From September 2013 to June 2014, I was a student at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art. During that time, I also studied for a month in Bali and was artist in resident in Italy for a week. See the “My Travels” category for those posts.

Yay! It’s Official – I’m Official!

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officialYes, indeed!  After 5 months of uncertainty, stress (totally my responsibility, I know), time, and money, I finally have my Austrian Residency Permit.  I’m now legally allowed to stay in the country until July. Finally!

If you’ve been following my story, you’ll remember that the school was waiting for its certification – for 8 months! Being able to stay here until the end of June, as planned, depended on that. Well, they finally got their certification at the end of December, and so I filled out all the forms, sent to Canada for a renewed Police Record Check (my old one had expired while we were waiting), got all the extra paperwork ready, paid the 100 Euro application fee, and then today, paid another 60 Euro fee for the actual card, and voilà – it’s done.  What a relief! And what an experience!

This was the first time I took the subway at 7am on a workday – rush hour!  Jam packed!  So glad I don’t have to commute to school – love being a walker.  When I got to the Magistrate’s Office at 7:30am, half an hour before they opened, there were already about 100 people in line. Yikes!  I really didn’t want to be late for today’s workshop with Vera and Kuba that started at 10am.  By the time Florence joined me at 8:07am (she graciously offered to help again – the letter asked that someone proficient in German accompany me), I had already made great progress towards the front door.  We actually made it through the ticket line, elevator line, 5th floor waiting cue, initial interview, 6th floor cash, back to the 5th floor for card pickup by 8:30am.  Wow!

Florence had other business to take care of there, so I took the tram downtown until I saw St.Stephen’s cathedral in the distance and jumped off. What fun! I had time for some exploration – and I hadn’t approached the core from this direction before.  I spent more than half an hour walking around enjoying the sites, including an organic baker (where I got myself a celebratory whole wheat pain au chocolat) and a a Viennese confectionery where I found the perfect thank you gift for Florence – dark chocolate.    Even with all that, I was still the first one in class.

 

 

 

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The Eastern Canon of Art

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On Thursday morning, Laurence reviewed the proportions of human figures in the Western Canon and shared a few practical drawing tips. We then spent time copying drawings from books – a valuable exercise. I seemed to be having an off-day, but I appreciated the practice and did well at not comparing my work with my classmates’ – I include some of their work here to show the results of both talent and practice.  Inspiring!

The Eastern Canon:

In the afternoon, Laurence delved deeper into the Eastern Canon.  In Hindu art, for example, artists measured figures in Tàlas.  1 Tàla= 1 Face.  Most gods were 9 faces tall and goddesses 8 faces.  Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma, however, were 10 faces tall.  We also learned about the 4 postures that make Hieratic Style so recognizable:  samapada (equal balance on both feet), abhanga (slight bend), tribhanga (strong bend), and atibhanga (exaggerated bend).  Using printed copies of his presentation slides, we then spent time drawing these. Alas, it was confirmed that I was having an off-day and I ended up counting the minutes until the end of class, even though this style of art really interests me.  I just couldn’t stop yawning.

IMG_4803Being a morning person and usually the first to arrive in class (and unfortunately sometimes the only student there at our starting time – I’m still working on taking tardiness out of my pet peeve category… but with only limited success), I had time to draw my tribhanga pose again the next morning, with much more ease and better results.  That felt great!  There are simply days when things just don’t seem to flow, and days when they do.  It’s important to accept that.

This drawing thing looks easy, but I’m just not a natural at it…. still, I fully recognize that I’m improving.  Yup!  Slowly, but surely…

On Friday, Laurence’s presentation took us on a journey to a couple of Hindu temples he had visited in India – an introduction to the various gods and ornamental features.  He showed examples of the Torana (garlanded gateway), gana (dwarf caryatid), salabharjika (maiden with limb in a tree (I learned that Buddha’s mother, the queen, painlessly gave birth to him while holding onto a tree), kalascha (pots with plants, water, smoke, unknown matter raising up from them), makaras (elephantine crocodile figures with mouths open and spewing water, jewels and small figures), animals such as the vyala and nagas (hybrid figures), mitherna (embracing couples), gandharva (male musicians that accompany gods) and apsara (female dancers).

In Search of Our Inner Deity:

After a slide show on the various gods, mudra (hand positions), and attributes (the symbolic objects that eastern gods hold in their hands or have around them), Laurence guided us through a few sun salutations (yoga stretches) and a 15-minute creative visualization meditation to help us evoke subject matter for one of this trimester’s paintings.  Our goal was to find or create a Hindu deity with whom we resonate, mudras, attributes, a symbolic animal to accompany the deity, and ornamentation.

Even before we started, I had an inkling that I’d be visiting Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of art, wisdom, and learning, which I had immediately resonated with when introduced to her during a yoga class in the 80s.   My vision of her, however, was slightly different than the traditional way in which she is portrayed.  With my memory (or lack therefore), however, that’s not surprising. What’s more surprising are all the elements that were similar.

IMG_4848Taking what I had seen/ experienced in my vision and adding to that through a bit of Internet research, I made a quick initial sketch. Having practiced drawing the tribhanga pose, I decided to have her 4-armed figure standing as such, inside a lotus floating in a still pool of water.  Her backdrop will be a huge peacock feather (traditional association with peacocks) and a small one will be the ornament on her crown.  In one hand, she’s  holding a white feather as a writing/drawing/painting instrument (instead of a stringed musical instrument). It might be a swan feather since this bird is also strongly associated with her.  She’s also holding a pearl necklace in that same hand (which I decided were pearls of wisdom – as well as representative of humanity – as per the lyrics to Olivia Newton John’s song “Pearls on a Chain” that I had been asked to perform a dance to back in Saskatoon) – instead of the traditional crystal mala (prayer beeds).  In a second hand, she’s holding a bowl of water – a powerful symbol that I haven’t quite figured out a way to describe in words.  I feel it though – on many levels.  Her other two hands will be in the Portal Mudra – symbolizing her presence as a portal into both knowledge and creativity.  As for her accompanying animal, I was surprised by the presence of snakes in my vision, flowing from the bottom of her dress.  I’ve never seen snakes negatively – despite my Catholic upbringing, but I was a bit taken aback by them. Here, I figure they represent kundalini, “an indwelling spiritual energy that can be awakened in order to purify the subtle system and ultimately to bestow the state of Yoga, or Divine Union”, as well healing through transformation.  The guide who had greeted me at the door of the Hindu temple in my vision had given me a dorje (a Buddhist tool representing “firmness of spirit and spiritual power”) that I would later offer the goddess Saraswati.  Mine had a much bigger black ball in the centre than I see in photos online.  I’m not sure how or if I’ll incorporate that into the painting yet – maybe around her neck.  Interestingly, this is also what one of my classmates had been given by her guide and many of the elements of her vision were similar to mine.  Fascinating!

World Museum:

IMG_4844In the afternoon, we headed to the Weltmuseum (one of the many museums on our yearly pass – located inside the Hofburg Palace) to find inspiration and to practice drawing objects from their Asian art collection. When people think of drawing, it’s quite natural to envisage someone sitting in front of something or someone and drawing them.  This, however, is so not natural for me.  I constantly want to stop looking at what’s in front of me and start letting my hand lead me on the page. This would be great if I had already mastered (or even understood) how the play of light translates into shading and colour – or even how to render realistic shapes and forms.  It will come – and for now, just learning to really see what I’m looking at is part of my training.  Then trying to duplicate that on paper will be key.  Discipline and practice will help me achieve my goals.  Today, at the museum, I fully got into the flow of this work and quite like my representation of the Buddha.  One of our future guest lecturers will be focusing on drapery, and I’m looking forward to that – it’s amazingly complicated and part of what I’d like to know how to do better for where my art is going.  Anyhow, I had a great day on Friday and was the last to leave the museum – rare!

Today, Saturday, is a home day apart from grocery shopping.  I have a whole file of materials on the business of art to focus on. Tomorrow, however, is supposed to be 12 degrees and partly sunny, so it’ll be great for another hike.

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Sacred Elements of Inner Journeying

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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.

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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.

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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.

IMG_4719From 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.

IMG_4764During 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 :-).

IMG_4768That’s it for now – time to head off to school after having done 2 loads of laundry and written this blog.

 

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Connecting with Mother Earth Through Her Creatures

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It’s quite ironic – it’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and I know that what my body & soul need is time in Nature, but I can’t seem to get myself off this chair.  So instead, I’ll keep writing, this time about connecting with Nature through its animals. Then, tomorrow, I’ll head out early to explore one of Vienna’s hiking paths.  (P.S. – good thing I’m not hiking – it’s now 4pm and pouring out!)

Animal Communication:

I started writing this blog in my head weeks ago when my friend Janis in Edmonton sent me a link to a fabulous video on Animal Communication – I’ve seen it 4 times now and it evokes such powerful emotion in me each time.  It’s the amazing story of a rescued black panther (one of my childhood totem animals) which was unusually dangerous and therefore in peril until Anna Breytenbach, an animal communicator, came to sit with it for a while.  Then everything changed.  It’s not only another example of the role of imagery as a form of communication (referring to yesterday’s post), but also a very good reminder of our human potential as we reconnect to the land and its creatures – something I believe we all need for all our sakes. I have personally felt this for years, but more so since I moved to Vienna, where I must seek out trees when I feel myself disconnecting from Mother Earth – there are very few in my district.  This short clip (13 minutes) is powerful , and I was lucky enough to see the full 52-minute program on YouTube during the holidays before it was removed for copyright reasons. One can only imagine the possibilities after watching such a video.

I once hired an animal communicator to help when my beloved cat Koya became mysteriously ill at 3 years old.  What I learned about myself and Koya through this service was invaluable.  When it comes to animal communication, some of you may be more familiar with the term horse whisperer, which became widespread after the release of the film by that name starring Robert Redford – I watched that one again last night on YouTube.  (I’m so very grateful for this free resource – have I mentioned that?)  I also had the chance to hear an animal communicator present at conference in San Diego – her description of how animal spirits shake off their mortal coil in joy, playfully bounding into their new form after death stayed with me.  She further explained how they can transition back into another body if we wish them to do so.  I can’t remember all the details, but it was great stuff!

Memories:

I love animals!  When I lived in Germany as a child (in 3 locations between the ages of 5-10), I spent much of my time alone in the forests, fields, and parks – alone, but never really alone.  In addition to angels, guides, fairies and other beings of the spirit world and of my imagination, there were the animals. I especially remember my solo bike rides to a nearby duck pond near the first village we lived in (in a time and place where it was relatively safe for 5 year olds to wander far and wide without adult supervision). When we moved to Baden, I found the forest. My family will recall the frequent search parties sent out into that forest at dinner time since I had no sense of time there.  I can’t quite remember how I spent all that time, but I do remember getting laughed at when I’d share all my animal stories with “friends” at school.  It didn’t matter – along with all my “imaginary animals” and forest creatures, there was also Heidi, my best friend,  a schoolmate’s Cocker Spaniel dog who waited by her door for me every day after school.  I’ll confess, I lost a few friends in my life when I’d abandon them for any and all dogs who came into view. I was obsessed – knew the names of every breed in existence!  When we moved to Lahr, I spent a lot of my free time roaming in the neighbouring Stadtpark with its large flower gardens filled with animals and free-roaming peacocks.  I remember “communicating” with one of the ponies who often expressed its boredom and stress at being enclosed – pawing with its foreleg up on the cement foundation to its bars that stood between us.  My heart reached out to it and I’d just spend time with it.  Back in Canada, I didn’t stop craving time with Mother Earth and its creatures.  I’d often jump on my bike to seek out natural places where I could sit and connect. Neighbourhood animals also occupied an important space in my heart and I took horseback riding lessons as a teen – although the fantasy of it was always more fun than the reality of it since I fell off a few times learning to canter in an indoor ring in the winter.  Oh well….  I was an animal lover nonetheless!

Animals as our Teachers

koya vaseI learned so much from sharing a home with Koya for 13 years – as a rescued cat, she mostly taught me about love and fear.  Indeed, animals are great teachers.  I’m not the only one who feels this way- there are so many books out there about the lessons we’ve learned from animals.  For Christmas, my friends Jen & Ken gave me a bestselling book that I truly recommend:  Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog.  I’ve had a lifelong love of dogs, although I’ve never had my own canine companion.  Although I cried for one almost every week of my childhood, I found that once I was out on my own, I chose to live in a way that wouldn’t have been fair to a dog.  Maybe one day…  In order to understand them better, however (and to satisfy my need to be around them during a time of great transition), I became a Certified Dog Trainer and Behaviour Therapist with CCS in 2003.  I wouldn’t hire me though – anyone who has shared a home with a dog has more experience than I do… but those 6 months were more than educational and will hopefully serve me and some dog well in the future.

Animals as Healers:

When I lived in Ottawa a bit over 10 years ago, my friends Jen & Ken and I would take their 2 golden retriever dogs and their cat Cuddles (appropriately named) to various senior citizen homes and mental health facilities as part of a pet therapy group.  This was as healing for me as it was for those we were visiting.  Witnessing such unconditional love and even occasional miracles was simply heart-opening.  I remember the time I felt moved to place Cuddles on the lap of a woman who sat in a chair in the corner all day long, not moving – quite unresponsive to her environment. I’ll never forget the look on the nurses faces when they entered the room and saw her hand slowly stroking Cuddles – utter shock and delight. It was during those times that she would also whisper to me about her past.  Together, Cuddles and I were making a difference and that felt awesome!  Anyone who has loved an animal knows what powers they have – not just to entertain, but truly to heal.  Blessed be the animals.

Totem and Spirit Animals:

We not only learn from the animals who cross our paths during our waking hours.  Animals will also visit and teach us in our dreams and visions. Some have talked about Animal Totems while other talk of Spirit or Power Animals (animal spirit guides).  No matter the case, the power of animal symbolism has long been recognized around the globe.  On Friday, in class, I spent a few minutes skimming through a classmate’s book “Animal Speak”, to research the 4 childhood totems featured in my “self-portrait” painting.  I introduced you to the story behind this painting in a previous post and you can see its development over a period of a few months in the photos below – it’s still a work in progress.  Friday’s research has certainly enriched my insights about their role in my life (summarized here).  Very interesting indeed.  I could have written a book from the years of stories we shared together in my imagination.

1. Panther: Reclaiming One’s True Power – living your life purpose

2.  Hawk: Visionary Power and Guardianship

“Through its flight, it communicates with humans and the great creator spirit.  It awakens our visions and inspires us to a creative life purpose.”

3. Snake (boa): Rebirth, Resurrection, Initiation, Wisdom – life transitions, changes, new opportunities, healing, awakening of creative forces, kundalini, visions and intuition becoming more accurate

4. Horse: Travel, Power, and Freedom

Although I haven’t had it in my possession for years, I recommend the divination deck of Medicine Cards that help us tap into the animal kingdom’s guidance.

However you choose to connect with this beautiful planet we live on and with, I encourage you to find time to do so.  You deserve it!   For today, my writing this post is my way of doing so –  my way of paying homage to God’s creatures great and small, alive and in spirit form.

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Note: On Saturday night, I found a free movie on YouTube (surprise, surprise!) about love, dogs, and great artists – some real (like Reubens), some fictional.  A Dog of Flanders (1999) is based on the famous book “Nello and Patrasche”. It’s not the greatest movie ever made, but there are days when I’m not too fussy.

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Back to School – 2nd Trimester at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts

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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!

IMG_4368Wednesday – 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.

IMG_4390I 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.

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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!

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Tutoring in Payerbach- What a Great Idea!

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Look what I did!  I’m so thrilled! – with both the process and the result.

IMG_4102My Spirit Calling Card reading 3 days ago was right.

Untitled-1I’m so glad I decided to contact two of my teachers, Vera Aichinger and Kuba Ambrose to host and tutor me for 2 days in their small town 89 km outside of Vienna.  What a fruitful experience indeed!

DLH_5503I took an early morning train from Vienna to Payerbach on Wednesday, arriving half an hour earlier than arranged (regional trains in Austria are much more expensive than in the Czech Republic, by the way).  This gave me time to take in the misty beauty of the place before Vera and Kuba met me at the station.

Their little house at the edge of town was about 15 minutes walk away.

It felt so good to be out of the city – one of my goals during my time off from school was to explore the Austrian countryside.  When I remembered Vera’s invitation to come and visit them after they moved out here,  I came up with the brilliant idea (if I say so myself) to hire them to tutor me, which would also help me with another of my goals:  to improve my drawing/painting.  What a win-win situation!

Kuba put together a 2-day course based on my inspirations and desire to improve my understanding of the human figure to then be able to stylize it into my acrylic paintings.  I’m so grateful for all his preparations – he started with an enlightening presentation that helped me understand the impact and appeal of works by artists that explored the more graphic 2-D style (e.g. Mucha) and the blend of 2D and 3D (e.g. Klimt).  He also talked about how the Impressionists used colour to create depth without the use of neutrals, something more in line with my current preference for bright colours.   I then spent time before lunch working on copying one of Mucha’s sketches.  There’s a lot of value in copying the work of masters – and it’s not as easy as it appears – not for me, anyway…  So much erasing went into creating this very simple sketch. Learning to see where I had veered from his was in itself a great challenge.

IMG_4097I would be remiss in not talking about lunch…  Although Vera was busy preparing for the  Soul Painting class she is offering this weekend in Vienna, she cooked us a variety of delicious, abundant, vegetarian meals over the course of the 2 days.  I definitely learned about creativity in the kitchen watching her work over the wood-burning stove beside our worktable.  What a blessing!

After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods around their house and on the hiking path alongside the train tracks.  I had to take their word for it that we were at the foot of the mountains.  The fog never lifted enough in my 2 days there to see past the foothills.  Still, it was gorgeous!

After feeding the wood-burning stoves (the house’s only source of heat), Kuba continued what Aloria Weaver started teaching me during my last couple of days in class.  I had asked her to spend several hours one-on-one with me (and Edgar – our class skeleton) to help me understand how to draw faces.  That was an invaluable start.  Kuba took that a few steps further.  First, I had some serious work to do to grasp how to translate all the parts into a dimensional-looking drawing.  Feeling my face with my fingertips, I tried hard to imagine it like a landscape that my pencil would translate on paper.  This was tough since drawing dimensional landscapes isn’t something I can do either.  But through a variety of exercises, I went from drawing this …

IMG_4101to drawing this.  Good work for my first day.

IMG_4095Since there was no heat in the house when I woke up early the next morning (and I was told that I might smoke up the place if I tried starting the wood stove by myself without a prior demonstration), I decided to stay warm in my sleeping bag covered by a very thick duvet, and spent time feeling my face and reviewing what I had learned the day before. With a lot more practice, I will achieve my goals!  I just have to redirect my current obsession with free YouTube movies back to extra drawing practice 🙂

For my second day of tutoring, Kuba adjusted what he had planned based on my desire to translate what we’d learned into the world of painting.  My task was to first draw a face from my imagination (and with a lot of coaching) onto watercolour paper and then to paint it.  Using quick-drying acrylic paints, we approached this task in a similar way to the layering approach I’m learning with oils and egg tempera in class.  I’ve only begun to understand the process in class, a reality that isn’t helped by the fact that it takes a week or more for some layers to dry, and therefore much too long between practical lessons for someone with my limited memory.  Here, I was able to go from step to step, layer to layer, lesson to lesson, all within a day.  Perfect! What I learned in my 2 days in Payerbach will greatly help with my in-class painting and beyond.  I’m as sure of that as I am that what I have learned in my first trimester has helped with what I achieved here this week.  Isn’t it great how life and learning work?!

With a very limited old-master colour palette, we first applied the whites and darkest shadows over an overall colour wash.  We then accentuated the highlights and applied a dull greenish glaze to create what is called the “dead layer”.  We then brought out some of the colour, highlights, and local glazes in a series of layers.  I learned a lot about colour-mixing and blending in this process. It’s always been difficult for me to blend highlights to mid-tones to shadow without delineating lines.  Again, practice will help here.  It will also greatly help with symmetry.  Try as I might, I needed Kuba’s eyes and hand to help fix the eyes – it took a while to figure out that both her eyes were looking in different directions – the difference a millimeter makes.  Have I mentioned I’m an abstract painter? I am not inclined to precision in my painting as I might be in several other aspects of my life.  Perhaps that’s why I find it so freeing.

Anyhow, by the end, I was thrilled with it all.  As I sat on the 5:54pm train back to Vienna, looking at my finished painting, I found it hard to believe that I had created it.  Yay!  Thanks Vera & Kuba for a wonderful 2 days – it was also such a pleasure really connecting with like-minded souls.

 

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OK – now it’s time to pack for my week in Ottawa  – Christmas with the family. Yay!

 

 

 

 

 

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The End of Chapter One

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IMG_3899I’ll be missing tomorrow’s closing circle and end of trimester party at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts because my Czech friends are picking me up at school this evening for a 3-day ski trip in the Austrian Alps.  I couldn’t pass up such a wonderful opportunity! I’m sure you understand…

Both my paintings are still too wet for me to paint on, so the break between trimesters will allow for good drying time – a good thing as I keep lifting previous layers, which are taking way longer than anyone expected to dry.  Here’s where I’m at with the one that’s advanced since the last blog post.  Many more layers to come.

Last night, after class, my buddy Donnalynne and I had our last little tourist adventure together as she won’t be returning after the holidays.  We froze our fingers off taking photos of all the Christmas lights on the several pedestrian malls that join up around St. Stephen’s cathedral (Vienna’s main landmark).  Each branch and the streets around them have a different set of hanging lights – gorgeous!  I sure wish my iPhone could read my finger touch with my gloves on, but alas, it doesn’t.  Once again, I didn’t have my real camera with me. 🙂

When hunger and cold discouraged any further picture-taking, we started looking for a place to eat.  I’m grateful that the first place we tried enveloped us with a cloud of cigarette smoke when we opened the doors because it sent us back out on the streets and to what turned out to be a fantastic experience.  Café Central is one of those traditional Viennese cafés with what I’m sure is a lot of history. Everything about it was great – the atmosphere, the live piano music, the architecture, the chic tall slim waiters (they all had the same look), the deserts (we shared a peanut brittle chocolate creme brulée pastry that disappeared too quickly for a photo ), and, of course, the food.  Although not the most aesthetic colour wise, my chicken with sauerkraut were great and Donnalynne loved her venison stew with sweet cabbage and dumplings. Thanks Donnalynne for your in-class coaching and friendship this trimester!

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One Thing Leads To Another

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Our lives are truly like a tapestry – sometimes our noses are buried so deep in the threads that we can’t see the big picture.  Years later, however, looking back, we see how each little event has contributed to the uniquely beautiful beings that we are.  There are no two humans on this planet with the exact combination of gifts and experiences that we have. Isn’t that great?!  I think so.

This week, I’ve been musing on what everything I’m learning here in Vienna might lead me to in my life and in my art.  That journey forward has also had me reflecting on all the layers of my life so far.  There’s so much to be grateful for – even things I had no idea how they would fit in the big picture.

IMG_3894More immediately, I love how my recent exploration into zentangles has helped me improve my understanding of the human anatomy – an essential step in learning to draw the human figure.  As you might recall, to do a zentangle drawing, you break up your paper or shape into sections before filling each with different doodles.  Yesterday, during our nude drawing session, I found myself making the sections/bubbles without the zentangles and then seeing how light and shadow played within each part. It really helped me to focus on the details and learn to see what was in front of me (this has been quite the learning curve because even if I paid a lot of attention to details as a photographer, as a painter, I created strictly from imagination without reference to reality). Our model was perfect for this exercise as it was easy to see both his muscular and skeletal structure.  I really like the horizontal one.

As for my paintings, the tree one is evolving nicely – there’s finally colour! Yay – my world is always better with colour.  Here you see the first local glazes, another layer of whites in three of the totem animals, and more local glazing on top of that.  There are many more layers until they’re done (and days of drying time in between) – so this is still nowhere near the finished stage.  Just like with life, I have a bit of an idea where this is heading, but truly, it’s a mystery as this Mischtechnik methodology is totally new for me.  I’m still not attached to results – a very helpful state. I recognize that this is a learning process and that the challenges this painting has experienced along the way have provided valuable lessons for me, fellow students, and even the teachers.  Glad to oblige.

Apart from that, the Thriving Artist Online Summit started yesterday and on its first of 11 days, I got access to 2.5 hours of talks on various aspects of a successful arts career by 3 different experts.  You too can join for free at http://thrivingartistsummit.com/signup/  Learning about the business of art is very important to me – so my days are full on this last week of classes for this trimester.

Learning is great – hope you’re learning a lot from the various threads in your gorgeous tapestry.

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Oh So Much Fun!

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tile_mt_008_sm-8-800-600-80Thanks so much to my friend Paige in Saskatoon, who clued me in on a creative movement that seems to be sweeping the bookshelves, classrooms, homes, and Internet.  Have you heard of zentangle?  It’s basically a meditative organized way of doodling, usually in black ink on white and in an abstract manner, like this one from Maria Thomas, one of the founders (www.zentangle.com).  You make sections and fill each one with different patterns (there are dozens of books available that show you how to do these patterns – Paige, let me know how you like your zentangle mandala book when you get it…).  There are no mistakes, no erasing, and no drawing experience necessary – just seeing where it evolves while in a relaxed creative state.  Fun! There are also lots of videos online that teach some of the patterns, including this one that was inspired by the Art Nouveau posters of Alphonse Mucha, whom I mentioned in my previous post – the reason zentangle was such a big part of my day today (thanks again Paige!).

war-horse-zentangle-jani-freimannYou should see what some people are doing with it (click here for image gallery). Doesn’t it have a bit of a tribal art/tatoo feel to it? Many artists are already selling their zentangle work, like Jani Freimann  (www.fineartamerica.com), whose horses I like.  But the possibilities are endless, and an hour or so surfing the Internet today while waiting for my paint to dry proved it.  I tell you, this zentangle thing is no secret (even if I was out of the loop)…   Of course part of me wishes it weren’t so popular, but I’m aware that this is a fear-based scarcity reaction to getting all enthusiastic about something new and not wanting it to be all over the place.  In the spirit of abundance and love, however, it’s my pleasure to share it with all of you – try it – you’ll probably like it.

Interestingly, this is not actually totally new to me or to the world – even though the name and extent might be.  I’ve long since played with meditative patterns (mostly swirls, spirals and dots) in my artwork and had already planned to incorporate new ones in both the paintings I’m working on, inspired by the work of two Viennese artists who inspire me: Klimt and Hundertwasser.  Although they didn’t use that name for it, they were zentangling long ago.  Check out all these bubbles of gorgeous patterns.

I’ve had one of these Hundertwasser images on my desk for weeks as I plan to stylize my childhood totem animals at the bottom of this painting in a similar way.  It’s still a long way from that stage though – it now has its 3rd full layer of whites due to 2 glazing misfortunes/ opportunities-for-learning.

My plan also involves covering the female figure and the tree she’s emerging from in sigils (secret sacred patterns I’ve developed).   The figures’ hair was inspired by Mucha’s art nouveau style.   In my second painting, (which you see here with the first localized magenta glaze), the hand at the top will eventually have an eye in the centre and all sorts of zentangle squiggles in it that spill out into a ball of energy spirals that is between them all (I just realized that I don’t  have a photo yet of the sketches I made of that weeks ago – I’ll have to add those later.)

All this to say that it’s just so cool to see how all the things I’ve been exploring and learning about are coming together.  It’s really helping me define what I like and where I’m going.  What a great day!  And it doesn’t end there.  During our session with a nude model, I decided to take one of my 5-minute stylized sketches and fill it with zentangles.  I then did a very quick outline of another pose and filled that one up too.  Again, what fun!  I especially like the tall one – but for my first try at this, it’s not bad.  I wonder how it will be to play with this in coloured acrylic paint in a faster, more intuitive way rather than the carefully planned Mischtechnik layers I’m working on at this school or in black marker.  I’ll eventually find my own unique way of stylizing figures and nature, inspired by all I’ve seen and done along the way.  And as I head in that direction, I’ll keep enjoying the journey.  Yay!

P.S.  May 14, 2014.  I did another zentangle during life drawing class.  Fun!

Dominique Hurley_IMG_7348P.P.S.  In October/November, I started adding zentangle patterns to my paintings (including a couple on drums).

“On a Wing And A Prayer” – 12″ x 24″ – $425 Acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas (no framing required) To purchase, please contact me via my webpage at www.DominiqueHurley.com or www.facebook.com/DominiqueHurleyArt
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Inspirations

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Am I ever glad I didn’t follow through on that boat trip down the Danube to a Christmas market a few hours away – it’s cold and very rainy today, and I’m totally in hermit-mode.   I’m therefore spending time online reconnecting to art that has inspired me on my life’s journey. This latest project started when I asked two of the teachers from our Intensive, Vera & Kuba, if they would provide private tutoring for a few days at their country home during my Christmas break so that I could focus more on my drawing skills, and more particularly on applying what I know into stylizing figures.  You see, I’d like to find my own unique way of incorporating people and other real objects in my art in a non-realistic manner.  To do this, I still need to learn more about anatomy and dimension, but there may be more I can do, and I’m looking forward to finding out. In preparation for our tutorial, Vera asked me to show her some images of what I like – and here’s some of what I found.

I don’t have a great memory for names, but thanks to my Google searching skills and a lot of patience, I’ve reconnected to these artists’ work (they all incorporate figures in unique ways).

1 – Gustav Klimt:

You already know that I like this Viennese artist’s work and the way he blends 2-D and 3-D together.  You can find more images at:

2- Maxine Noel:

This Canadian First Nations artist’s work is so very recognizable – beautiful, simple, and spiritual. My parents gave me one of her greeting cards (image top left)  years ago and it traveled with me for a long time (a rare thing with my penchant for de-cluttering).   I love her use of curvy lines and colours as well as the unique way she creates her faces.  You can see more of her work at: http://www.sa-cinn.com/maxine_noel.htm

This is the one I had on a greeting card

3 – Rassouli

A fellow art student in Saskatoon showed me this spiritual artist’s work, knowing I would like it.  Seeing Rassouli’s work reinforced that wanting in me to incorporate human figures in my abstract landscapes. It also showed me how important it is to understand dimension and light and shadow, even if I wasn’t interested in painting reality as I see it with my eyes. You can learn more about this artist at: http://www.rassouli.com/ and www.avatarfinearts.com/ .

4- Alphonse Mucha

When I lived in the Czech Republic in the early 90s, I was re-acquainted with the work of Alphonse Mucha – most particularly his art deco posters.  I’m not sure where I had seen it before, but I remember my surprise at having known of a Czech artist before living there.  You can see more of his work on the Mucha Foundation website.

5- Janet Williams

I met this artist in Saskatoon when I was living there (2006-2011).  Seeing her booth at the Fringe Festival always lifted my spirits.  It’s such happy art – the colours, movement, simplicity…  Two of her fridge magnets are here with me now as reminders of my goal to find my own unique style of human figures.  Once again, I’d recognize her art anywhere.  I like that.  You can see more of her work at: http://www.janetwilliamsart.ca/

6- Flora Bowley

I have known of this artist’s work for less than a year. I’ve since taken her 5 week e-course, regularly enjoy her blog, and am looking forward to her Bali retreat in April.  What I like about her intuitive work is her use of colour and the integration of birds and other figures in her own unique way.  What I like even more is her way of being: living, teaching, exploring, business success, etc.  She’s truly an inspiration.  You can learn more at braveintuitiveyou.com

I’m sure there are many more who have inspired me, past, present, and future. For example, while looking for images in Google, I was very taken by this painting of a foal by Bob Coonts, someone I had never heard of, as well as a lot of the simple stylized line tattoo work.  If I spent more time looking at others’ work, I’m sure I would find zillions more that I like – but this gives us all a good idea of the style of figure I’d like to incorporate into my current style.  One thing I know is that I need to draw and paint more on my own in order to develop this – something I haven’t done at all this weekend.  I’m starting to miss having my well-stocked acrylic painting studio at hand.  It’s like I’ve put my usual work aside for the time being to learn what I’m learning.  It’s not a good or bad thing – it just is and I’m noticing that.  I’m just feeling in sync with the weather outside and watching the clouds going through my sky.  All is well.

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