Tag Archive for: tree of life

Portrait of a Yogi – Meranda Squires Shares Her Personal Practice to Freedom

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I recently traveled to the Tree of Life Sustainability Project & Retreat Centre with its co-founder, Meranda Squires. She had asked me to record a couple of yoga classes for her and to take some yoga pose portraits for her business – The Lotus Centre in St. John’s.

This turned into some nature photo/video play which, once back home, turned into the 11:11-minute video above – “Portrait of a Yogi – Meranda Squires Shares Her Personal Practice to Freedom”.

Having witnessed the love & beauty manifested through Meranda, I wanted to know even more.

In this interview, Meranda shares even more. Enjoy!

Interview with Meranda Squires

What is yoga?

Yoga is a state of consciousness where you don’t see division – you don’t see others as separate from your yourself. The physical poses are only the tip of the iceberg of what yoga is.

The whole practice of yoga is to dissolve the duality and the illusion of separateness so that the truth that is already there – unity consciousness – gets to be experienced by us and through us.

There’s nothing to protect anymore. There’s nothing to save or attack. So we can relax inside.

That’s the side effect of unity consciousness. There’s nothing that your ego needs to defend.

What is the meaning of all the physical poses?

My practices may look physical, but from the inside, it’s not physical at all.

Divine has chosen the physical world to express itself, so we make up yoga poses. As we do the poses and the pranayama (breathing), channels get opened up.

Stuckness and tightness start to release. Everything starts to flow and move because these exercise are designed for that purpose.

When I do poses and others start to do them, they get that effect. The meditation exercises and practices all help.

Eventually, there’s a dissolution of the physical, and you’re in the divine realm of oneness.

But you do need to start on a physical level and let the physical transform the body – so the pranayama and the stretching & holding of poses strengthens and opens you. There’s a transformation that happens over years.

There are two effects of yoga poses. There’s the immediate effect and the long term practice effect. After years of practice, something starts to open that you probably didn’t even know would get opened.

Different poses are part of the creativity of yoga. Nobody has to be perfect in all of their poses.

The yogis have decided to become a master in their field of practice. It’s not so that a person, on an ego level, can look good in a pose in a picture.

By practicing those poses, there’s a training of concentration and one-pointedness and a massaging of the ability to hold breath – and all of this is needed for the transformation of the energy.

It’s not superficial – in fact, if you decide to master these things, that’s where transformation takes place.

What has been your yoga journey to freedom?

Yoga must have come from a previous incarnation because the drive for freedom was very strong from a young age.

That’s probably why I had the parents that I had and grew up where I did, at the Ferryland Lighthouse.

That gave me the experience on a physical and family structure level of what freedom can be like. It opened my soul, my inner eye towards what the ultimate potential of freedom can be.

I have naturally been drawn to yoga and meditation since I was very young. My mother was a meditator. I was inspired by her.

When we moved to Toronto, I started investigating yoga. My first class was in the basement of a church in 1980.

From that point on, I met some people who had a guru and lived in India. They had an ashram in Toronto.

The first time I went to their yoga class, the teacher asked us to listen to the sound of silence. At first, I didn’t know what he meant – that there’s an OM sound and it’s always there. And so I finally had to let go of all the external noises. When I heard the OM, I had this epiphany, like “Ahhhhhhhh Wow!”

These little insights kept me inspired . “Oh my God, there’s so much more.”

I saw there was a lot to do with the body – I was already involved in dance, so yoga was natural for me.

I left for India when I was 20 in 1983. I stayed there for 17 years.

It became my new lifestyle. I felt I had come home to myself to be growing and interacting with other like minds, all devoted to personal transformation through meditation and yoga philosophy.

I had a teacher that I could access when needed. Truly, it’s so special to have this type of guidance.

I lived in a small apartment I rented from an Indian family. I went to Satsang, our daily gathering, twice daily.

My teacher spoke knowledge, we asked questions, we learned to public speak.

We sang chants, learned the scriptures, had beautiful walks in the mountains, had potlucks with my spiritual friends, and meditated a lot; hours and hours a day.

After 17 years of personal work , I knew it was time for me to teach.

So I returned to Newfoundland and set up the Lotus Centre in 2000. I have been teaching and learning ever since, and now I’m training others in this deep spiritual work.

Have you achieved the unity consciousness you described?

I would say I’m living the essence of yoga most of the time now.

But I still have karma and things that I’m working out.

Living the lifestyle that I live and teach, I’m still learning  lessons in all of that.

But I’ve made some choices that have made my life a whole lot easier to live. My state of consciousness is able to maintain that level that I want to live in. I’m getting better and better at it as I get older.

I feel that I’m opening up to a potential that all human beings have. The yoga lifestyle has been my key. I decided that I was going for it.

That freedom, that access to unity consciousness is all there,  all accessible. Yoga helped me improve the condition of my personal life, so I can live that state.

I remember when I came back from living in an ashram in Montreal, my mother here in Newfoundland asked me “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I said, “enlightened”. She replied “Oh! that’s a different kind of profession!”

Why do you teach yoga?

Yoga is my lifestyle and my profession – living the enlightened state and being an example for others.

Everyone has the potential. They just have to set themselves up to make that condition work for them.

That’s why I want to share it. Because in the same way I was lit up, I love watching other people get lit up – with this practice, with dedication.

I’m emotional thinking of how it can be passed on to others; how others’ hearts can experience a freedom that can not be experienced living in their normal everyday life.

People can live a normal everyday life, but yoga is the addition that is the freedom while living in an everyday life.

Why were you open to sharing your practice in this video?

There’s nothing more beautiful than sharing something that is so meaningful and valuable to me (spoken with tears in her eyes).

To be inspired by the Light, by divinity and to share that.

Thank you.

 

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Re-Connecting #7- Communing With Community

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The final Communing with Community painting

“Communing with Community” – Original SOLD (oder prints here).

Hours after I decided to include Notre Dame’s Rose Window in this painting, I heard about the devastating fire in Paris. Two weeks before that,  I’d been inspired to study the design of cathedral rose windows.

There are more than just layers of paint in “Communing With Community”. There are layers of connection and re-connection through time, space, and experience as I co-created this piece live in Carbonear, NL.

In the 26-minute video below, you’ll get to share in some of that co-creative energy that brought this painting into being.

It all started when I was writing my grant proposal for the Re-Connecting Art Project.

I knew that the theme for the 7th piece would be community. The idea of creating a painting on community alone in my studio didn’t feel right.

So I reached out to Tammy Wrice Paetkau of Ocean View Gallery in Carbonear to see if she’d be open to my coming to spend a week there during my scheduled “Communion” exhibition.

She was!

Tammy and her business partner Michelle Penney-Rowe opened their businesses and their hearts to what I was moved to offer & create there.

They housed me, fed me, and made me feel right at home. I stayed at Tammy’s house with her beautiful family and borrowed her truck for my early morning trips to the studio.

From April 14-19, I offered 7am Tune-In Meditations followed by an 8am walk in the community. Then, I painted until closing time. On the 20th, I offered an intuitive painting workshop that was as much about painting as the personal spiritual process behind visionary art.

What an amazing week! It took me out of my studio and out of my comfort zone, but once I was there, it was the most natural dance of giving and receiving that resulted in the birthing of this painting.

A month later, what I remember most are my heart to heart interactions with those of all generations who came to be a part of the experience.

  • the timing of two visitors from St. John’s who joined me in infusing the first layer with community words
  • the young boy who asked me so many questions about my art, choice of music, prices, process, etc. for half an hour before settling in to draw quietly in the space
  • the teen who was surprised to find me there and was visibly taken aback by the energy in the room and came back to give me a few names to pray for during the dotting stage
  • those who came in to hug me and thank me after having experienced the exhibition before my arrival
  • the conversations with those touched by the work
  • the fellow artist and her husband who had never experienced anything like this exhibition and called back the next day to purchase a piece
  • the love, tears, and openings that occurred during the channeled meditations
  • my time with Tammy & her family
  • And, of course, the whole story of the Notre Dame fire.

The Video”

Watch this 26-minute video to see the painting evolve and to share in my community experience.

The Symbolism

Part of the intuitive painting process is trusting inspiration.

I’d received guidance to study Rose Window designs two weeks prior to going to Carbonear.

I didn’t know if it was for the background I started in the studio or some other painting in the collection. I just followed the flow.

Then, in Carbonear, when an empty circle appeared at the top of the canvas, I knew it was time. I would include one of Notre Dame’s Rose Window patterns at the top.

Later in the day, as I was posting progress photos to Facebook, I came across a post about the fire.

It hit me like a kick in the solar plexus.

Yes, it was personal. I’d visited the cathedral as a child, adolescent, and adult.

But it was much deeper than that.

I felt like I was connecting to communities all around the world – those in the present who were impacted by the news, and those throughout history who built the cathedral, worshipped there, or simply visited it.

I knew without knowing the details, that my being called to paint this window at this time was somehow helping support something greater. Was it a planetary shift or healing?

I didn’t need to know the details.  I just needed to paint & pray, connecting to community on a grand scale. But it was local too!

Many conversations ensued with visitors – about their time there, the impact of the fire on them, etc.

A day or so after I’d started painting the window, I found out that Michelle’s son, 11-year-old Liam, had been scheduled to sing at the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2 weeks with the Atlantic BoyChoir.

This was no coincidence. It was a moving example of how I may have been inspired to be there that week for him … or him for me.

On Friday night, after closing time, Michelle found Liam in the gallery standing in front of the completed painting singing the solo he had been meant to sing in the cathedral.

I had tears in my eyes when she messaged me to tell me – and still now as I write about it.

Liam’s song is now infused in this painting. And the energy of “Communing with Community” is now part of his journey.

Who knows what other layers of meaning and purpose may reveal themselves in time.

I’m just grateful I turned intuition into action – bringing me to Carbonear in April to paint the Rose Window at the time of the fire.

I’m so grateful for it all.

Community Words

Community WordsA week before going to Carbonear, I asked my Facebook audiences what words described the best of community to them.

A couple of visitors and I used liquid acrylic paint markers to cover the blank canvas with these words and more, infusing that energy into its foundation, You can’t see them anymore, but their energy still emanates from the painting.

The most popular word was “inclusive”.

This was then covered in layers and hours of mark-making, symbolizing the diversity within communities and between them.

Liquid paints in higher chakra colours were then  poured on top of these to add harmony to the apparent chaos through communication, self-expression, and connection to the Oneness of all that is.

The diversity in texture is still there, but so is the flow of unity.

Dotted Puzzle Pieces

Then came 10 hours of dotting puzzle pieces in the outside frame.

Each white dot represents a person, a member of our human communities. Each iridescent violet dot represents a Divine helper standing by our side.

Each piece is then a community within the greater whole of all communities.

I spent many of these hours reflecting on and connecting to the waves of energy that the fire at Notre Dame cathedral stirred around the world.

I also spent a few hours praying for family, friends, and prayer requests that came through Facebook and gallery visitors.

Some were intrigued or surprised about this part of my process. But after I explained how I do energy work as I paint, they gladly offered a few names.

Praying for community while dotting became an integral part of my process when working on # 1 in this series, “Every Dot a Prayer“. It’s one of my ways to commune with community, even when I’m alone.

The Arrow

When I asked my Team of Divine Helpers what might evolve in the centre of this painting, I was given a vision of an arrow with a circle. This was in the early stages of painting.

I had a few layers to go before needing to know more, but the word ‘arrow’ was in my consciousness when my father emailed me to say the windows of Notre Dame may have survived but the arrow had collapsed.

I’d never heard the term ‘arrow’ used for a church before. When I googled it, I found out that Notre Dame’s arrow is more than a steeple. It held 3 sacred relics and acted as “a veritable spiritual lightning rod protecting all those who work for the praise of God”.

My attention was also grabbed when one of my visitors, local yoga teacher Brent Denney took off his coat, revealing a tattoo of an arrow with several circles on his forearm.

It represented the cosmos and earth’s position in it (the little blue dot).

Wow! The meaning of community became much broader when contemplating the design of this tattoo in the context of what I’d been called to co-create.

In my design, I saw the arrow pointing up, aiming community higher, bringing our prayers to the Universe. It represented our planet’s ascension to higher consciousness and Divine Oneness.

As for the circle, I didn’t want to copy another artist’s design. As I tuned in, my initial inspiration of 1 circle became the vesica pisces – my favourite sacred geometry shape.

The Vesica Pisces & Tree of Life

The vesica pisces is a symbol I use a lot in my art.

It’s sacred geometry that’s been used in religion and spirituality for thousands of years to represent a source of immense power and energy.

The Vesica Pisces is the two becoming one.

It’s also

* an opening into the mysteries of higher consciousness
* the seed of the tree of life and basic motif for the flower of life,
* the intersection of spiritual and physical,
* creation/ birthing/ yoni/ Goddess
* a symbol for Jesus Christ (the fish shape in the middle).

At the heart of this vesica pisces I saw planet Earth. I purposefully chose to paint the facade that featured Europe to honour the international attention it was getting due to the fire.  Again, it’s like this fire represented a shift that is so much greater than that of a burning building.

Our sacred planet, however, wasn’t just floating in space.  It turned with the trunk of the Spirit Tree of Life at its core.

 We’re connected here on Earth to both the spiritual and physical.

Roots through time and space nourish our existence.

Branches bearing the fruits of all we are and all we’re doing here connect us to a greater picture, a mystery, our place within the divinity of all that is.

Around these two circles, holding hands, is both our human family & spirit family – of all colours, shapes, and sizes, including a few in wheel chairs.

We’re in this together!

Our pain comes from separation – from ourselves, each other, and God (or whatever term you’re comfortable using).

This painting is to help re-connect us to our True Self and All that Is.

Dragonfly Energy

It’s time to ‘burn’ whatever doesn’t serve us – whatever keeps us separate from ourselves and each other.

The last touch on this painting was adding 4 dragonflies in the corners of the ultraviolet light beam, some heading towards the planet and some away from it.

Dragonfly energy helps us to let go of illusions and delusions to get to the deeper truth.

They’re here to help us truly commune with community.

May it be so.

Bringing it Home

“Communing with Community”
24″ x 48″
(acrylics on canvas)

Original – SOLD

Prints – order yours here.

You’ can order prints of many of my paintings  in the size and medium you want from the Print-on-Demand link under my Art/Shop tab.

What More?

I’ve only shared some of the insights from my experience here.

There are so many more layers of meaning and energy that I am unaware of.

Are there any that come up for you? Please share in the comments below.

Namaste (the Spirit in me honours the Spirit in you).

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From the Beginning – a New Painting

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Doesn’t it feel great to get back to something you love doing but haven’t done in a while? What is that for you?

Although I’m a professional artist, I don’t always paint as much as I’d like. I hadn’t painted since May!

When July rolled around, I started work on a Soul Energy Portrait Experience for a client.

As is my custom, I used any leftover paint from each step of that process to begin a new painting on the side.

Then, about 4 layers in, this painting started taking on a life of its own.

It called to me through visions and extensions of the energy work I was doing for my client.

And that’s how “From the Beginning” came into being – inspired by the energy flowing through me in the service of someone else.

Then, the hours and hours of dot therapy – a form of meditative prayer – infused this painting with extra layers of high vibrational goodness. Can you feel it through the heart-warming and lower chakra nourishing colours?

From the Beginning

SOLD

As the mighty oak tree is already present in the acorn, so is unconditional love already present in our hearts and souls.

Our job as spiritual beings having a human experience is to allow that Love & Light germinating at our core to sprout, grow, flow, and blossom with the dawning of each new day.

Be it in relationship with yourself or with others,
May that love grow
May your love flow
May you be and do love
Rooted in the rich soil of your inner work
Connected to Source and All That Is.
And may you meet, along your path,
The love of one who chooses to grow with you
Learning together the many ways in which
Unconditional Love can manifest in relationship.

This is my prayer for you.
This is my prayer for me.

So be it. So I let it be.

“From the Beginning” (20″ x 24″) – SOLD
Acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas. No framing required.

 

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Reborn of Compassion

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After a blissful play marathon that brought 14 small paintings to life, I was moved to slow down and go deeper into the energy and vision work that characterizes my art.

It’s from 30 hours of being in this contemplative and co-creative space that “Reborn of Compassion” came into being.

I can’t express how open and expanded my heart felt (and continues to feel) when I gazed upon this finished painting.

The energy I channeled for this piece brought tears of joy to my eyes. So loving…. 

“Reborn of Compassion”
(18″ x 36″)
Acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas.
Original SOLD
Prints available.

Keep reading below…

The Fiery Flow

After applying layers of wet upon wet fluid and high flow professional acrylic paints onto the canvas, I got out of the way.

My job was done. I’d mixed the colours of fire with the movement of water and knew that if I kept trying to force things to happen, it would just mess things up.

Truly, the studio is a great classroom for life.

For over an hour, I literally watched the paint dry while singing Sanskrit yoga chants cross-legged on my colourfully stained drop sheets.

The colours gently flowed and mixed across the canvas, helped by Spirit and the gentle slope in the floor.

It was a very meditative process.

This fiery flow represents the energy, power, passion, and creativity of a new dawn (rebirth & renewal).

The Tree of Life

It took several more hours for that base coat to dry once the colours had stopped running, so I had time to work the design on paper before transferring it onto the canvas.

This painting was sparked by seeing a tall half-circled Celtic-style tree design on a castle wall in the Lord of the Rings movie. I’d gasped in awe when I spotted its simplicity and beauty in the background.

I purposefully didn’t take a picture, so that I wouldn’t be tempted to copy it. But its tall thin dimensions perfectly matched this 18″ x 36″ canvas I had been eyeing in the studio. I’d never painted a really tall tree with a small top before.

Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until the painting was finished that I recognized it as a mandala tree. Fun!

Do you see the iridescent dome shaped designs in the large outer layer of the tree top? I almost filled them in with more designs, but I’m so glad I listened to my intuition and left them empty. They’re two-way portals – for prayers to go out and Divine Love to come in. They offer a violet filter through which to change our paradigms, perceptions – and to see Truth. 

The Peacock

The peacock came to me in a vision when I asked my intuition what energy and symbolism also needed to be included.

There was also a pumpkin – perhaps inspired by the fact it was Thanksgiving weekend – but I didn’t include that in the final design.

I love peacocks! I so enjoyed painting one years ago, and its energy was strongly present in a Soul Energy Portrait I painted for a client last year.  I welcomed the opportunity to work with it again. After all, they’re gorgeous and transformative!

Peacocks are thought of as the modern version of the phoenix – itself a powerful symbol of transformation.

But what most impresses me about them is their ability to eat poisonous snakes and plants and transform these toxins into nourishment. What a perfect symbol for transforming one’s challenges into beauty.

This is further enhanced by their many eyes (fanned out along their tail), representing the wise vision necessary to see clearly and live in alignment with Truth.

Add to that its association with Kwan-Yin, goddess of compassion, and what’s not to love?

I had to use a bit of this compassion on myself. My original peacock design had a much stronger S-curve, which is so visually appealing. But once I got into the paint, I kept adding and adding to the fullness of the tail and so I lost some of that original intention. Still, I love it!

When you let go of what you think things should be, it’s easier to accept what is.

The Spiral

I used sacred geometry to strategically place the centre of the Tree of Life and the peacock’s eye in the design. After gazing at the almost-finished painting, however, something about the amount of sky at the top versus the ground at the bottom jarred me.

So I decided to add an element – that’s when the triangle with a spiral appeared in my mind’s eye.

This symbol and string of dots represents being embraced by Source Energy as we do the work of being human – being constantly reborn of compassion … for ourselves and others.

It’s the work of bringing the human back into Spirit.

May gazing at “Reborn into Compassion” raise your vibration to help you make the necessary changes in your life so that you too can live more aligned with your Truth.

Prints available here…

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Truth & Transformation – the painting

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Truth & Transformation intuitive paintingHave you ever tried the yoga tree pose? It’s the standing version of the seated meditation pose – one that’s achieved through balance and dynamic stillness. It both grounds you and connects you – working from the root to the crown chakra.

Practicing balancing poses in yoga, such as the tree pose, helps you gain both physical and mental steadiness and poise. Without calmness of mind, focus, and concentration, it’s really hard to do. As such, it’s a good barometer of your internal reality. Plus it helps stretch, tone, and strengthen you.  Try it.

I never tire of painting the yoga pose. And when my painting “Happy” found a good home before hanging my work at Embody Yoga and Moksha Yoga St. John’s, I decided to paint another.  And just this weekend, “Truth & Transformation” found a new home too. Blessed be!

Truth & Transformation

Aligning with your Truth means letting go of illusions and delusions to transform into who you have always been at your core.

It’s about shining your Light in your own life to be strong and free while gracing the world with your very being.

That’s what Truth & Transformation is all about.

In its layers, you’ll find

  • the tree of life,
  • the butterfly (symbol of transformation),
  • 8 dragonflies (symbol of change, letting go of illusion & delusions, peace, harmony, prosperity),
  • and a human figure in yoga tree pose (symbol of dynamic stillness & balance).

I invite you to contemplate it visually and energetically to feel what it inspires in you.

Truth & Transformation (24″ x 24″)
SOLD
Acrylics, mica (love & compassion), Chinese turquoise ( happiness, self-realization, communication, opens all chakras), and glass beads (transformation, merging of elements, rebirth, focus, and communication) on gallery-wrapped canvas.

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Happy – The Painting

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yoga tree post painting - HappyHappy was created to celebrate the end of a fruitful painting flow.

I needed one last session of dot-therapy – a meditative process of mindful, focused dot-making.

Once I’d completed it, I felt dot-satiated!

This isn’t my first yoga tree pose, tree goddess, or tree of life painting. And it won’t be the last. I feel such a connection to this imagery and its symbolism.

It also acted as energetic preparation for being a guest leader at the Unleash Your Creative Spirit retreat the following weekend.

This was a yoga retreat with contemplative nature walks, intuitive work, painting, mala bead making (thus the circle of beads in this painting), a fire ceremony, and other personal growth opportunities. Everything about it made me happy.

This painting is a retreat on canvas!

The turquoise stone enhances its energy. It’s said to open all chakras to let its metaphysical powers of love and communication flow throughout your whole being. It also adds vitality to depleted spirits and its empathetic and balancing qualities will help you master happiness.

“Happy” (24″ x 24″) – original SOLD
Click here to order prints.

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The Journey- All the Way Home to My Self

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SOLD

OK… this post is a lot about me since this was such an important process piece.  But as we’re all part of the Divine Oneness, see if you can relate with the experience, messages and energy offered here.

This is huge! And I’m not just talking size. I’m talking process!

I created “The Journey: All the Way Home to My Self” as part of my personal wellness program.

I needed focused “me” time in the studio this spring to be, re-centre, and re-energize. So I put the Law of Attraction into action –  follow your bliss and you’ll attract more of it!

What would that look like for you?

There are over 20 layers of paint and energy-work here, not to mention over 120 hours of meditative focusing, many of those spent dot-making. Bliss!

I’d had the 48″x48″ canvas as part of my studio stock for about 2 years, knowing it would eventually become a tree of life with a central circle. About a year ago, the 24″ x 48″ asked to be added to the design. But it needed more gestation time.

It wasn’t until I started working on my labyrinth series in April that I realized those 5 designs were all meant to be integrated into one.

“The Journey: All the Way Home to Myself”
48″ x 78″ (4′ x 6.5′)
Acrylics & chakra stones (red jasper (root), carnelian (sacral), yellow jade (solar plexus), green aventurine (heart), lapis lazuli (throat), amethyst (third eye) & clear quartz (crown) ) on gallery-wrapped canvas.
SOLD

Let me walk you through the creative process – allow the colours and meaning to balance your chakras as you read so that you too can journey all the way home to your Self.

Chakra Balancing Layers

Layer by layer, I worked the colour and words of each chakra onto the canvas. The result was a clearing and balancing of my own chakras.

Although you can’t see them anymore, those chakra enhancing energies still emanate from the painting, assisting the viewer’s personal process.

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  1.  Root or Base Chakra at the base of the spine (RED) : vitality, courage, self-confidence, self-awareness, security, strength of will, grounding.
  2. Sacral Chakra in the lower abdomen (ORANGE): happiness, confidence, resourcefulness, sociability, joy, creativity, independence.
  3. Solar Plexus Chakra below the ribs (YELLOW): wisdom, clarity, self-esteem, optimism, good humour, practicality
  4. Heart Chakra (GREEN): balance, unconditional love, self-love, self-control, compassion, generosity, harmony
  5. Throat Chakra (BLUE): knowledge, health, decisiveness, loyalty, calm, trustworthiness
  6. Brow or Third Eye Chakra in the centre of the forehead (INDIGO): intuition, mysticism, understanding, integrity, faithfulness, clear-sightedness
  7. Crown Chakra, at the top of the head: beauty, creativity, inspiration, reverence, service, idealism, good of the Higher Self.

The Vesica Pisces

vesica pisces design The basis for my composition and personal energy work was the Vesica Pisces – sacred geometry used in religion and spirituality for thousands of years to represent a source of immense power and energy.

The Vesica Pisces is the two becoming one – just as my experience painting and your experience now witnessing become an opening for something greater.

It’s also

* an opening into the mysteries of higher consciousness
* the seed of the tree of life and basic motif for the flower of life,
* the intersection of spiritual and physical,
* creation/ birthing/ yoni/ Goddess
* two becoming one
* a symbol for Jesus Christ (the fish shape in the middle).

The Awkward Teenager Phase

This phase isn’t uncommon in an intuitive painting…. or in life!

My focus was more on process than looks. My job was to be patient and to keep loving it (and myself) as we grew.

Which of your creations may be at an awkward teenager phase right now? How can you add more love and compassion to the mix?

There are about 6 layers of washes, glazes, paint, and art therapy here. I was even down on my hands and knees scrubbing with a brush at one point to remove layers of as-yet-fully-cured washes of gold and stainless steel paint to bring back some of what I liked a few steps back.

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The studio truly is a practice – for life, for self-love, for all there is. I trust in the process.

The initial layers are an investment of time, energy, and lots of expensive pro-paint… but none of it is wasted.

Every layer informs the metaphysical and aesthetic value of the finished piece.

Non-Attachment for Peace & Harmony

In order to reconnect to peace and achieve harmony, there’s no going back – just forward.

Are you too attached to the past to open to the mystery of the future and the peace in the now?

I may have loved how some of the close-up sections looked when I did those chakra coloured puddle-stripes, but it didn’t hold together as a painting.

So I kept adding layers of darker paints in the upper chakra colours to form a more uniform and darker background upon which to build the light.

Integrating the Labyrinth Series Designs

Now came time to integrate my previous 5 labyrinth paintings:

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The two labyrinths have an active role in this contemplative art piece.

The viewers will be able to journey through both using a soft dry paintbrush, enhancing their meditative journey.

The Tree of Life

Here’s where I fully immersed myself in dot-therapy for days on end.  Truly wonderful!

First, I dotted the bare tree branches and roots in 2 shades of iridescent copper and bronze. I also highlighted the intersections in tiny light gold dots.

Then, I added the seasons, which thankfully meant more dot-therapy! I tell ya! I was really in the dot-flow!

As one of my representations for the Law of Rhythm, the symbolism of the 4 seasons was very important for me this winter.

Business was slow and my energy seemed to match, calling for more solitude and creative time instead of focusing solely on generating new business.  This project was about honouring this inner and economic rhythm instead of trying to force something that wasn’t working… yet. My job was to stay in my peace no matter what.

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Radiant Light

Once the tree was completed, it was time to work on the halo.  So much Light went into this painting. It was time for it to shine out into the world.

Here, we have layers of tiny and broader brush strokes, first in zinc white (transparent), titanium white (opaque), and interference violet, blue, and orange. These appear white from one angle, but shine in colour from another.

I also added 3-D sparkly seeds in the root system to symbolize the juicy inspiration from which all grows. I love sparkle & shine!

You can also see here the triskele symbol in the 4 corners. I started with a layer in teal, then went for purple and interference violet. In person, they look like jewels.

The triskele is a Celtic design with a triple spiral. It represents the harmonious union, motion and transformation achieved through

  • life-death-rebirth,
  • spirit-mind-body,
  • mother-father-child,
  • past-present-future,
  • power-intellect-love,
  • and more.

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Healing & Meditation Tools

I always imagined this painting hanging with a space in between the 2 canvases.

From the central root now hangs a quartz point pendant with 7 chakra stones, bringing the piece full circle from its original layers. The pendant can be easily removed if the owner wants to wear it to help balance her/ his charkas.

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There are also 7 engraved chakra stones from India resting on the top ledge of the bottom canvas – a mini-altar. It’s a good spot for the soft paintbrush to rest when not used to journey through the two labyrinths. 

There, in the root system, precious objects and healing tools can both nourish and be nourished, bathed in layers of energy work and painted symbolism.

It doesn’t take a lot of room to create a mini-altar for yourself. Is that an idea that appeals?

The Protection

After many hours of adding tiny branches and other touch-ups, it was time to decide it was done.

I applied an isolation coat of soft-gel to protect the pigments and then 4 coats of UV resistant varnish.

I love the symbolism.

Varnish is  like surrounding yourself with a white light to protect yourself from harm. That light allows your beauty to shine through and enhances your experience of the world.

Varnish protects from dust, scratches, moisture, etc. while deepening the colours and increasing the shine (because I chose gloss).

The last coat of varnish was brushed on Mother’s Day, but the chakra stones didn’t arrive in the mail until weeks later.  There you have it, this baby is ready for a new home! My work with it and its work with me is done.

Title: The Journey: All the Way Home to My Self
Year: © 2017
Size:  78“ x  is 8 8“ (198.12cm x 121.92  cm) – 2 canvases (24″ x 48″ + 48″ x 48″)
Artist: Dominique Hurley
Materials: Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. With chakra quartz pendant & 7 chakra stones (red jasper (root), carnelian (sacral), yellow jade (solar plexus), green aventurine (heart), lapis lazuli (throat), amethyst (third eye), clear quartz (crown) )
Genre: intuitive painting, visionary art, energism art, spiritual art, inspirational art
SOLD


Comes with chakra pendant, 7 stones, and soft paintbrush.

 

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