you can see all of my paintings at www.DominiqueHurley.com

With a touch of dragonfly energy…

Here are two more little gems that were created leading up to this holiday season. Both were blessed with dragonfly energy – helping let go of illusions and delusions to find clarity and Truth.

Note that the Buddha and pixie figures have been adorned in glass beads – magnifying and refracting the light for some added sparkle.

May they nourish your transformational journey!

Shanti (9″ x 12″)

Named on International Peace Day, “Shanti” means “Peace” in Sanskrit. The Buddha symbolizes wisdom achieved through human means. May it help you cultivate equanimity & peace within.

I offer it now to wish you a Happy Bodhi Day – a holiday which falls on December 8th and celebrates the day in which Siddhartha Gautama sat underneath the Bodhi tree and attained enlightenment.

Title: Shanti
Year: © 2017
Size: 12 “ x  was the 9“ (30.48 cm x 22.83 cm)
Artist: Dominique Hurley
Materials: Professional acrylics, glass beads & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. 
Genre: intuitive painting, visionary art, energism art, spiritual art, inspirational art
SOLD

Pixie Portal (9″ x 12″) – SOLD

Enter the Pixie Portal for a play date that is sure to add sweetness and pixie dust to your life.

Acrylics & glass beads on gallery-wrapped canvas. No framing required.

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Truth & Transformation – the painting

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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The Cat’s Meow – 2 new paintings

painting with two black cats

“Eye to Eye” – (10″ x 10″) – SOLD
There’s nothing quite as wonderful as being with like-minded, like-hearted spirits who naturally nourish our transformational journey through unconditional love. Their friendship offers an honest mirror and support for growth. “Eye to Eye” is a celebration of this kind of friendship!
One friend also saw this as the meeting of the shadow self & the authentic self – or ego & Spirit.
How does it make you feel?
Click the image to purchase.

Are you a cat lover? I only truly discovered I was in my adulthood.

Before that, I identified myself as a dog person. By the age of 10, I knew every breed out there.

My friendships actually suffered because I’d leave whatever game we were playing to greet every dog that entered the park.

Alas, the only pet I was allowed to have growing up was a goldfish (but I did hide an occasional toad or lizard under my bed).

Luckily, I befriended a classmate’s dog and took it out to play every day – I don’t remember spending much time with my classmate though.

When I moved out of the family home and began my career, I didn’t feel my long hours away would be fair to a dog.  So I adopted what I thought would be second best – cats.

The Cat Years

You know what happened… I fell in love with cats!

After a few years, however, I decided to work overseas, so I found them a good temporary home with option of adoption (which the new folks took me up on).

When I returned to Canada a second time, I adopted my next cat, Koya, who stayed with me for 13 years and 5 cities before she transitioned from this world.

She taught me so much about love and fear – she was a mirror, a teacher, and yes, my child as I’d decided not not have any of the human variety.

I Still Love Dogs

Now I consider myself a cat and dog person.

When I lived in Kitchener, Ontario, I took an intensive course to become a Professional Dog Trainer and Behaviour Therapist, but it was just to satisfy my desire to spend time with dogs and understand them better.

I was about to go do my Masters of Education in Calgary and thought I’d eventually go back overseas, so it still wasn’t the right time for a dog.

Four-legged Neighbourhood Angels

winged cat

“Winged” – 9″x 12″ -SOLD Winged cats have been featured in art since prehistoric times. In this painting, I was connecting to Egyptian themes and mythological visions as well as to their role as earth angels. What is this painting saying to you?

Here, in Newfoundland, my neighbours have been a blessing. For the first few years, I was welcomed to come by anytime to take their 2 dogs out for a walk while they were at work.

When my canine friends moved, the new cat took over.

He managed to make both houses his home, which suited his humans. While Daddy was at work, kitty would roam the wilderness until he was ready for a nap or a feeding. Then, he’d circle our house to find the right window or door to communicate his desires.

He’d even stay for sleepovers when the neighbours were away.  We all had it good!

Recently, he moved too. That’s OK. Nothing in life is constant but change itself.

In Honour of Our Feline Friends

In the nights before starting work on a series of small canvases, cats visited me in my dreams. So I decided to honour this blessed species through these 2 paintings.

Which speaks to you the most? “Eye to Eye” or “Winged” Why? Feel free to comment below.

 

P.S. There are over 40 original paintings to choose from in my online shop, along with prints, greeting cards  and custom intuitive services.  

Thanks for being an art patron this holiday season.

Click to visit my shop.

 

 

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That’s Some Weather – New Crop of Paintings

Would you agree that staying in your peace is the best way to be of service? From my experience, it’s only from peace that inspired action or inaction can be born. Getting caught up in the drama doesn’t help.

As Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and United States in September, it fed 150 mm (6 inches) of rain into Newfoundland.

The heavy rains and winds outside my studio kept those affected by the hurricane close to my heart and in my realm of attention while I blissfully created a new series of small paintings.

Four of these were definitely inspired by the weather.

1. Misky Morning (9″ x 12″) – SOLD

Acrylics & glass beads on canvas. 

“Misky” is a Newfoundland expression meaning a mix of fog and rain.

This island is famous (or infamous) for its weather, and so it’s only natural that a whole slew of regional weather terms exist here.

Along with the colourful houses, the weather is part of what makes this island’s charm! “Misky Morning” celebrates both, as if looking at the scenery through Mother Nature’s veil.

2. Mists of Avalon (9″ x 12″) – NFS

Acrylics on canvas.

Yes, I read Mariam Zimmer Bradley’s great book by that name decades ago, but I also live on the Avalon peninsula of Newfoundland.

When I look out the patio doors, I’m blessed with a view of the Southside Hills of St. John’s, covered in evergreen trees.

I’m so grateful for the beauty that surrounds me, no matter the weather, and celebrate it here with “Mists of Avalon”.

3. Weathering the Storm (9″ x 12″) – SOLD

 

Acrylics on canvas.

There must be more than 12 layers of paint and texture on this piece. It definitely went through an awkward teenager phase, asking that I love and recognize every step of the intuitive painting process as necessary to creating the final jewel.

“Weathering the Storm” represents our ability to thrive through our challenges and come out with flying colours.

4. Downtown Drizzle (9″ x 12″) – SOLD

Acrylics and glass beads on canvas.

Everyone who sees my paintings live say they’re so much better than online. It’s hard to capture the energy, but also the changing nature of these pieces with a camera.

“Downtown Drizzle”, for example, is covered in a layer of clear glass beads. They refract the light in different ways as you walk by or look at it from different angles.

It’s just like looking at the rain trickling off the trees or rooftops once the sun is shining bright again –  sparkling diamonds that lift the heart with joy. Now imagine that with a background of colourful row houses. That’s downtown St. John’s!

 

Greeting Cards Variety Pack

P.S. I’ve added many small paintings to my online shop that I’ll introduce in upcoming blog posts. But don’t wait if this is the holiday season you’ll be bringing an original Dominique Hurley painting home for yourself or a loved one. Let’s ship it now! There are over 40 to choose from! 

Also consider custom intuitive gifts & greeting cards for your holiday shopping. Thanks for your support.

Click to Shop
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Every Moment A Teacher – A Story of Love and Fear

Balancing intuitive painting

“Balancing” (12″ x 36″) Acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas. SOLD

From great horror often rises stories of great courage, selflessness, and love.  On the day I heard about the shootings in Las Vegas, I was moved to watch the movie “Patriot Day” -about the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon. It amazes me how love manages to rise above fear for some people in extreme times.

I have no idea how I’d react in such a situation – and God willing, I won’t have to live through one to find out.

But I do know that – on a much smaller scale – every day offers us opportunities to learn how to act out of love instead of react out of fear.

Becoming aware of how fear feels in our bodies increases our awareness of the power of our minds and the power of our hearts.

Here’s the story of love & fear I shared at last month’s MoMondays – monthly motivational events happening across Canada featuring real people, real stories, real inspiration.

Accompanying me on stage was this new painting, “Balancing” (12″ x 36″), which honours the many ways love, peace, and balance can be achieved on a daily basis. It also celebrates the yin (feminine- receiving – being) and yang (masculine – doing) working in harmony to achieve that balance in the journey of life.

 

Every Moment A Teacher

Back in 2003, my husband of 10 years and I mutually and lovingly decided to let each other go.

Our journey together had been rich and intense. His life & death health challenges in the later years had brought our love to a new high – teaching us the true meaning of unconditional love. We learned not to sweat the small stuff as major issues triggered fears on so many levels.

This time also offered me great gifts. I had to call on every inner and outer resource available to keep me strong – plunging me into the world of personal and spiritual self-help teachers, whose tapes (remember those?) I played over and over again as I walked to my several jobs, trying to keep us afloat.

Once the crisis was over, both my husband and I continued our journeys of self-discovery, supporting each other as best we could. We eventually realized (and accepted) that to remain true to our Selves, our journey as a couple would need to end. Wanting our own and each other’s happiness meant letting the marriage go.

No regrets.

Vipassana Meditation

Before moving to Calgary and diving into my Masters of Education for Teachers of English as a Second Language program, I decided to spend the summer in a series of solo retreats. I needed “me time”.

One of these was a 10-day silent Vipassana Meditation retreat in Sutton, Quebec.

This kind of meditation is great to develop the Observer Self / self-awareness. As we sat in meditation, we were taught to scan our bodies from head to toe to feel the subtle vibrations.

By Day 9, when it was time to break the silence, I didn’t want it to end. I’d reached such a state of inner peace.

But it hadn’t always been that way. Day 2 and 3 were hell!

On Day 2, I was convinced everyone was purposefully trying to annoy ME. I got to witness how my mind took soooooo many things personally – from how loudly one participant stomped down the stairs in the middle of the night to go to the washroom to how the one in front of me in the lunch line took the last of a platter I’d been eyeing.

It was both laughable and sad, but it helped me shed a layer of suffering that comes with thinking the world revolves around us. Those participants had all their own stuff to deal with – it had nothing to do with me! Wow! What a great lesson! Don’t take things personally!

Day 3 was worse. I realized how my mind created fear and ran with it. During the session of the day when we were encouraged not to move a muscle, I heard a vehicle outside. We hadn’t been allowed to drive all the way up to the centre, so I convinced myself (while sitting there looking very zen) that some drunk local yahoos had come to the conclusion we were a cult and were coming to shoot us all down. My heart was racing and I broke into a sweat. I remained completely still on the outside, but I was experiencing terror on the inside. Memories of a photograph of piled bodies from a war museum in Cyprus that I’d seen as a very young child came back into consciousness. I had it all planned. As soon as I’d hear the door open, I’d throw myself under the bloody body of the person beside me and play dead.

While fear took on a life of its own, my Observer Self lovingly reassured me that the noise was probably a grocery delivery truck. Didn’t I want more of that delicious vegetarian cooking? I had a choice: keep putting myself through wringer in body, mind, and spirit by running with fear, or choosing love – for myself and in my perceptions of the world. Witnessing the power of the mind and its effect on my body was powerful. And why? Because I’d heard a car.  Yikes!

I came out of that session discouraged from seeing how clearly I created my own fears. But I also came out of it feeling liberated and determined to choose love more frequently – questioning the truth behind fear.

The rest of the retreat was bliss!

My Action Research Study

By the time I got to Calgary, I was on solid ground again, glad I’d taken the time to come back into my Self – more loving, more mature, and ready for the next chapter. I’d shed so much of what no longer served me and was ready to dive into my studies.

When I’d registered for my Masters, I had no idea that the Education Department had a Spirituality & Leadership branch. Can you imagine? Reading books by Don Miguel Ruiz, the Dalai Lama, Sai Baba, Byron Katie and so many more spiritual leaders as homework?! School at that point had always ever been to get the degree I needed for the jobs I wanted.

So every elective course became a further opportunity for personal awareness and spiritual growth.

My Action Research course was no exception. Are you familiar with the term?

According to Wikipedia,

“Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a “community of practice” to improve the way they address issues and solve problems.”

My study was an extension of my Vipassana Meditation practice. While teaching English as a Second Language to a group of young adults, I’d pay very close attention to the subtle sensations within my body that indicated fear. After class, I’d journal about it to train myself out of fear and back into love.

I was amazed at how often I was afraid in the space of a class. I got quicker at recognizing the signals and acting instead of reacting.

I’d always been great at the doing of teaching, but not so much at being a teacher.

You see, with my background in recreation, I loved organizing memorable successful learning events. My classes were planned to take the students from the recognition of a problem and working through the challenge before experiencing an aha moment that increased their understanding and skill ability. But the classes depended on successful time management.

I was afraid that something would happen to take the class off course. I didn’t want to get to the end of our time before we got to the end of the lesson. I dreaded the possibility of students leaving feeling frustrated with the challenge instead of elated by their success and progress.

I’d also be afraid of being found out as a fraud if I couldn’t answer questions confidently. I felt a slight twinge in my stomach if students raised their hands (especially in grammar class since I’d skipped that elective for another spirituality course).

Grammar questions triggered issues of “not being good enough”. After all, we didn’t have Google in the classroom back then, and aren’t teachers supposed to have all the answers?

By the end of the study, I became very good at recognizing the physical signals of fear, quickly identifying the root, and either self-correcting a reaction or choosing a more loving response from the get-go.

What a valuable training for all of life!

From Fear to Love


The journey to unconditional love – for myself and others – continues.

Learning to love isn’t linear. It’s like a labyrinth. The intention is there as you journey through the many twists and turns of life to the very centre of your core. There, you find a space to pause, reflect, connect, and collect what it is you need to bring it back out into the world with you.

It may be a cliché, but it’s become one because it’s so true.

“Success is a journey, not a destination”.

Balancing love & fear in our lives is a dance – one that gets better and better the more aware we are of it.

What every day situations trigger your fears?

Can you see how your mind runs with untruth to wreck havoc on your happiness?

How does fear feel in your body?

What practices can help you become more self-aware?

Your mind is powerful.

So is your heart.

With greater self-awareness, it’s possible to shift

From darkness to light,

Fear to love,

Separation to unity consciousness.

May the loving voice of your Higher Self ease you through your fears to teach you to be more loving towards yourself and others.

Namaste.

Dominique

“Balancing”- 12″ x 36″ – acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas – SOLD

Click To See All Original Paintings

 

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Chakra Yoga Painting

Chakra Yoga intuitive painitng

What a fun project! And balancing too! This 7-into-1 piece painting entitled Chakra Yoga came into being for my “Union” exhibition at Moksha Yoga St. John’s.

Truth be told, this painting was also inspired by a need to de-stress.

It was the last painting created during the rebuilding of my online shop in July. You see, when I’m stressed, I paint.

Painting is a very fruitful way to destress and yes, procrastinate… much better than one of my other habits – Netflix & chips.

I needed this focus on the chakras – energy centres –  to help me come back into my power so I could cope with technological issues. After all, I used to be a technophobe…

Fortunately, I also received much needed help from a web-designer friend and my online shop is now happy to serve you.

The Meaning of Chakra Yoga

There are 7 small attached canvases that make up Chakra Yoga.

Each canvas includes the symbol for that chakra on the colour that represents it.

Its yoga pose is one that helps open that chakra. I used glass beads on these figures, so they glow when lights hits them.

Presented as it is, Chakra Yoga is both a teaching and energetic tool to open and balance your chakras.

1- Root Chakra – Red – Warrior II Pose
2- Sacral Chakra – Orange – Goddess Pose
3- Solar Plexus Chakra – Yello – Bow Pose
4 – Heart Chakra – Green – Camel Pose
5- Throat Chakra – Blue – Plow Pose
6 – 3rd Eye Chakra – Indigo – Child Pose
7 – Crown Chakra – Violet – Tree Pose (which is also good for grounding and therefore the root pose)

Chakra Yoga (30″ x 53.5″)
Acrylics & glass beads on gallery wrapped canvases
SOLD

 

P.S. I was the first artist to exhibit on Moksha Yoga St. John’s gallery wall in 2012, and I’m happy to be back until December 7th.

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Happy – The Painting

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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Dancing With Dolphins Painting

Dancing With Dolphins paintingI thought I was finished preparing for my “Connection with Self & Spirit” exhibition last month, when I felt called back to the studio to create one last painting. A few days & layers later,  “Dancing with Dolphins” was born.

It’s easy for me to connect in nature. Birds bless my life daily. But if I get the chance to be with whales or dolphins, it takes connection to a whole new level.

In 2011, I was on a spiritual retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii, when the earthquake in Japan sent tsunami waves through our retreat house. Thankfully, our group had been evacuated hours before it hit.

In the days that followed, we focused on attention on praying for those affected (having promised before arriving to Hawaii to disconnect from social media and the news) and cooperating with the locals to clean our cove. 

By staying in our peace, we believed we were helping peace on the planet.

I was glad to be spared the details of the drama.

When the waters settled, we swam with the wild dolphins, whose patterns were different than the locals had ever seen. We believed their sacred geometry choreography was helping heal the planet.

During our swims, a few of the dolphins came to play with the big orange tree leaves we’d brought with us, grabbing and passing them with their beaks and fins.

Moving through the tropical waters with fins on my feet, I felt like I was a mermaid dancing with dolphins.

“Dancing With Dolphins”
12″ x 24″
Acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas – no framing required.
SOLD

 

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A Painting called “Unison”

"Unison" by Dominique Hurley
Want to feel grounded & calm? That’s what the painting “Unison” does for me. It has a very masculine feel – strong, dignified, centred.
I actually created it earlier this year but forgot to introduce you to it.
Isn’t that the way?
It’s so easy to take for granted those who aren’t as vibrant or loud as others. They have a subtle yet solid presence that affects us deeply.
Their mere presence is the gift. They add peace & harmony to our lives.
This is what “Unison” is all about.

When you stand side by side with your brethren and sistren in unconditional love, there’s a calmness, a knowingness, an inner strength that supports your growth.

May this energy of love, compassion, ease & grace support you on your Path to your Highest Good.

The energies of mica & rhodonite amplify this effect on “Unison”.

“Unison” – SOLD
15″ x 30″
Acrylics, mica (love & compassion) and rhodonite (grace & unconditional love) on gallery-wrapped canvas. No framing required.
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Peace Be With You

Peace Be With You intuitive paintingPeace Be With You emerged from the process of painting The Journey– All the Way Home to My Self

I’d incorporated all 5 designs from my labyrinth series into that painting. But I’d had to redesign the peace dove. The one in Peace Flow didn’t suit the new style.

I was so enamoured with the new design that I decided to give it its own canvas.

I made a few changes to its body and tail shape before dotting it into being.

I find dots to be a perfect representation of energy, vibration, and a mix of spirit & physical form.

The multi-layered base of this small jewel evolved with the leftover paints from The Journey. I hate throwing paint out. So if there’s a bit left on my palette, I usually have a few canvases on the side that are happy to receive it.

So this small painting holds within it the same energy as my big one.

Truly, inspiration inspires new inspiration. It’s all part of the creative process.

This imagery also emerged from my Catholic upbringing, I’m sure. It reminds me of the images of the Holy Spirit – a peace dove radiating in a halo of light.

All I know is that when I look at it, I feel the same soothing peaceful energy I did when creating it. Can you feel it too?

Peace Be With You (9″ x 12″)
Original – Sold
Click here to order prints on canvas or fine art paper.

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