Suzanne McDermott

The Dragon Rules

2012-01-23T00:37:00.000-06:00

Dragon Shadow
Watercolor
3.75 x 5.5 inches
$27 email me to purchase

Just a quick post to mark the Chinese New Year of the Black Water Dragon.

Another teaser from a brand new series of paintings. More details coming soon....

Join my mailing list to keep abreast of details, a new workshop, next course dates, inspiration and so forth.

Wishing you love, luck, good fortune and joy in the year to come...

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High on the Hill

2012-01-18T16:35:00.000-06:00

High on the Hill

Watercolor, 6 x 8 inches

I'm in the midst of making a slew of new paintings for a quick show coming up at the end of next month and am having amazing fun doing so. Above is one example.

It's chilly today but, on the whole, I can't complain about this mild winter. Still, this time of year my thoughts often turn toward Hawaii.

In honor of those thoughts and for those of you who may be chilly within or without as you read this, I'm sending you back a few years for some Aloha healing.

Listen to Hapa sing Ku'u Lei Awapuhi and follow the instructions on that post!

Aloha nui loa.
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The Sky Above

2012-01-08T18:58:00.001-06:00

The Sky Above
Watercolor, 5.5 x 7.25 inches

It's the first full moon of 2012. The Full Wolf Moon.

I took poetic license and referred to this as the "Howling Moon" in my song Golden Needles. That song was inspired by a short article about a 300 year old sacred tree that was cut down by a vandal.

I was teaching a 3-day songwriting workshop at my alma mater, New College, and had given an assignment to write a song based on an article in that day's newspaper. Sitting on a bench looking over Sarasota Bay, I composed my own assignment.

Click below to listen to the song from Ephemera.
Golden Needles

Crazy people do crazy things.
Make it your intention to be sane this year. Leap out of the stream of your exhausting thoughts into the present moment. When you feel your mind getting out of hand, aka stressed, pay attention to your breath. Take one conscious breath. Take another. Get into your body. Pick up a pencil and draw something right in front of you. That's my Rx.

Last chance to join my online course in drawing and watercolor! Course starts on Thursday!
Click here to register for the 12 or 24 week course!
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The New Year!

2012-01-01T00:46:00.000-06:00

New Path
Watercolor
6 x 6-1/4 inches

This is it, folks. The first day of the first year of the Age of Aquarius.

Leave your past behind. Open your heart and go with the flow. I'm excited to see what the new year brings! How about you?

I wish you radiant health, wealth and well being.
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Make something out of nothing

2011-12-26T18:31:00.001-06:00

Share this video!

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Celebrate the Sun!

2011-12-20T23:00:00.000-06:00

Southernmost
Watercolor
8 x 8 inches

We may be at the furthest point away from the sun but, as quickly as we meet that point, we begin our movement back towards the sun again.

Mark the moment of the Winter Solstice. Dec. 22, 2011, 12:30 AM EST

Light a candle (in solidarity with the sun)
Meditate (just sit still, close your eyes and pay attention to your breath)
Say a prayer of thanksgiving that the light is overcoming the darkness
Make an intention to BE the light that is overcoming the darkness
Learn about the Winter Solstice and the many ways in which it is celebrated
Spend some time looking at the sky
Remember that we are held by gravity on a beautiful planet revolving around a star
Listen to me sing Gustav Holst's In the Bleak Midwinter from Out Under the Sky

Thank you for being alive at this moment of awakening.

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How to Spend Your Darkest Days (and nights)

2011-12-12T20:23:00.000-06:00

King of Night
Suzanne McDermott
Watercolor, 8 x 8 inches

How to Spend Your Darkest Days (and nights)
my top ten recommendations

Rest
Sleep
Follow this doggie's example
Read an enlightening book
Light a candle
Say a prayer of thanks (because you're safe and warm)
Dream
Remember that darkness is temporary
Drink Ginger Tea
Listen to J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations

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Online Courses in Drawing and Watercolor 2012

2011-12-04T16:08:00.001-06:00

Registration is now open for my 2012 Online Courses in Drawing and Watercolor!
Next course starts January 12, 20112!
You have 3 courses to choose from:

Enter Here is short, Open up is 12-weeks Transform is 24-weeks
self-paced + independent of intensive fundamentals that will change your life

Join one of my encouraging online courses and discover your untapped creative potential.

Whether you're an absolute beginner or just can't get started on your own —
Find out more about these online courses and which might suit you best!

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The Gift of Drawing

2011-12-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

Drawing is a gift that keeps on giving throughout a lifetime!

Click here to learn about Drawing and Watercolor Online Courses.

2 Unique Gift Ideas

Here are two ways to give the gift of drawing to a friend or family member. Okay, 4 ways!
No drawing or technical experience is required. This is a great gift for iPad freaks.

Idea One

Basic Drawing Lessons

How Much: ($27 - $50)
$27.00 for eBook with (+$22.76) or without (+0.00) the set of recommended supplies.

How To:
Visit Basic Drawing Lessons for easy instructions on how to give as a gift.

Idea Two

Enter Here to Draw and Watercolor
My gift to you: $40 Discount Code = STEH40

How Much: (after Discount Code — $57 - 105)
with (+$47.68) or without (+0.00) the set of recommended supplies.

How To:
Visit Enter Here to Draw and Watercolor for easy instructions.
Make purchase with Discount Code and follow instructions on registration page.

Please get in touch with any questions!

Start with the independent, self-paced course Enter Here to Draw and Watercolor.

Or, start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Basic Drawing Lessons.

Learn more about this eBook

Click through to ebook and program description to learn how to give as a gift.

Questions? Please get in touch!
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Back On Earth

2011-10-31T13:28:00.001-05:00

Back On Earth

9 x 9 inches

Watercolor on Lana cold pressed

Delighted with my production yesterday, I find myself back in the landscape with the road before me.

After creating a six month course packed with demos of all sorts of approaches to drawing and watercolor, I feel like I've come home again and am glad to be here.

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Wild Blue Yonder

2011-10-25T17:59:00.000-05:00

Wild Blue Yonder
10 x 10 inches
Watercolor, graphite, watercolor pencil, gouache

Wow. This painting was a challenge to replicate (relatively) correctly on screen. A lot of subtle changes in value and color. But you get the idea.

It's a development from my charcoal and conté study. I love scribbling with charcoal and chalk and pastel. Too dusty for my sensibilities, I'm afraid. So... how to scribble and sculpt with watercolor. The crayons are too waxy, the pencils have their limitations, not least of which is size of point.

Stroke and flow. I've been considering the problems with incorporating these two for decades. I just may turn to gouache.

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Cloud Study

2011-10-17T15:14:00.000-05:00

Cloud Study
Charcoal, pastel and conté on newsprint
14 x 17 inches
In Lesson 15 of my online course in Basic Drawing and Watercolor, we look up! We study the skies and all they hold.

This cloud study is the result of one of my online demos and I'm very excited to say that it's provided a breakthrough for my own work. Now, to set aside time to develop the congregating ideas. That's a challenge because so much of my time and attention is focused on my online course which is fine because it's in process of becoming so much more than I ever expected with awesome results for my students.

Sign up on my mailing list to receive my beautiful weekly eZine, Stroke and Flow. You'll receive special news and discounts and lots of inspiration. Short and sweet — that's the format. You'll also receive a free drawing lesson so you can have a taste of my approach to teaching. And a song! You'll also receive a free song download.

Look up! Behold the sky. It's good for you!

For me, right now, it's back to the drawing board.

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Henge

2011-10-04T01:12:00.000-05:00

Henge
Watercolor on Lana cold pressed
8-3/4 x 9-9/4 inches
to purchase, email me

Long ago and far away (depending upon where you are today), teams of beings built great big structures with great big stones into well engineered designs.The last of these — at the end of the neolithic period — was erected approximately our present distance from point zero but on the other side (if you think about time in a linear fashion), 2000-ish years BC.

Who knows what henges were called in their heyday but the word henge is probably related to hinge. An apparatus for opening and closing, for entering and leaving, for attaching one piece of something to another. A swiveling thing.

Time, imagination, engineering, effort, and energy were spent on creating these special spaces. Probably highly sacred spaces. Maybe henges were cathedrals of sorts serving different constructs of experience.

Regardless of your belief system, there's no getting around the fact that we are at the end of one cycle of civilization and the beginning of another. This sort of passage can take centuries and it's almost impossible to judge a moment of history from the inside out but it sure feels like we are now in an exceptionally intense phase of simultaneous growth and decay. It feels like the hinge is swiveling.

I have always sensed autumn as a sacred passage. Each day opening to bright, clear blue, to crispy air, to rainy chilly running color, or warm exuberant flame. Our annual opening into seasonal death and rebirth.

Darkness is coming but not yet upon us. My sweaters and vests come out of storage but I can't yet put my t-shirts away.

I want to be outside all the time. Next best, have all the windows open!
It's an exciting time to be alive.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, you can register for my
2012 Online Basic Drawing + Watercolor intensive at 2011 tuition.
Click here to learn more.
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Time and Distance

2011-09-27T01:30:00.000-05:00

Time and Distance
Watercolor, 9 x 10.5 inches
email me to purchase

No beginning and no end.

At the outset of my K-12 Catholic schooling, I learned that god has no beginning and no end.

Night after night, I would lie in bed and imagine going all the way, all the way forward in time until I ran out of patience. Then, snapping like a rubber band, I zoomed back through AD into BC and all the way, all the way... until I grew tired with that direction. Forth and back and back and forth I went until I fell to sleep.

About the same time, I began scrawling my name onto the endpapers of my father's volumes of Arnold Toynbee's Study of History. My father would sit me on his lap and tell me about how civilizations might form, develop (or not), mature (or not), grow old and die.

Mix those things up with choice episodes of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone and it's no surprise that I've been mulling over the nature and idea of time for most of my life.

So, it wasn't a stretch when I looked at this finished painting and arrived at the title. In fact, I arrived at the title as I looked at the painting upside down.

This is one of the rare paintings that works both right side up and upside down.

Distance and Time while upside down?

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Entrance

2011-09-19T10:29:00.001-05:00

Entrance

Watercolor on Lanaquarelle, 8" x 9"

$300 email to purchase

Time to transform into a new season, new clothing, new mindset.

The cooling air and coming rain feel good and right to me. I don't even mind the coming darkness much. At least not at this point. I feel like I'm riding a continuum and that the seasons are turn, turn, turning faster and faster and before I know it, Spring will be cropping up again.

I do like the entr'acte, though, when the scenery changes and the curtain parts on a new season. There's anticipation and expectation and excitement for the unexpected that just might step upon the stage.

You never know....

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Birthday Flowers

2011-09-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

Tiverton Flowers, 1999

Limited prints available

Matted + Backed to 8" x 10"

$45. email me for purchase.

An oldie but a goodie.

I've completed my Nunjabi book. There are a few pages not posted but they may be better left so. Now it's time to go through the process of experimenting with new paper. This can take a day or a month. We'll see.

In the meanwhile, instead of sweating it out trying to produce something for the sake of this blog, I'm giving myself a birthday present, reaching into the archives and sharing a favorite.

Anyway, it's an extra busy week... Registration closes for my Online Basic Drawing + Watercolor Course on Thursday, September 15th, (my birthday!) and I have a Nashville in-studio basic workshop this weekend (2 seats still open at this writing).

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Hidden in the Hills

2011-09-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

Hidden in the Hills
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

After weeks of high and dry heat, we're receiving days of cool and constant rain. It's a good change. My garden is happy.

Contracted and cracked in the weeks of heat, the soil is now swollen and overflowing, yet still receiving more rain.

Expanding and contracting. Giving and receiving. Being fertile and laying fallow. Yang and yin. Each partner lays dormant within the other, nurturing and collaborating to create new offspring. It's the nature of the universe.

You have seven more days to register for my Fall 2011 Online Drawing + Watercolor Course.

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Almost Harvest

2011-08-30T14:33:00.003-05:00

Almost Harvest
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

Summer evaporates. In some places, may the flood waters to evaporate right along with it. Not quite fall yet summer is definitely over.

I remember the years my family would stay at the shore one day past Labor Day weekend. Along with the Shoobies went the entire season. The empty beach felt differently lit. Suddenly the sun was at a noticeably more acute angle. The breeze was cooler, the water more bracing. I wanted to stay on but that wasn't my call.

As you transition into the changing season, think about spending 8 weeks learning about drawing and watercolor. As a treat give yourself time to slow down and do something by hand and eye.

Each season is a one time thing. Eight weeks pass in the blink of an eye.

Join us for my Fall 2011 Online Drawing + Watercolor Course starting September 22nd.

Are you in Nashville? Click here for my September Workshop
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Bridge

2011-08-23T19:13:00.000-05:00

Roadblock
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

La, la, la, la, la.... Traipsing along the happy path of life and BOOM. A roadblock.

These sudden obstructions take time to get over or around. Time for assessing the situation, for composing a plan, a strategy, and then time for taking action. To get to the other side.

I painted my way through this one here. Easier than in 3D life where I am slightly torn and tattered but continuing on along the happy path of life.

It's a choice.

_______________________________

One week later, what felt like a roadblock now looks like a bridge. I'm bestowing a new title.____________________________________________

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Crystal Clear

2011-08-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

Crystal Clear
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

I was about to start fussing with tiny tricks of perspective to bring the foreground fore and put the background back. Then I noticed that I couldn't take my eyes off the mountain peak.

This visual manipulation is a conspiracy of composition, line and color. But the absolute clarity of fore-, middle- and backgrounds removes space and time in the picture plane. It's almost like being in three places at once. Almost because you'll never be on the peak, you'll always be looking at it.

Pretend the mountain peak is your goal. When your goal is crystal clear, no matter how far the distance you know what it feels like to be there. That is the beauty of good inner vision.

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Cuban Float

2011-08-09T00:31:00.000-05:00

Cuban Float
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

I was looking through Diana Nyad's blog on Sunday as she prepared to swim from Cuba to Florida. At 61. Without a shark tank. I couldn't help but notice the Cuban skies in the photos. That's my inspiration.

I looked at my palette and thought, not with those colors! I've hung onto my palette color arrangement for way too long. I'm sick of it!

Right now, in my Online Drawing and Watercolor Course we're concentrating on palette colors and mixing. Palette choice and mixing are on my mind in a bigger than usual way. So, I grabbed a couple boxes of paint tubes and rather unceremoniously rifled through them looking for a cure.

Here's what I came up with:
(All M. Graham except for last Old Holland) Cadmium Yellow Light (love it!), Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Teal, Viridian, Quinacridone Rose and Old Holland King's Blue Deep.

Oooh! I want to put aside all my teaching and computer work and paint the days away. I'll make another with this group and predict a change is a comin' in my big palette.____________________________________________
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Bushwhacking

2011-08-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

Bushwhacking
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

Throwing myself to the winds of this expressive project is anchored by the fact that I'm filling a book, page by page with these paintings. That's part of the discipline. Another part of the discipline is going where each painting takes me (without resistance) and finding ways to make each work.

The unexpected and very interesting part of the results is that each painting (in retrospect rather than intention) reflects my internal experience at the moment of making each painting.

For example, when I sat down to this one, I was trying out a new (to me) brand of one of my favorite colors, Quinacridone Gold. So, I've learned a bit about how it works and what it looks like compared to the other brands that I use. But that fact has little to do with the resulting painting.

When I was approaching completion, I thought it looked like a partially cleared but still obstructed path. As is often the case, the final title did not occur to me until I was scanning at which point, I threw the working title(s) out. Bushwhacking! That's it.

Then I realized that bushwhacking is exactly what I am doing this week, today, right now. I have so many tasks that I'm almost paralyzed. Almost.

Rather than lay down and die, I am picking up my metaphorical machete and whacking my tasks off one by one to clear my path.

All right! This one is cleared!

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Deep Day

2011-07-26T08:18:00.006-05:00

Deep Day
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

I pulled out my archives for a buyer over the weekend. As she was looking through paintings, I did, too. I was drawn to the paintings with happy, cloudy blue skies like Roll, Landscape 2, Landscape 4, and Landscape 5. I decided that it's high time to bring that theme back around.

At first glance, my first thought was "Pretty!"

It's good to get away from certain conventions when they begin to feel habitual. However, it's great to learn that some conventions feel like home and that you can go home again.

I predict more happy skies ahead.
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Signals

2011-07-19T18:09:00.004-05:00

Signals
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

My first title for this painting was Puff. That was until I stepped away from it and came back. (Always a good idea.) Looking at the painting again with fresh eyes, I immediately recognized smoke signals.

Just like these posts with my paintings, smoke signals are a form of visual communication transmitted over long distances. The difference is that smoke signals are one of the earliest forms of communication in recorded history.

Smoke signals have been used in war time along the Great Wall of China, by Australian Aborigines to indicate their presence in foreign territory, for marine timekeeping in South Africa, as community information by the Yaghan people at the bottom of South America, by the Vatican (still) to indicate the election of a new pope, and by the North American Native Americans.

Each Native American tribe had a particular system of signals and meanings.

In 150 BC, the Greek historian, Polybius developed a cryptographic system of alphabetical smoke signals later adapted by the Japanese and Germans during World War I.

Now that this painting is finished, I can meditate on what it's trying to tell me. Can you read these signals?

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Wave

2011-07-14T20:49:00.004-05:00

Wave
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

So, here's what I think we should do:

Put on some Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Pour a tall glass of lemonade with a sprig of mint.
Climb into a hammock under a shady tree
by a crystal flowing stream,
where birds are sweetly twittering,
and the breeze is fresh and clear.

Where is this place?

If you know, please tell me. I need to move some place with fresh air!

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Jemez Foray

2011-07-11T21:15:00.003-05:00

Jemez Foray
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

It's hot as hell here and the air is sulphurous, toxic, disgusting. I'm dreaming of clean air and open skies.

Although I'm continuing with this Nunjabi book project right through till the last page, I'm discovering that the quality and surface of each page varies considerably. Which affects my painted entries considerably. This one is crude but relatively acceptable.

Ah, well... if it ain't one thing it's another!

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As above, so below

2011-07-07T00:01:00.002-05:00

As above, so below
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

As I worked on the field of sky in this painting, my mind kept chanting, "As above, so below. As above, so below." Well, I thought, there's the title!

I can't remember when I used to regularly hear this phrase... was it my mother? My husband? Whoever it was that repeated it, whenever that was, it was often and during a formative phase. The phrase has stuck with me. And I'm glad. Cause it's true.

As above, so below

"The quote is one of the seven principles of Hermeticism. Briefly, it tells us that things which appear to be very different have attributes that are actually quite similar. It also tells us that by studying one thing we can learn about something else. That, for example, is exactly what statistical samples are all about. By examining a small portion of a population, a determination can be made as to what those same attributes are for the entire population." —John V

I cannot speak to statistics (thank god), but having worked in a number of different fields and expressive forms, I can say with absolute certainty that by studying one thing, I have learned about something else.

This is the beauty of breadth in education. The non-specialized mind becomes able to draw unusual analogies and build bridges to new solutions that are truly "outside the box."
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Blue Falls

2011-07-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

Blue Falls
Watercolor, 12 x 12 inches

I've decided that I'd be out of my mind to work on a watercolor while finishing up last minute business for the maiden voyage of my Basic Drawing + Watercolor Online Course.

I'm working away to make it a sea worthy journey and am very pleased with the results! I hope the students will thing the same thing! This first course is sold out and I have 6 people on the waiting list for September! I am so excited! Also have two full crews coming into the studio on Saturday for a four week session, so...

I'm posting this demo that I made at an expo in mid-May. Too large to scan, the colors are a bit cooler than in real life but hell if I'm going to start fiddling with color on the computer!

I'm going to pop a pizza in the oven and watch Masterpiece Theater.

Good night!

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The Blue Trickster

2011-06-30T18:00:00.002-05:00

The Blue Trickster
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

Kicking up dust and trailing utter chaos, the Trickster appears at what seem to be most inopportune moments. But, boy, if you can dance with him, keep your balance and get enough sleep, there's no telling what might happen!

Wow, I thought last night while finishing this up... Positively Aztec, Incan, Mayan. But isn't this what my life feels like right now.

I'm dancing. Barefoot, I might add.

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A Perfect Example

2011-06-27T18:19:00.004-05:00

Landscape demo
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
25 June 2011

I lead with the one that worked.

At the end of 12 sessions together, I bid my students farewell with a landscape demo on rough India paper. It's always a little stressful to make a demo, performance anxiety and all that, but it's a rush and, once into it, I can't stop till the process allows. Although I do crank out demo duds on occasion, mostly I succeed because (in front of students) I simply have to hold my seat and complete the work.

However... Just before this demo, I broke one of my own cardinal rules. I started a new entry in my Nunjabi book in the middle of class and interrupted myself early to go back to teaching. I was never able to recover my place or pace. Naturally! The rule in this case is to never start a watercolor if you expect to be interrupted (or without taking the phone off the hook.)

Actually, I broke two cardinal rules. The second? Don't overwork your watercolor — from the strokes to the piece at large. I so overworked parts of the one below, that I had a chance to try the new Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground over a horrid sky and stream. I tried, too hard, to recover my place in the painting and, as these things go, each further attempt to fix created a worse scenario. My intention is not to berate myself in public but to demonstrate what happens when we forget or go against our basic principals. Every watercolorist knows exactly what I'm talking about.

So, I'm posting my overworked Nunjabi entry below. Only because it's the next page in my book project. If I hide a not so great one now, I just may lose momentum. Also because, in relation to the demo at top, it's a perfect example of classic watercolor defeat.

To quote Patrice Bart, while harshly coaching the Corps de Ballet of the Paris National Opera Ballet in rehearsal of La Bayadere by Minkus, he says...

"It's not bad, but it won't make them cry."

"Yes," responds one dancer, "but it makes us cry!" as she wipes away tears.

And so it is with watercolor. I tell my students that they must learn to accept that some pieces will work and some won't. Some results will be better than others and some will be disasters. As in watercolor, so in life.

When you feel like giving up, give yourself a pat on the back for effort and do the next right thing. Take action, it's a sure cure.

Me? I'm turning the page to see what happens next.

Storybook Stream
Watercolor, 8 x 9"
Nunjabi Book I

Only 2 more days to sign up for my Online Basic Drawing + Watercolor Course!
Visit my teaching site to learn all about it.
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When you were the sky

2011-06-23T00:05:00.005-05:00

When you were the sky (where was I?)
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

Ahhh... Midsummer. The days are long,the trees are green, flowers are in bloom. It's nice!

The sky is wide open, the light flooding through... This is an optimal time for transformation.

Join me this summer for a course in basic transformation.
Come visit my teaching site to learn all about it.
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Fester

2011-06-20T11:15:00.076-05:00

Fester
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

I made this watercolor last week in the throes of an awful stye and brown recluse spider bite. Although I could have done without the ailments, the painting was a good little exercise. The process helped express a bunch o' junk from my psyche. And that's a good thing for a painting to do, thinkest thou not?

As I look at the painting, I can actually feel the memory of my misery while I made it. But now it's something separate (and out of the way). At first, I thought "Oh, gawd! I can't show this!" But now, I rather like it.

I know that I must be sounding like a rickety old lady and hypochondriacal but I'm not and I'm not. I've just gone through a long string of physical ridiculousness over the past year. I am not yet 100% but I'm feeling good again and doing pretty darn well, thanks. The sty is almost gone and the spider bite is healing up beautifully. (Miracles! I'll have to share my healing tips soon.)

This morning, I was listening to a Pema Chodron talk on Learning to Stay from Getting Unstuck
(which I highly recommend). In light of the above, this part is worth sharing:

"So...I think for many people, when you have a lot of pain in your life, whether it happens to you when you're young or whether it happens later — Crisis, trauma, a lot of pain of some kind. People who have this are usually the ones who get really serious about the spiritual path and are highly motivated to learning to stay. So really it's a blessing in disguise. I think a lot of the spiritual path is about blessings in disguise and it's a good expression to keep in mind because, usually, people who have no pain — everything is kind of a game and fun and trendy and the latest thing or something, but then when the shit hits the fan, that's when you get really serious because the stakes are really high." —Pema Chodron

That pretty much wraps up certain aspects of how I feel about and have responded to my physical hardship this past year. After all, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
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Glade Shade

2011-06-16T15:36:00.003-05:00

Glade Shade
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

Busy in the studio here preparing for the maiden voyage of my new online course:
Basic Drawing and Watercolor Online. Registration opened last night (!) and closes June 29.
We begin on July 7.Click here for details.

Above is a copy of a smaller painting I made earlier this year. I forgot that I'd named the earlier Respite and inscribed Glade below this painting. I then discovered that I already made a painting called Glade in 2009. Hence, Glade Shade. Fascinating, n'est-ce pas?

I love this painting (as I did the earlier one). I think it's the palette — the jewel-like greens and turquoise — with the small aperture of palest Quinacridone Gold set in deep scarlet. I'll play more with this set of colors. But I love the painting also for the feeling of comfort, safety, security and peace in the composition. Something primal for sure. Let's go there!

Click here to learn more about my NEW Online Course in Drawing and Watercolor.

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Free Fall

2011-06-13T01:13:00.004-05:00

Free Fall
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

I don't mind telling you that it's scary to move into these free forms. But, as I make them, they feel natural and right. A convergence of all the marks I've made since childhood.

I got stuck on this one though. It took me over a week. Although there were extenuating circumstances, I kept going back at it trying to make it work. Some minor fussing. Letting the thing dry. More minor fussing. More letting dry.

Well, at a certain point, I had to stop. One thing that helped me let this go was making paintings beyond this entry. Because this is a book project, I'm committed to each page. No crossing out or tearing up (as I've done with so many paintings over the past 5 years.) Part of my commitment is to post each one. So... Woila!
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Far Afield

2011-06-09T01:14:00.063-05:00

Far Afield
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

This is the third installment of (page in) my nunjabi watercolor book. I am enjoying making each painting work (no ripping out pages!) and when the book is filled, it will have a tale to tell.

If you're already on my mailing list, you've read about my upcoming online course. If you're not on my mailing list, you could be. You could be receiving your very own copy of my weekly eZine, Stroke and Flow. Want to? Look up to your left, enter your name and email and you'll find a copy in your email every Wednesday. Each week, I publish a little note, a little news, muse on a word related to life as it relates to drawing and watercolor (or vice versa) and offer a limited time, special price on a small watercolor.

I am so excited about what I have to offer you in my new online course. I've taken the best of my workshops and classes and distilled the basics into a fun and friendly online presentation over 8 weeks. You can read all about it by clicking here.

The 8 week course starts July 7th and registration opens on June 15th. I am limiting the number of students in this first go round and already have a waiting list of more than half my capacity. Click here to add your name to the waiting list. No obligation but first come, first serve.
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Yellow Birds

2011-06-06T01:10:00.006-05:00

Yellow Birds
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book I

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." —Chinese Proverb

Traditionally, birds represent the soul, transcendence, ascent, communication, freedom, and sight.

Yellow is the color of the Solar Plexus Chakra, or Manipura. Located in the stomach area it's linked to the stomach, liver, skin, large intestine, muscular system, and solar plexus area. It represents vitality and will. When open, it empowers a person and helps them find their personal strength.

At the moment, I am short on energy and long on tasks. Still, I am heeding these winged messengers and putting aside time to clear my third chakra. To open my city of jewels.

If you'd like to receive my Weekly Zine, Stroke and Flow, look up to your left, enter your name and email in the fields and you find a copy in your email every Wednesday.

Want to learn more about my online course? Click here to visit drawandwatercolor.com or contact me to put your name on the waiting list.
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A Place to Begin

2011-06-02T21:15:00.002-05:00

A Place to Begin
Watercolor, 8 x 9 inches
Nunjabi Book 1

I've just published the first issue of my new eZine — Stroke and Flow. Yay!

Now to attend to final preparations for my first online course in Basic Drawing and Watercolor.

To keep myself painting (and sane), I've started a Nunjabi watercolor journal and plan to fill up every page. These are what I'll be posting here this summer.

I've restarted My Great Day blog and will be posting there once a week or so. Just for fun.

If you'd like to receive my Weekly Zine, Stroke and Flow, look up to your left, enter your name and email in the fields and you find a copy in your email every Wednesday.

Want to learn more about my online course? Click here to visit drawandwatercolor.com or contact me to put your name on the waiting list.
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Fruition

2011-05-31T08:51:00.002-05:00

Here's the view down my back 40 after six years of tending. Lush and green, green, green. I tried my best to scan this but could not get the colors to calm down (after more time on the monitor than I should ever have spent.) So, as this feels like the last of my back yard watercolor entries, I thought that it would be appropriate to snap a shot against the subject.

This reminds me of Werner Pfarr's drawing of my back yard in 2008. Click here to see the photo and read about that and Werner's drawings.

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First Lilies

2011-05-26T23:16:00.003-05:00

First Lilies
Watercolor and pencil
5 x 8 inches

At some point in the future, I will look back on these past 12 or so months and think... I don't know what I'll think in the future! But right now, I think, "Uncle, already!"

Though I've been quite ill the past week or two, I've been settling into some sketchbooks and enjoying my gardens. I have barely pulled a weed this year. Six years of trial and error with perennial plantings and hardy annual survivors have produced gardens with a life of their own. I'm sure that I'm in for a few surprises!

I'm hard at work on the launch of my signature online course, so my next series of larger paintings must hang out in the planning stages for a while. I like confining my work to the books for now.

So far, I have three books going. I'll write more about them in the next week or so. I haven't shown work in one watercolor book — the one set out on my drawing table — but will soon. It's an alternate universe to these watercolor sketches in the moleskine book that keeps me company in the yard.

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Backyard Morning

2011-05-23T21:12:00.003-05:00

Backyard Morning
Watercolor pencil, watercolor
5 x 8 inches

When I first moved into this house and, again, after I built the studio, I made series of paintings of the backyard. This year, the gardens I dug and the hedges I planted are officially established and mature. My paradise is lush and green, green, green.

It's a challenge to capture the real greens. By the time the sketch is scanned and up on my monitor, the yellows look acidic and the greens not true. But it's late, I'm tired and it's all relative. The challenge is good for practice.

This is the view I wake up to from my the window by my bed.

Recent images of backyard here. See early paintings of my back yard here. Click here for a painting of the view when I first moved in.

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Wild Roses

2011-05-20T13:56:00.001-05:00

Wild Roses
Watercolor pencil, watercolor
5 x 8 inches

Now that I can walk again, unaided, I toured my back yard late yesterday and discovered wild roses in bloom. Usually, I only see the leaves and catch the thorns. So this morning I dragged a lawn chair out and made this sketch in the moleskine watercolor book I brought to Florida last year. I like it much better than the new sketchbook I bought on a whim yesterday. I'll keep that new one for scribbles.

Not a total waste. The purchase and experiment has opened up a new way to stay grounded as I work on plans for larger pieces with new presentations. It also prompted me to sign up for the Sketchbook Project 2012. My theme: Time Travel! That project is a little ways off, though.

Back to work in the here and now.

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Brood XIX of the 13-year cycle

2011-05-19T18:39:00.001-05:00

Cicada
Brood XIX of the 13-year cycle
Nashville, TN
19 May 2011
Ink and watercolor pencil

Sure has been noisy around here. Beautiful, but noisy. Now as sun sets, the lawn mowers and weed eaters have finished their jobs and the cicadas have nodded off for the night.

These insects are everywhere! Climbing up tires, my back door, on almost every leaf... One found its way into my car. Good thing I had my foot on the brake when he made himself known. LOUD! It's an honor to be present for this rare appearance and I love the rattle and whirring song.

Click here to read more about our cicadas. More here.

This morning, I woke at 5 AM and decided that it's a good day to start in motion radical changes. The moon is on the wane and I am all about letting go of what no longer works, fits or suits me. I am sick of this old shit that's holding me back. (Personal matters but I'm guessing that most of you can relate and plug in your own personal matters.) I have just started walking without my boot brace and, though it'll be a while before I lose the limp (and the fear), I'm ready for forward motion. I've been in recline too long.

I followed a wild hair this morning and, while picking up a new medium to try out (stay tuned), spotted a cool sketchbook. Now, let me tell you that I in no way need a new sketchbook. But I liked the size and shape and paper and bought it. 300 pages! It's a Flexi-Sketch, 8 x 8 inches, 75 lb. paper, by hand•book journal co. The only thing is... I can't really take water to the paper. Oh, well. I'm going to fill it up anyway.

I've spotted folks on blogs posting their every day in May drawings and especially love what Barbara Weeks is doing at Drawing Breath. An inspiration. I am behind (limping along) with just about everything so, hey, I have 300 pages to fill and will go far beyond this month. Can't imagine that I'll post more than a small percentage but I'll be filling the pages nonetheless.

I've made one drawing today. Always an accomplishment!

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Majeste

2011-05-12T10:02:00.001-05:00

Majeste
Watercolor, 9 x 16 inches
—email me to purchase

This watercolor was started a year or two ago and I recently worked on it again. Students in and out of the studio are immediately drawn to it so I've decided to post it. The mountain is the key figure, the anchor of the scene and yet, somehow, apart.

As I read the 25th entry in the Tao Te Ching yesterday, I thought it a suitable companion for this painting.

"There was something formless and perfect
before the universe was born.
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao.

It flows through all things,
inside and ouside, and returns
to the origin of all things.

The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
These are the four great powers.

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself."

—Translation: Stephen Mitchell

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Repetition

2011-05-06T14:28:00.002-05:00

Clear Heart
Watercolor, 4 x 6"
Matted and backed to 8 x 10"
SOLD

Part Two of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,is called Right Attitude.

"The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature."

The section on Repetition opens with

"If you lose the spirit of repetition, your practice will become quite difficult."

Indeed! This is true whether we are meditating or painting. I have swerved in and out of the regular practice of painting for all sorts of reasons. Travel, injury, household distractions, other work, disillusionment, procrastination... but I would say that one big reason is that, at a certain point, I felt as though I was repeating myself.

Now, the sort of repetition I'm referring to is different than what Suzuki means. However, I let my fear of repeating myself curtain my regular practice. It's ridiculous, really, because repetition of a recognizable style and subject is often what provides the way for an artist to catapult themselves into brandom and commercial success. The ridiculous might be better described as an ego issue and, possibly, impatience. Or, to be more fair, perhaps I felt as though I was not developing satisfactorily, and so I stepped away from the practice. Understandable, but not the best solution. I bring all this up because, in my current state of having just a wee bit too much on my plate, I have not made time for my daily watercolor practice.

As I am teaching drawing and watercolor as a spiritual practice, it is now time for me to schedule my own daily watercolor practice. It's something I love to do and a matter of changing some current habits.

Suzuki writes about the practice of making bread:

"But we may find it not so interesting to cook the same thing over and over again every day. It is rather tedious, you may say. If you lose the spirit of repetition, it will become quite difficult, but it will not be difficult if you are full of strength and vitality.
...
So the kind of practice we stress thus cannot become too idealistic. If an artist becomes too idealistic, he will commit suicide, because between his ideal and his actual ability there is a great gap. Because there is no bridge long enough to go across the gap, he will begin to despair. That is the usual spiritual way. But our spiritual way is not so idealistic. In some sense we should be idealistic; at least we should be interested in making bread which tastes and looks good! Actual practice is repeating over and over again until you find out how to become bread. There is no secret in our way. Just to practice zazen and put ourselves into the oven is our way."

A lesson for me and a lesson for my students. The repetition of regular practice is crucial in watercolor as in any other form of creative endeavor. Anyone can fall out of the regular habit, even me, who deeply understands and teaches the need for regular practice. It takes courage and discipline to get into (or get back into) the regular habit.

The root of the word courage is directly related to that of heart. Back to the watercolor board and my original nature with a clear heart!
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Enchanted Jewelry

2011-05-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

I could not dance around the Maypole this Beltane. Instead, I rearranged the studio yet again (having just moved my office from the loft back down to the main floor), and finished some necklace and bracelet strands of semi-precious stones.

I caught the bead bug again while investigating stones with healing properties for bones and fractures. Creating the design patterns for complementary beads and stringing these necklaces and bracelets requires time, patience, dexterity, and magnification so I only make them once every so many years. But I enjoy the results and usually wear them till they break or I grow out of them.

For aficionados, one set includes periodot, sodalite, aventurine, labradorite, citrine, larvikite, amazonite, grossular garnet and clear quartz. The other set is made of amethyst, grossular garnet, citrine, clear quartz, periodot, labradorite, apatite and iolite. Magical fun!

I consider this hobby directly related to my watercolor work as most of these stones are transparent or semi-transparent and their design is informed by my understanding of transparent color. John LaFarge, (whose work we always copy in my classes) for example, was a master watercolorist and also a master of stained glass.

Photographing jewelry is an art form unto itself (that I have not mastered and am not going to worry about!), but you get the idea.

Back to business now, and to watercolor. Happy May¡!¡!

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Le Paysagiste

2011-04-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

Le Paysagiste (Mindscape)
Pinscreen animation by Jacques Drouin
Music by Jean Denis Larochelle
1976

Invented in 1931 by cartoonist Alexandre Alexeieff and his wife, Claire Parker, pinscreen animation is a rare and difficult technique. Canadian animator and director, Jacques Drouin is one of the few animators in the world who continues to practice this art form.

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Prairie Sweep

2011-04-25T18:55:00.005-05:00

Prairie Sweep
Watercolor, 7 x 10 inches
—email me to purchase

Sometimes, it is just enough to do enough. I would like to have a meaningful post of text, but, today, I do not.

I'm in the midst of loads of planning. For my pending online course (stay tuned!), for a new series of paintings with brand new presentation for a fall show (stay tuned!), for the last of my in studio classes and a mid-May expo.

That's enough, as I hobble along, working my way towards getting off crutches.

Isn't it?

Leave me comments and love notes. I love to hear from all of you!

More soon...

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Myriad

2011-04-18T16:35:00.001-05:00

Myriad
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
SOLD

There is so much going on, without and within. Spring is breathing life into every nook and cranny. My gardens are bursting with bloom, the hedges are overflowing and ants are finding their way into every room of my house! (Where do they come from?)

When I looked at this finished painting, the word Myriad popped into my head and I thought, "That's good. It's like that. There is a lot going on in the painting."

As usual, I started looking up definitions: online, in dictionaries on hand, in etymologies. If you're a regular reader, you'll know that I like to get to the bottom of words. To their origins and deepest meanings. Especially for the words I use to title paintings.

On the surface, at first glance, the definitions for Myriad are countless, innumerable, extremely great number, and so forth. None of those gave me a hook.

Then I looked in my parent's dictionary, the one I grew up with. A well worn, 1946, thin paper Webster's Collegiate Dictionary with broken spine. My little brother scrawled parts of my parents' names on the fly leaf and title page in red ballpoint pen. Someone colored Noah Webster's hair, forehead, cheeks, lips and tip of nose in pink crayon. I drew a bunny girl head in pencil above Noah's portrait with a cartoon bubble in which "hip hop" is printed.

But back to the definition. The first definition from the 1946 Webster's Collegiate is "The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things." The second definition, "An indefinitely large number."

Ten Thousand Things. That I can sink my teeth into. In fact, there is so much into which I can sink my teeth, that I'll have to mete out that chomping over future posts.

What most resonates with me is the connection of Myriad to the Tao, the way, the path. The Tao underlies most of my paintings both in execution and form. This is a satisfying hook for the title and a springboard for future posts.

Each painting is an unfolding, a way of discovery, as today's text has been an unfolding of a word, a discovery of meaning and relationship.

More to come soon... It will be as much of a surprise to me as it will be to you. Exciting!

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It's Iris Time in Tennessee

2011-04-14T18:58:00.001-05:00

Iris
Ink and marker, 8 x 10 inches

Irises have popped open their gorgeous, fragile blossoms at the bottom of my drive. I cut a few for a lecture on drawing I gave last Saturday and made a scribbly sketch during the lecture. Ever since, every time I spied it, I thought... must get my markers out. And finally, today, I did!

It's very, very pretty in Tennessee right now. Reminds me of a song...

When It's Iris Time In Tennessee
Written by Willa Waid Newman

Sweetness of Spring memories bring
Of a place I long to be.
Land of Sunshine calls this old heart of mine,
Come back to Tennessee.

Rocks and the rills deep tinted hills,
Three's no spot so dear to me.
Where'er I roam still it's my Home Sweet Home,
My own, my Tennessee.

When it's Iris time down in Tennessee,
I'll be coming back to stay
Where the mockingbird sings at the break of day
A lilting love song gay.
Where the Iris grows,
Where the Harpeth flows,
That is where I long to be.
There's a picture there that lives in memory
When it's Iris time in Tennessee.

This song was adopted in 1935 by the 69th General Assembly in Chapter 154 of the Public Acts as the State Song of Tennessee.

I wrote a state song a few years back for another state. Click here to learn more!

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Spill

2011-04-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

Spill
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
$150 —email me to purchase

Overflowing with magical, golden abundance. Look around you. Isn't this planet magnificent? Full of wonder and glory? I think so!

Keep your eyes and ears open to the beauty around you. Then take a deep breath and give thanks for the experience. Why not? It'll all change in a moment.

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Ravel Adagio assai

2011-04-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

Maurice Ravel
Piano Concerto No. 1 in G, movement II Adagio assai
Performed by Leonard Bernstein and the National Orchestra of France
at the Théatre des Champs Elysées, Paris

Stop what you're doing. Turn the volume to maximum and give your complete attention to this performance of the second movement from Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G.

Leonard Bernstein's expression upon completion says it all. That went very well.

Bernstein's entire Ravel performances, including the most awesome Shéhérezade for mezzo and orchestra (with Marilyn Horne), are captured on DVD: Bernstein in Paris: The Ravel Concerts

As one reviewer says: "Such a performance gives a clear example why Leonard Bernstein became a legend in his own time."
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How to heal your fractured foot and ankle: An artist's guide

2011-04-08T05:43:00.018-05:00

My Left Foot
Watercolor pencil, 4 x 6 inches

I am not a doctor. However, I've enjoyed a lifetime of learning how to heal myself and keep myself relatively healthy. It's fun for me. Herein, I'm sharing the healing measures I've taken for my own foot and ankle fractures with hopes that some or all of this information may be of help to you.

I am somewhat of an expert on ankle sprains but, after a recent fall, not only did I suffer a massive ankle and foot sprain but also fractured my 5th metatarsal (a Jones Fracture) cracked my medial tibia from mid-calf straight through the ankle bone and cracked something on the outside ankle bone. I did not have any displaced bones and did not require any surgery. You can read about the details of my injury on my left foot posts. In fact, I recommend that you read these related earlier posts on healing!

Upon Injury

R.I.C.E.

Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. Stick to this tried and true formula for the first 48 - 72 hours to which I'll add...

Immediately apply Arnica Gel or Traumeel. Take the recommended dosage of Ibuprofen. Begin taking Arnica Tablets internally.

Ask for help. Have x-rays taken so that you know what's injured. Ask for a ride to the E.R. Bring a good book. Ask for print copies of your x-rays. Why? A succession of doctors did not notice that my medial tibia and ankle were fractured for one month. I had to tell them that I thought I had additional breaks.

Do not try to walk on your foot. I mean it!

Your healing regimen

Attitude is crucial. So, first off, Count Your Blessings! Fractures and sprains are temporary. Become aware of any whining or complaining. Whining and complaining do you no good whatsoever. In fact, engaging in this crankiness will probably make you feel worse. People will expect you to complain. Surprise them. Be of good cheer. You won't always be able to feel chipper but make a go of it anyway. It'll make you feel better. All things considered, you're experiencing a rather minor issue. But if you do not properly care for yourself, you'll make matters worse and add to your recovery time.

Do NOT walk on your foot. I still mean it! I am off my foot for 12 - 14 weeks. When I first sprained my ankle at age 11, it was placed in a plaster cast. Within a week, I'd removed it with my father's hammer and chisel. I know you want to walk as soon as possible. Do not do so until your bones can support you. Deal with it.

Do NOT smoke. Trying to walk on your foot before the bones, ligaments and tendons are healed and smoking are the absolute worst things you could possible do. Frankly, I was a closet smoker. Just two or three cigarettes in the evening. When I broke these bones, and I smoked... I could feel my inner self compromised at the cellular level. I don't know how else to express it. I have not had a cigarette since, nor have I desired one.

Rest. And I'm not talking about for one or two days. You must plan on resting more than usual throughout your recovery.

Do your research. Educate yourself. Ask your doctor as many questions as you can think of and then learn about your particular injury or set of injuries. It's interesting, fun to learn about and empowering. Make it a creative project! Go crazy on google. You're not going to be able to do much else for the first little while.

Expect a few pitfalls. Immobility, crutches, and slow going can be a pain. Like the learning curve, the healing curve is not straight up. You can pretty much plan on having a couple sets of downer days. If you're prepared, you can work your way through them more easily. Just relax and let it all wash over you. You're not always going to be laying around.

Accept your situation. What's done is done. Surrender. You are healing. It's going to take some time. Be Brave. You can do it! You are not actually healing your foot and ankle, you are creating the optimal conditions under which your bones and tendons and ligaments can heal at the cellular level.

Exercise. What? Yes. It's really important for your body but also for your mental state and general well being. You'll be much happier during and after recovery because of it. Swimming is your best bet and non-weight bearing yoga poses are wonderful.

Swimming: Find the schedule for your nearest pool and plan at least two lap swimming sessions per week. Ease into it. Don't force your injured foot to do anything it doesn't want to. Start with a kick board if you have to. Make it a game to increase your number of laps and time in pool per session. Be very careful with your crutches on the wet floors! Ask for whatever help you need getting in and out of the pool.

Yoga: I have created a sequence for you of non-weight bearing yoga positions. Obviously, you will have to modify some of these positions to accommodate your injured foot and ankle and you don't want to try anything you are not already secure with. This sequence will give you a basic routine to add or subtract from.
Click here for my PDF of non-weight bearing yoga sequence.
(Click here for further information on poses).

Remedy List

Arnica Gel
Arnica Tablets
Comfrey Tincture
(or Comfrey Leaf to make a poultice)
Grampa's Garden Therapeutic Massage Oil
Juniper Oil
Olbas Oil
Garlic and Ginger Capsules
Ibuprofen
Vitamin and mineral supplements
(a good multi-vitamin, Calcium supplement, Vitamin C and B-Complex)

Does this seem like a lot to buy? All of these items should live in your medicine cabinet or kitchen at all times. They are part of fundamental first aid and you should be taking the supplements anyway (imho). Think about doctor bills.

Regarding the matter at hand (or foot!):
Arnica acts as pain reliever and anti-inflammatory. Application prevents or hastens healing of bruises and reduces swelling and works especially well if applied immediately after trauma (though is helpful to prevent pain and inflammation throughout healing period). Homeopathic Arnica pills and tablets taken internally have same effect.

The main active ingredient in Comfrey is Allantoin which generates cells and promotes cell replacement. Bones knit themselves back together on the cellular level. An old folk name for Comfrey is "knitbone".

Juniper (especially), Rosemary, Wintergreen and Peppermint help to promote circulation. Circulation helps to promote healing on a cellular level. So does massage. Healing on a cellular level helps to knit bones. Foot bones (especially the 5th metatarsal) have limited circulation (they're far from the heart), therefore, trouble healing.

By the way, I only recommend what I consider superior products at good prices that I, myself, use and love.

My triple threat treatment!
3x per day:
Slather a thin layer of Arnica Gel over your fracture and sprain areas
Drop Comfrey tincture on fracture and sprain areas and massage into skin
Gently massage adulterated* Grampa's Therapeutic Massage Oil into foot and ankle for 15 - 20 minutes (or as long as you can — some time is better than no time!).

*Add additional Juniper Oil and Olbas (contains juniper, rosemary, peppermint oils) to Grampa's Garden Therapeutic Oil to help further promote circulation.

I slept with a comfrey poultice on my foot and ankle during the first ten days. I could actually feel it working but the whole thing was a bit time consuming and messy so I switched to the tincture which I think is less effective but still very helpful.

Nutrition
Steer clear of sugar and caffeine (especially coffee), (if you can).
Do I have to say to not drink alcohol?
Eat well. Fresh vegetables and fruit. Real food. Drink pure water. You'll feel better.

Healing Stones
(couldn't hurt!)
Infinite
Faden Quartz
Rainbow Obsidian
Labradorite
Blue Kyanite
Green Kyanite
Apatite

You can find these in new age shops or ask a massage therapist where you might buy some or check ebay. You can sleep with these stones under your pillow and carry them around in a little stone pouch as you go through your daily life.

And one more thing! Buy yourself a good pair of knee pads. Sometimes you might have to climb, foot and knee (careful!), and sometimes you might just want to crawl. I recommend Fiskars Contoured-Fit Knee Pads.I've been using them all along and they've really helped.

As I stated at the outset, I am not a doctor nor am I in any way liable for any harm or injuries sustained if you choose to follow any of my leads in this post.

Bonus! Click here for the Kaiser Permanente resource sheet on Foot and Ankle Fractures.

Please... re-tweet this post:

Happy healing!

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Demo Kitty

2011-04-07T03:55:00.003-05:00

Demo Kitty
Watercolor, 8.25 x 9 inches

I made this demo for a watercolor student last week. She brought a cut-out of a sumi-e cat to class and asked me to show her how to make one. Well, here's what I produced. It's made with watercolor and a bit of fountain pen ink at the end.

I was not planning on posting this but the demo kitty kept looking up at me from the table, pleading to go public. I've given in.

I wish I could point to the source of this image but I have no idea. Still, I think it must stem from some classic source as I found a following sumi-e demo on youtube that is too, too similar!

Watch the sumi-e cat demo here.
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Windswept

2011-04-04T15:31:00.002-05:00

Windswept
Watercolor, 5 x 7
$150 —email me to purchase

Hexagram 57 of the I Ching is composed of the paired trigram Sun, representing wind. I chose this hexagram to write about in todays's post because of the painted image, the title and the fact that tornado sirens have been blasting away over the past hour as a furious storm system passes through our area.

Hexagram 57 is called The Gentle, The Penetrating, Wind, Penetrating Influence. Wind below, Wind above.

My favorite I Ching book is R.L. Wing's The I Ching Workbook.In fact, I just looked through all five of my books on the I Ching and it is only the Wing book I am compelled to quote. I think I'll sell all the others (in my ongoing quest to rid my life of everything I don't need or use) with the exception of the Wilhelm (Bollingen).Too classic, plus it was a gift from my ex-husband.

Of Hexagram 57, Wing writes

"Chinese art often depicts the effects of the invisible wind as it influences the landscape. Mountains are shown eroded and sculpted into fascinating forms, trees bend and twist into exotic shapes, clouds roll dramatically across the sky, bringing life-giving rain. In contemplating the wind, the Chinese mind is inspired by the profound effect of a steady, PENETRATING INFLUENCE, and how this effect might manifest itself in human affairs.

You are faced with a situation that can be influenced only by gradual efforts in a consistent direction. Gentleness is the key here. ... Try to imagine and emulate the gentle, unceasing wind. Success will come in a gradual way, bringing increasing clarity of purpose.

...The time requires patience, a long-term commitment, and a vision of what you ultimately wish to accomplish. The improvement of your emotional and physical health will now come with gradual refinement."

It is now exactly eight weeks since my fall and I have another six weeks on crutches. As you can imagine, I am looking forward to walking free again. Mostly because everything takes so long for me to do. It is late in the day before I can really settle down to work. However, my situation is temporary. I am being patient and gentle as my healing unfolds and trusting that everything that I cannot handle personally, is being taken care of. What else am I going to do?

For an impatient speed-freak like myself, this period of enforced patience and slow groove is a blessing.

As I finish this post, the storm has passed and the sirens have fallen silent. Some tornados touched down in the area but not near me. The birds are calling and the rain is falling. Gently.

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Respite

2011-04-01T18:15:00.001-05:00

Respite
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
$150 —email me to purchase

Just as I was working with a student on accepting her work as it is right now, on allowing herself to develop at her own pace without harshly judging or belittling her work, especially in exercise form, I received this quote in an email from an old acquaintance.
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others" —Martha Graham

I read this to her out loud. Another case of perfect synchronicity.

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Origin

2011-03-27T17:58:00.004-05:00

Origin
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
$150 —email me to purchase

Warm, steamy, rich and fertile; rising up from verdant valley.

This is the result of a watercolor experience I hope to enjoy more often. Effortlessness, in harmonic relationship with my favorite medium.

Some days, I can sit down to paint for hours with no satisfying result. Frustrating. Other days, a miracle appears almost immediately before my very eyes. Persistence. Faith. Persistence. Even when I don't feel like it. Practice pays off.

As I consider my watercolors a spiritual practice, and that life is the first art, I am practicing living my life with more effortlessness. It's not always easy to let go of the neuroses or to overcome the obstacles that make life seem difficult, that throw us out of harmony, out of balance. But I'm willing to more consciously make effortlessness and harmony part of my daily intention. Each time I get out of whack — and I've been out of whack this past week — I am standing myself up, dusting myself off and setting my intention all over again. Persistence. Faith. Persistence. Even when I don't feel like it, practice pays off.

I love making watercolor paintings. I love living life. How difficult can it really be? My preference? Effortlessness!

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Bless

2011-03-23T21:35:00.004-05:00

Bless
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
$150 —email me to purchase

As I wondered what to call this, I piled my etymological references, thesauruses and dictionaries around me on the daybed. One thing led to another. I found my way to "bless".

Did you know (I didn't) that the word "bless" occurs only in the English language? C'est vrai!

Originally, it meant to mark (or consecrate) with blood (hence, my title), and probably goes back to a prehistoric Germanic formation which worked its way into Middle English and through to Modern English today.

I thought that to bless meant to remove sin or make pure. So, I also did not know that to bless means to "make happy, confer prosperity or happiness upon." I suppose it's the same thing, more or less...

May this painting make you happy and prosperous!

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The Fires of Spring

2011-03-21T20:44:00.004-05:00

The Fires of Spring
Watercolor, 5 x 7 inches
Bid for this painting at The Help Japan Challenge
All proceeds aid emergency assistance and recovery for animal victims in Japan disaster

"There is a curious paradox that no one can explain:
who understands the secrets of the reaping of the grain?
Who understands why spring is born out of winter's laboring pain,
or why we all must die a bit before we grow again?"

— El Gallo speaks
at the the end of The Fantasticks, by Tom Jones

Spring is here!

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after La Farge

2011-03-19T17:44:00.003-05:00

after La Farge
Watercolor and pencil, 12 x 12 inches

One of my favorite Basic Watercolor Class exercises is making a copy of a John La Farge watercolor. I made this quick demo for today's class from Wild Roses in a Chinese Bowl. The quick pieces tossed off without time for much thought are often my favorites.

To move beyond thought... that's the idea, really.

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New Palette

2011-03-18T16:56:00.001-05:00

A number of years ago, I wrote an extensive post on how I lay out my watercolor palette. After a deep clean and rearrangement the other day, I subtracted a few colors and added a few. Here's the new layout in my great big Thomas Lynch porcelain watercolor palette:

and what the colors look like on paper:

My colors are:

M. Graham: Azo Yellow, Gamboge, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Quinacridone Rose.

and Daniel Smith: Yellow Ochre, Goethite, Quinacridone Gold, Rich Green Gold, Green Gold, Serpentine Green, Cascade Green, Cobalt Teal, Manganese Blue, Imperial Purple, Rose of Ultramarine, Rhodonite Genuine, Perinone Orange, Deep Scarlet.

Now that the days are longer and the weather is warmer, I am ramping up for a whole new series of paintings. Mmmmm.... I love mixing color together and mixing color with water and flowing it onto fine paper. Just need a little time to pull my chops together. Stay tuned!

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The Lakes of Killarney

2011-03-17T18:12:00.001-05:00

The Lakes of Killarney
watercolor and graphite, 5 x 7
$50 —100% to Japanese relief fund for animals via GreaterGood.org*

The Lakes of Killarney

In salty air,
on sandy feet,
you pointed out across the waves.
"Somewhere out there Ireland lies
and one day I shall take you there.

"It is the place where we come from,
out of the marshy timeless mist,
with poems and magic we are kissed.
Our souls forever breathe her airs.

"Our thirst is legend,
for we are Irish.
In dreams we drink the rainbow dry."

And now I dream in gold,
and now I dream in green.

If your soul is in repose,
then all Killarney’s lakes must seem
as blue as your eyes,
as blue as heaven.

©1995 Suzanne McDermott/Drexel Road Music (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved

*Thanks to my friend, Mineke Reinders for reminding me to offer painting for donation towards Japanese relief.

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Healing Fundamentals

2011-03-14T16:02:00.004-05:00

Awakening
Watercolor and pencil, 5 x 7 inches
$75

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness."
—Eleanor Roosevelt

I love the day we spring forward. Ah, more light! That's for me.

There are so many aspects to my current healing journey that I'm breaking the topic into several posts.

As a teacher, I am big into foundation. Maybe it's my architectural sensibility. Without a good foundation, a building will collapse. I teach basic drawing, basic watercolor, (and occasionally, basic guitar) because too many people leap into the fray of creative expression without a solid elemental foundation and then struggle with the frustration of baby step issues for years.

So it is with healing. The foundation of healing must be in place in order for any remedy or treatment to be effective.

The healing fundamentals I describe also form the foundation of well-being. While these principals can apply to any problem in need of healing, for the sake of this post, I'll call the problem an injury.

Here are the underlying principals of healing.

Acceptance.
Yep, you have an injury. Regardless of how in our face matters may be, it's amazing how we can resort to denial. Don't deny it, deal with it.

Regardless of whether the injury is acute, chronic, temporary or terminal, accept that you have a new commitment. This new commitment is a relationship to your healing journey. As you are in relationship, it's not just you and your willpower at work. You are interacting with your particular injury and situation. Each aspect has an effect on the others.

Good Cheer.
Use your healing experience to your best advantage. Take pleasure in the benefits that your injury presents. For example, these benefits may be spiritual lessons, helpful people you encounter, knowledge and wisdom you gain as a result of your injury and healing, or simply slowing down.

For example, here are some benefits of my foot and ankle injury:

My upper body strength has increased 10-fold and my upper arms are nicely toned
My right thigh can now handle an entire body squat
A neighbor installed a new guard rail along my studio loft
I've slowed down and become more mindful
I've learned new healing techniques
A student is trading weekly housecleaning for a drawing class
I am learning how to ask for help and (even better) how to allow people to help me
Being cheerful makes life fun
I've been inspired to get back to regular blogging

If it seems outrageous to suggest that you be cheerful about your injury, consider this: Your mental and emotional attitude and approach towards your own healing is critical. Emotions are thoughts and thoughts affect our physical experience from the cellular to environmental realm. Be your own Pollyanna. It has to start with you. Expect the best, visualize yourself fully healed and remember, thoughts become things.

Become aware of an inclination to complain and intend to not do so.

"for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
—William Shakespeare

Allowing.
The healing process takes time. So kick back and enjoy the ride. How many people do you know who have rushed the healing process only to make matters worse? Have you? (I have.)

I completely understand impatience. When I was eleven years old and sprained my ankle for the first time, my lower leg was placed in a heavy plaster cast. I couldn't stand it. Within a week, I hobbled down to the basement, found my father's hammer and chisel and broke the cast off. I don't think there were any dire consequences but I am relieved to see how much I've matured since and that I am (at least a little) more patient.

If you run out to work with bronchitis, chances are that pneumonia might arise. Let yourself heal. What is the rush, really? There is nothing more important that your personal radiant health. Without physical health, everything else in your life is compromised.

Courage.
Feel the fear and do it anyway. Your fear can be lack of motivation, depression, crankiness, frustration, whatever. Feel that way and get up to take your next step anyway. Learn how to pat yourself on the back. Practice becoming your own biggest fan.

Responsibility.
You are responsible for your own health. Not your doctor or pharmacist or drugs. My foot and leg are healing because of my efforts. The doctors are here to help us with the finer points. Learn about how your body works. Become more aware of how you are feeling. Learn about ways to get better and stay better. Doctors, as we know them today, and pharmaceutical companies are recent phenomena. We've been healing ourselves for millennia.

Rest.
Really, take it easy. Your body is working extra hard on the cellular level. Sleep a little more. Lay around and enjoy just being.

One final note about Good Cheer and Allowing. We're human. We have untamed minds. Allow yourself a few days to mope around. At some point near the end of your acute recovery phase and the beginning of your rehabilitation phase, your energy and momentum will have to switch gears. (And that won't be the only time you'll have to switch gears.) You'll feel blue. Give yourself permission to be a little cranky or a little depressed but do not let it go on too long. Feeling down is part of the healing process but not a place you want to get stuck!

and
Laugh.
As much as you can. It's good medicine!

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Pursuing Perfection

2011-03-11T13:01:00.005-06:00

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection

A first for me — to post an advertisement for Video Friday. However, this sticks with my current foot theme, I just delivered my lecture on paper to new drawing and watercolor students, my maternal great-grandfather sold shoes to Pennsylvania coal miners, and more...

This remarkable stop-motion film of origami was commissioned by the ad agency Nordpol + Hamburg and won Grand Prix at Eurobest, Gold at both the New York Festival and London International Awards, Silver at the Clios and two Bronzes at ADC Germany.

The origami models were designed by Sipho Mabona.

Sometimes, things have to be just so. Personally, I do not strive for perfection. I used to, but not any more. Now, I allow myself to take imperfect action. By allowing imperfection, I find that I expand with less inhibition and am much, much happier.
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Radical Healing

2011-03-07T19:24:00.001-06:00

Overgrown
Watercolor, 9 x 12 inches
$75

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.
—Hippocrates

The word Radical comes from the Latin radicalis —"of or pertaining to the root, having roots”. The origin of Radicalis is the Latin radix, meaning "root”.

Getting down to the bottom of it is what this particular healing journey is all about. Sure, it's my foot — the root of my physical structure. But because the foot fracture is particularly difficult to heal, I've had to take a get down to the bottom of it approach to recovery.

You may remember from a previous post that I was told by an orthopedic surgeon that there was nothing I could do to help heal my Jones Fracture. Nothing is impossible. I proceeded on a personal research project and assembled an internal and topical wholistic regime comprised of herbs and oils and massage and nutrition, rest and non-weight bearing exercise, energy work, a mental and emotional approach, and allowing...

In drawing, and in watercolor, I teach my students to look at the whole before focusing on any part; to perceive a subject in context and to approach their drawing or watercolor in the same manner. I have taken this same approach to healing my foot and ankle.

If 2010 was about transition, (and, for me, it was), 2011 is all about transformation.

The first month of this year I spent cleaning, clearing and renovating my space. Wow, I thought, I've de-cluttered, Feng Shui'd and upleveled my space. I'm ready for advancement!

And then, my traumatic fall. A crisis.

The Chinese symbol for Crisis is composed of two characters: Danger and Opportunity.

From the start, I have taken the opportunity of this injury to be grateful for my life, to be cheerful, to look at the bright side — at the positive lessons this crisis has provided me.

There are no accidents in life. For me, life is school for the soul. Experiences are lessons. Trauma, or crisis, provides a particular set of problems. How we approach those problems, how we approach, consider, and work with solutions to those problems, is how our soul, our spirit, finds an opportunity to develop, to evolve.

Definitions for the word root include

that which anchors the plant to the ground
beginning: the place where something begins, where it springs into being
take root and begin to grow
come into existence, originate
solution: the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation
settle: become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style; "He finally settled down"

Any time someone tries to sympathize with me in such a way that suggests my injury is a bad thing, I immediately respond that this injury is a blessing in so many more ways than it is a challenge... that this injury saved my life.

My therapeutic approach to healing this injury has provided me the opportunity to clear out a lot of energetic and lifestyle clutter. As with our living and working space, the first step to cleaning up our act is to clear the clutter. I did that in January.

Ever since, I've been working on my energetic and nutritional clutter to help heal my foot and ankle. It's working!

On a follow up visit to my doctor this morning, a new set of foot and ankle x-rays were taken. What the doctor first said was a 50-50 chance of healing at all (my Jones Fracture), is healing quickly and nicely. Before the x-rays, I mentioned that I thought I might also have a fracture of the medial tibia, so an ankle x-ray was added. Sure enough, the inside of my tibia is cracked from mid-calf to ankle. The doctor said that I'm already treating the ankle fracture as I'm treating the foot fracture.

I'm so pleased that the healing is coming along so well and that the injury is giving me the opportunity to work, in a radical way, with my health and life style.

More on my approach to healing in the next post.
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Reiki Healing

2011-03-04T19:52:00.002-06:00

Since my fall, I've had flashing headaches almost constantly. As the MRI showed no signs of any damage (which is good, because I didn't hit my head (which is good!)), I figured it was a neck or spinal tweak that was fussing with some nerves.

A massage yesterday did not take care of the problem but I went to a Reiki healing circle last night and, when I got up off the table, voila! Headaches no more!!

So sit back, relax and enjoy this week's entry for Video Friday. More on my healing journey next week.

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Free and Easy

2011-02-28T18:59:00.002-06:00

After the laborious and not so satisfactory drawing in last entry, I can't help but post these little doodle demos from last Saturday's drawing class. The above scribble was simply to demonstrate how water-soluble graphite works.

The little bird below is a copy of a Milton Avery painting with markers I grabbed from a pile. I was showing how to lay out a copy without getting hung up in detail.

And finally, a quick description of the problem my brilliant 10-year old was running into representing a stem running through water in a glass. Wrong on the left, right on the right!

Ah, let me never belabor a drawing again!!! And... as in drawing, so in life.
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J'ai été mis en garde

2011-02-27T18:19:00.002-06:00

This began as a simple pencil drawing. I loved the line work and could have left it that way but, no... Ink it! Not wild about the results, I added watercolor pencil and a bit of wash. Not wild about that so started fussing with it in Photoshop. Well, I could have made a dozen nice pencil drawings in the time it took to reach the stage you see.

No matter. It was an interesting exercise and only serves to show the guard rail that my very helpful neighbor, Maryann, put up for me last week. She and her husband donated Poplar braces and Rick at the neighborhood hardware store found a nice length of Norfolk Pine for the rail. Long overdue is a wild understatement.

What I've lived with for almost five years is this:

which was fine(ish) when the loft was used for storage. However, in late December, I moved my office upstairs. Exactly three weeks ago, I fell from the edge of the loft to the studio floor (which you already know if you've been reading along.)

After the emergency room and immediate treatments, this new guard rail was high on my priority list. Such a simple thing...

It is nothing short of a miracle that I'm alive and in one moving piece with only a few bruises, a badly fractured foot and sprained ankle.

Hmmm... what category should I file this post under? Lessons learned? Glad to be alive? Drawing will have to do.
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The Limping Waltz

2011-02-25T05:27:00.002-06:00

Apropos (and wonderful). Enjoy!

The Point of Repose

2011-02-23T14:09:00.001-06:00

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it." —Tori Amos

Like the learning curve, the progression of any sort of healing is not a consistent and direct gain. Healing is fraught with plateaus, steps backwards and emotional pitfalls.

So far, I've been buoyed by busyness... doctor appointments, research and accumulation of "medicines", teaching annual evening classes, giving a new lecture, making the house safe for hobbling, the perennial chore of cleaning the studio, and god knows what else. It feels like I've been resting a lot and for one or two days now and then, I have pretty much just laid up. But it also feels like I've been cruising on momentum that was in swing before my accident.

Finally, two days ago, it was all I could do to get from the bedroom to the living room. Although I have been in good spirits all along, this morning, the emotional bottom fell out. Only to be expected...

Like it or not, these experiences are part of the healing process. So, I'm surrendering to this day's experience. I am also noticing how one negative thought leads to another.

Rather than do battle with the negative thoughts (trying to replace them with positive thoughts), I'm just letting them flow without letting them stick. Just writing that makes me smile!

And, I'm taking action. Little actions, but actions nonetheless. Like sharing this unusually intimate post with photos. We've all been there (here) and something about sharing a universal experience helps to dissipate the less enjoyable qualities. Thank you for letting me share. I'm sure that I'll be back to my old self soon.

Or, here's a thought: Maybe this is a part of my old self that I am choosing to let go of through this particular healing process. I kind of like this idea. Today's experience is just the death throes of some old negativity.

Now, a bit of sweet to counteract the gall. After showing folks around the house in my last post, a few friends asked "Where are the cats?" Well, here they are:

and here.

Joining me in repose.

All right. I'm going to go clean up the studio. It's the last task to cross off on my long list of chores. I'll probably perk right up when I'm finished.
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