’ll recognize if you’ve ever heard of the psychological Rorschach test – used here for inspirational vs. analytical purposes.

Timea Tallian – one of our main teachers.

In the afternoon, we took these to the Natural History Museum to study textures and patterns and find inspiration for some of our trimester paintings which will include the creation of new creatures onto these decalomania experiments.  After walking around the museum for a couple of hours photographing reference material, I sat in a corner of the insect section and drew in a meditative state – using coloured pencils to transform one of my blotches into a butterfly.

I had visited this museum during The Long Night of the Museums and had a similar energetic experience.  Although its floors are filled with beautiful examples of minerals and creatures of all shapes and sizes, the place feels very …. dead.  I think those huge rooms filled with rocks and crystals could use a cleansing – the kind that could easily occur if they opened the blinds the night before the full moon.  My feelings were confirmed by Timea who spent years working there – she explained how it’s the biggest cemetery in Austria – 6 floors underground filled with human and animal specimens from all around the world.  Before and after our explorations, we stood in a circle under the dome of the front lobby, thanking all spirits for our visit there and informing them that we’d be leaving them behind.  I tell you – this is my kind of school – not quite Hogwarts, but pretty close on some days 🙂

Friday – Studio Time

Making Fridays a studio day was a great idea – this will allow us the time to get in a state of Flow and working on our trimester paintings from both last trimester and this one.  My main painting certainly progressed a lot this Friday, even if it’s layers away from being finished.

Recommended Movie:

During class this week, the movie Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds was strongly recommended and after watching it, I agree.  I’m starting to understand my longtime obsession with spirals more…  You can see all 4 parts for free on YouTube:  Akasha; The Spiral; The Serpent and the Lotus, and; Beyond Thinking.

Summary:

What a great first week!  I am so grateful to be here, investing time, money, and energy into my art.  Life is good!