big ideas in 2022

hi all.  yep, it's been a minute since i've posted.  honestly, i've been on a painting hiatus, concentrating on my spiritual health, trying to educate myself and to delve into lifes' mysteries.  i'm a libra, so i look into things from all sides, and oh, there are so many sides to the mystery of life and the earth we live on!  the muds run deep, lol.

but, i'm back!  i spent some time with my tarot deck the other day, and it gave me some great insight to some places where i might stumble in the coming year.  since then i had an idea that will bring some forward motion to a dream sweetie and i have.  forward motion made by me, instead of all from him, so this gives me an added push for my idea to work;  i need to be of financial assistance with making the dream happen.

our dream is a big one, with a big, ongoing income stream needed, and my artwork hasnt been forthcoming with the flow.  i get awesome drips here and there, but it's time to come up with a product that will give more of a flow wherever it's seen.   that means affordable to the masses and with a feeling that people will want in their homes.

i think i found it!

it feels good!

i have a stack of these wooden slice ornaments that i've used to affix prints of personal photos as gifts, but i'm about to experiment with affixing prints of my paintings.  i think my paintings would look great as minis hanging in various unexpected spots in a home!  i can imagine them in windows, hanging on lamp switches and drawer pulls.  i've also made some photo ones with magnets behind the wood slices and can imagine my art on fridges all around the world.  that thought makes me smile!

i was able to affix one print today, and i think i want a thicker paper, which means stronger medium to attach to the wood.  i also need to ponder how i want the edges to be.  do i want to decorate where the paper meets the wood so it's not feeling so abrupt?  do i want a matte or gloss finish?  (leaning towards matte finish, so the glare wont be too much in some light).  do i want some of the inner wood to show, instead of only the bark? 

 

i'll be experimenting with decorating this one

each wood piece is so different that it's going to be a process to size each and every print for each ornament and to cut each print to the unique shape of the wooden piece.  that's going to take some time for each piece so i'll still be taking care and putting my energies into them just like all my artwork.  i want to make these affordable for people to consider buying them, but i'll need to consider if this will be financially feasible to make any profit at all with these. or maybe i should concentrate on the bigger original paintings to sell and to put in my shops for people to put on mugs and other merchandise. remember, this will be helping to finance our big dream!

i can see these anywhere a little pop of color is needed in the home!

 

these little guys need a name now.  i've got some ideas for that as well, but here's my problem with naming these little gems of a product.  i have original paintings on canvas, and original mini paintings on canvas.  those are self explanatory; "paintings", and "mini paintings".  but these are prints on wood.  i feel they need a 'product name' and it needs to make sense with who i am as an artist and my artwork.  my art business name is HeavenSpirit Creations.  my art is spiritual and uplifting; joyful; has something to say; makes you feel connected; sends a message.  so the name needs to convey what it is and what it is presenting.  or at least has a name that gives some sort of feeling in that direction.  sweetie likes the name "Whimspirations", which is a cute name, but my art isnt whimsical in my eyes.  even if my art becomes cute in a mini size, it really doesnt say "whimsy" to me.

my name ideas i have that i like so far are;

 

Tiny Intentions

Tiny Totems (but not all will be of spirit animals, so not the best)

Hanging Altars

Tiny Guides (not my favorite)

Rooted Offerings

Rooted Altars

Mini Alters

Rooted Intentions

Rooted Visions

Rooted Treasures

Tiny Treasures

 

as you can see, i like the double meaning of the word rooted here.  rooted, meaning very strong and firmly fixed, and they are also made of wood from a rooted tree.  i really enjoy the imagery of that.  out of my list of names, what is your favorite?

 

 

looking good on my own altar space

 

 

for now, i'll be starting to make these with prints of some of my original paintings.  since i have almost 200 paintings, i'll be picking favorites that will work well for the circular piece of wood.  it's gonna take time to get a good supply going, and while i work i'll be able to figure out a name as well as think about cost to make and how much to pay myself for the time and artwork.  it'll be a process!

until later,

jenny

 

 

bear finally finished!

it's been over a year since working on this mama bear started in November of 2017, and I found it in me to continue and finish her over the weekend.  I blogged about her, but failed to update when I added to the sketch a few days later and from where she sat until Sunday.

here's where she sat for over a year

it was a nice little painting, but her eyes got lost, and she didn't say all she needed to say.  I felt bad about leaving her all that time, but I'm happier now that I put more work into her.

her tale started as a dream.  in it, my son, Winter-Orion, waded thru the river (where he drown in my reality in 1998, though in the dream it was a small stream) to the other side, where he met up with a mama bear who walked with him over a bridge back to me.  I found the dream healing and soothing, especially after reading a bit about the symbolism of the bear and how it fit into my dream.

yesterday I worked on her, trying to hint at that story a little bit.  I worked on her eyes until they could be distinguished from her fur in her face and worked on the back fur a bit more.  I also decided to bring in some gold chevron pointing up to symbolize the communication with spirit world in my dream, and more gold to highlight some of the fur.

I then decided to darken the background a bit with my signature drippy goodness in shades of green and turquoise.  I knew that the paint would be repelled by the gold, and wasn't disappointed by the effect.

I felt that the painting was too dark, and the bear was lost in the darkness.  today I worked to rectify that by bringing out the gold chevrons again then mixing some lighter greens and blues and dabbing my brush around her, kind of in a leafy halo effect, and then turning the canvas upside down and letting some green gold drip to represent trees.

 titled "The Bear Awakens"

 her eyes pop only after struggling with the colors

 the washi tape still shows

texture and drips are my obsession!

edit to add for more work done;

needed leafy texture at the bottom for balance

she will be added to the store at some point this week.

until later,

Jenny

dream painting

i have gotten my hands painty!  this is HUGE!  i don't think i've painted since september?  something like that.

this painting will be symbolic of a dream i had the night before.  i woke knowing it was an important message from winter-orion and should be represented as a canvas so to never forget.

the following is taken directly (edited a little for clarity) from my dream journal, where i jot down the important or cryptic dreams i have and then interpret them from a book i have and from internet sites if i feel it needs more information.

"i just now (2:30pm) remembered i had a winter dream last night.  can't remember much, but it was set by his place of death, by the bridge that crosses the river and canal.  young winter (about age 7 or so) crossed the river, walking thru the shallow water, then came back toward me over the bridge and a mama bear was with him.
i wish i remembered any other details from this dream.  i woke up with it fresh in my mind and knew i must write it down, but was too tired.  i also thought that bear means protector of children and family?

from book- bear often represents mother.  can represent our ability to recreate ourselves after a period of rest and reflection.

my thoughts- winter crossed the river easily then came back to me via a bridge with a bear.  the ABILITY for me to see he is ok and can still visit.  it is a good thing for me to recreate myself after this hibernation.

from whats-your-sign.com 
bear is a consummate mother, caring for her young with observable devotion.  bear is a symbol of motherhood and child protection.  (winter is ok, he is safe)
celtic goddess artio is bear goddess who represents the transformation of seasons.  she is said to conjure winter when she needs rest.  upon waking, artio is said to summon summer."

so, i was blown away by the symbology of just one or two elements in this remembered snippet of dream.  the bridge meaning to me transitions to the other side (or back).  and the bear who is a protector, who says it's ok to rest and reinvent yourself, who conjures winter!

i know this was the important part of the dream and i'm not unhappy that i can't recall the rest of it, and i knew that having a reminder of this important communication would help me during the seasonal ebbs i have when just getting off the couch is a struggle.

so, yesterday i painted a background, and today i have sketched my mama bear

i'm hoping that this painting will remind me of bear symbolism and reestablish that my hibernation is just a season.    i need a bit of hope to tide me over till the spring crocus bloom again.

until later,
jenny

splash

there i was lamenting about not comparing myself with other artists and doing some painting after viewing some speed tutorials about how light moves in water.  i also worked on an area i had very intense feelings about when seeing this vision the other night.  i had an idea about how to make the splash area around the orb, and i think it came out really well!

i'm at the same time really happy with it as a whole, and disappointed that it doesn't look exactly the way i want it to.  i'm sure, though, that when all is complete it will be a fascinating painting.

until later,
jenny

my blog is 1 today!

happy 1 year blogiversary to my little old self!  i've done pretty well with it as i have 54 posts up as of this one.   i didn't put up a post a week like it sounds i did, but i'm really impressed by what i accomplished when life was rolling on.  i've grown as an artist as well as a blogger and thats what my intention was.  so, it's a good day.  heres to many more!

i don't have cake or balloons to celebrate, but look!  i have an orb!

what a cute little orb it is!

yesterday i sketched another prospective octopus pose because i didn't feel well, and i also put a few more details in the coral, added some bubbles, brought in some more light rays, clenched my teeth and added the orb.  

it was pretty frightening for me to add a big bold egg shape to this enchanted ocean background, but i live with anxiety and fear in my daily life so i decided to put my foot down and not be afraid of my own art!  this is how an artist grows, and i am refusing right here and now to be afraid to grow as an artist.  i refuse stagnation in my art.  

today is another rough pain day.  i think it's the weather changing as it's cold and windy again today.  so, i sprayed my painting with a ton of fixative to let dry until i'm ready to play with the octopus!  i'm going to continue sketching her until i've refined the pose to one i'm willing to live with.  each night i've been seeing tentacles when i close my eyes...

as an added 'gift' to you, and i've shown glimpses of it here and there, i'll show you my upgraded elephant i thought was finished last august.

here he is then

and now

i can't wait to hang him up in our bedroom, but i'm still wanting to get his eyes 'just right'.

pita and pixel wondered what i was doing

until later,

jenny

painting a vision

yesterday i was busy painting a vision i had the night before.  it was a very detailed picture of an octopus in the ocean, reaching to grab a yellow orb (the sun, possibly) from the surface to drag it to her.  i tried to keep as much memory of it alive thru the night so i could work on it the next day, and i think i'm pretty good with all of the tiny detail that i have retained.

yesterday i worked on finding reference photos of the little elements i needed, like the water on the surface and the highlights of the sun underneath the water.  i sketched out my vision and went to work with the underpainting of the background for this amazing creature.

i will make sure each tentacle has some sort of story.  

this is just a rough sketch

i also looked up the meaning of octopus, as every animal has a lesson to teach us.  i knew octopus came to me last night for a reason.

octopus tells us to relax and be flexible in our lives, to move with fluidity and grace, in a more natural, easy going way.  octopus is very smart and loves a puzzle, it teaches us to continue striving for knowledge pertaining to our dreams.  i love the symbolism of my vision with the octopus reaching for the prize in order to hold it closer.

the under painting of many layers to come

finding the sun rays and toning things down a bit

another layer toning some things down and brightening others

getting some life in the ocean

this morning i have some symptoms that are getting in the way of an ideal painting day, but i wanted to get a little more on the canvas.  this painting came to me and i will respect that.  every little dab of paint is a bow to the reason i am here, a bow to spirit, a bow to life and love.  i respect this painting and will give it my utmost attention, even if it has to be in short bursts.

and on that note, this morning i only added some magenta and yellow to the sky to make it more alive, and i added more coral to the ocean floor before going to the couch for some recovery time.

i'm very excited about how it is coming life, and i look forward to time spent with painting this creature!

until later,

jenny