ART MAKING: THROUGH THE PROCESS OF CREATING, WE LEARN TO KNOW OURSELVES

SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH. Dear Pilgrims! Where do we begin if we want to find the TRUTH that resides in our selves? In this image, I am holding the book of TRUTH (Yes, I AM the rabbit in the polka-dotted swimsuit!). As an artist, I have made the intangible, tangible in this drawing. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Part of THE DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE for me is to begin something. To get started by putting pen to paper. All that follows is up for grabs--revision, completion, celebration, elaboration, interpretation.... But I can't do any of those acts without BEGINNING!

IN THE BEGINNING IS THE DRAWING. Repetitive in theme, size of paper, and micron pen. Discovery? Holding the book of TRUTH! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Last summer (2012) , AUSTIN KLEON's book, Steal Like an Artist, was published, and he enlightened us about "10 things nobody told you about being creative." Here  is how chapter 2 (Don’t Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started) begins:

“If I’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative,’ well I’d be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things an doing our work that we figure out who we are.”

“You’re ready. Start making stuff.”

PLAYING WITH PHOTOSHOP. I am convinced that it is through the process of creating or doing that we get to know ourselves. Now, a part of my process is seeing what happens when I "wash" my image in photoshop. I can invert the color, posterize the image, and a whole lot more. The process of playing with my image in photoshop helps me think about new ways to draw and use color for the original image. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

How about you fellow pilgrim? How do you find the TRUTH of yourself? What action will you take today to discover who you are? What creative process can you engage in and SOUL BLOG with me about!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah!

BLOGTOBERFEST #12 (DAY 19): FINDING THE SACRED IN THE VISION OF OTHERS

Hallelujah for KINDRED SPIRITS leading the way! Thanks to Kat on her blog, "I Saw You Dancing," for hosting Blogtoberfest #12. Today her guest blogger is vintage jewelry maker Jennifer Valentine, whose blog is Sacred Cake. The prompt for October 19th is this: "Where is the sacred nestled in amongst your every day, just waiting for you to notice?"

WEDDING WITH THE SELF. Finding the sacred in every day is finding the TRUTH in YOURSELF and the TRUTH of  others. It is the WHOLENESS that comes from listening closely to the underneathlings of physical existence. It is the UNITY of outer self with inner self and that serving as a VIADUCT to others in your community. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

What is SACRED in every day? The HEART that beats with passion for the TRUTH! I find the SACRED in myself and others who are TRUTH SEEKERS. The name I use to claim my ARTWORK and on this blog, "Hallelujah Truth," signposts the joy I experience in my JOURNEY to discover that which is AUTHENTIC! 

The TRUTH of Sally Wylde, a fellow SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM, now deceased two years, is symbolized in this drawing, WEDDING WITH THE SELF. Anyone who knew Sally well, knows that for exploration of her own TRUTH she was working with a wedding dress in her last years and a rabbit mask too. This was a woman in her mid-sixties and a cancer survivor to boot!

WEDDING WITH THE SELF #2. On the left, is Spiritual Art Pilgrim Sally Wylde. When asked to be the Grand Marshall of the Oakhurst Community parade (Sally had made significant contributions to the community, one of them being the creation of the Oakhurst Community Garden ((now called The Wylde Center)), Sally showed up for the parade in this "costume" or statement of her TRUTH. To her friends, including me, this was no surprise. How extraordinary is the gift of BEING TRUE TO ONESELF! You can see some of Sally mirrored in the young child's response to her clad in rabbit mask and wedding dress! Hallelujah! (Photo by Chiboogamoo and photoshopped by Hallelujah Truth)

It was only two days ago, that I pulled the partially drawn image, "WEDDING WITH THE SELF" out of the cupboard (where I keep all of my watercolor pads) and completed it in order to submit to a WCAGA exhibit taking place in December. When Kat's Blogtoberfest asked-- "Where is the sacred nestled in amongst your every day, just waiting for you to notice?," I knew this was the image to answer with. For I believe the SACRED in every day exists in the integrated minds and hearts of myself and my friends. The SACRED is in MY OWN HEART, which is full with its own VISION and gifts from others' AUTHENTICITY.

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! How do you my dear Fellow Soul Bloggers answer that question? Soul Blog with me!

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE? The image above is another one inspired by my friend Sally Wylde. Notice that the hands of the "woman/rabbit" are in the position of Whirling Dervishes. One hand reaches toward the HEAVENS for inspiration while the other hand anchors the dancer to the foundation of the EARTH. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

1st Anniversary of “COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH”: Making Time for Creativity Each Day

 Out of CREATIVE GRACE, Hallelujah entered this world a little more than a year ago. She flowed from my imaginative womb singing YESes to each artistic possibility. Hallelujah has been celebrating my SOULFULNESS with the joyful ease of a cat napping, stretching every inch of my BODY into SPIRIT and IMAGE.

 At this one-year anniversary, I am still HALLELUJAH-ing! This Hallelujah persona has not only informed me and been fun—but SHE has also S T R E T C H E D me. The principle of “Coffee with Hallelujah” is that if I have time for a cup of coffee each morning, I have time to DRINK in my SPIRIT as well. I have time for fifteen minutes of CREATIVITY.

Hence, the EVOLUTION of a SPIRIT—or TWO! Both the Aboriginal Creation God and I have evolved together in my daily drawings and paintings. Wandjina has captivated me since 2006 when I first went to Australia and spent hours in various museums around that vast continent. Last year in May 2009, after journeying to northwest Australia with my Chiboogamoo, I started yearning to draw Wandjina—to internalize his cyclone eyes, lightening rod hair, non-existing mouth, and whites, blacks, ochres, and siennas.

East of Broome and outside of Derby, I absorbed the work of the Mowanjum artists in their gallery and tourism center. Many of the Aboriginal artists are just now learning or re-learning the images from their Dreamtime stories that are painted in rock shelters throughout the Kimberley. The more than 200-year British occupation and subsequent Christianizing of many of the original inhabitants did create a temporary “memory” loss or gap for some Aboriginals. However, a 30-40,000 year old culture is not easily forgotten.

The POWER of their DREAMTIME is communicated in the intensity of the Wandjina, snakes, owls, turtles and other nature images—no matter the artist’s skill level. So Hallelujah has spent the first year of her BIRTH being PRESENT with Wandjina. The paintings you see here are my first attempts to FEEL my way into this ancient symbol of creation.

As the year progressed and I drew daily, Wandjina’s simultaneous earthiness and spirit informed Hallelujah. She began to wear a sienna and white skirt and a blouse with black or sienna and ochre spots. At times she sprouted lightening bolts for hair. HALLELUJAH developed a relationship with Wandjina and never journeyed without him. Wandjina began to represent THAT WHICH IS NOT HALLELUJAH—OTHERNESS! I petitioned a male DEITY-or-ENERGY to be my constant companion.

On my return to Australia this past summer in June 2010, I was able to study more aboriginal art. Imagine my surprise when I witnessed a contemporary Wandjina in the Australian Museum in Sydney! The artist had fashioned Wandjina in blues and greens, elongated his body, and had him emerging from blackness, staring at ME! I gasped! I was staring at the GREAT MYSTERY once again! Wandjina exuberant and athletic, catapulting out of the spirit world, witnessing ME!

This image resulted: a bluegreen athletic Wandjina reeling in the universe with Hallelujah who looks like an action hero, no less and no more than Superwoman! Also  present here is a female figure shroud in green, MOTHER of the GREAT MYSTERY, another important figure that evolved from my daily drawings last year.

 Hallelujah to the EVOLUTION of CREATIVITY! Happy Birthday HALLELUJAH!

FELLOW PILGRIMS, give yourself permission to CREATE. Observe your world. Seek what is TRUE to YOU. Find YOUR TRUTH. Discover that YOUR TRUTH IS OTHER PEOPLE’s TRUTH. There is a universality that connects us altogether. There is an ocean of US-ness, the collective unconscious.

 Make time for coffee with YOUR HALLELUJAH!  For now, Hallelujah asks you to wish her Happy Birthday. Soul Blog with me. Support me in my journey and tell me how to support you in YOURS! Seeking FELLOW PILGRIMS….