The Emperor and the Nine of Pentacles - Practice makes… Happy

Yesterday I’ve pulled two cards from the Rider Wait tarot for my daily draw. One to answer the question: what is preventing me from experiencing creative freedom and the next would be telling me what my gift would be if I could embrace this freedom, which is already within me, waiting to be found.

The first card, the challenging one, was The Emperor. Look at him sitting there in his armor on his concrete throne. If he would only look behind him, he would notice the mountains, symbolizing the blocks he is experiencing. But no, he just sits there being high and mighty and if he would sit there much longer I think his armor would immobilize him because of the thick layers of rust.  The Emperor in this position is rigid and controlling and is certainly not in the mood for a  playful and open minded approach of making of art.

If I would discover my creative freedom my gift would be the Nine of Pentacles: a feeling a success. fulfillment, happiness and tremendous self-worth. This card is a perfect follow up of the Eight of Pentacles, where we see a guy practicing his skills.

Together these two cards have influenced me enormously yesterday. First I went to the gym because I knew I had to get out of my chair and out of my head and that I had to start moving. Then after a refreshing shower I picked up my watercolors and painted a part of the Nine of Pentacles in my Tarot journal. That was a big step for me. Instead of writing a blogpost about it (the wish of The Emperor) I also painted a Sunflower which was so much fun to do. Sometimes it feels like I have to open the floodgate to my creativity, which can be so heavy and is sometimes almost nearly impossible to do but when it is open creating feels like the most natural thing to do and it makes me so very happy.

Art journal page with watercolors

Yesterday, I’ve created a page in my art journal: "Looking for the best part in your self", which I wanted to share with you today. 

Instead of using acrylic paints for my back ground as usual, I decided to use watercolors for the first layer of my page. Just playing around and watching the colors flow is so relaxing. You never can go wrong with that. Secondly, I used my watercolor crayons to strengthen the colors and bring more structure into the page. Then I drew the hand with oil pastels and cut it out. Together with the duckling and the other collage elements they formed the third layer. And last but not least I decorated the page with some doodles.

I had so much fun with this page.  Lately I am working in an unstitched insert in my A5 Fauxdori. (travelers notebook). The fun thing about this booklet is that I am playing on all the pages at once. Slapping some paint here and there. Pasting some bit and pieces  on several pagers and so on. Every now and then a page gets completed just like this one. 

It is a very freeing method, since you don’t have to create the perfect page anymore. You just add elements on the page which needs something extra. When you feel you're ready you’ll  stop, even if non of the pages is finished. The pages develop questions and you can return to your art journal when you’ve found a part of the answer.

Painting Chestnuts

This month the shadow work challenge  on Instagram is taking up a lot of my energy. Although it has been  only eight days ago since we've started, it's been a pretty intense experience so far. It feels like this challenge has entered my life at exactly right moment.
But sometimes I need to take a step aside and do something entirely different otherwise this challenge might get too overwhelming fro me
So I picked up my pens and drew some chestnuts which I colored with watercolors
That sounded so much more easy than it actually was :)
Three days ago I got the idea to make this painting and today I finally did it. I faced my fear of failing and enjoyed the process of making this so much, I thought share this one with you.

Berkano and the Nine of Pentacles - Time to leave the nest?

Today’s Rune is Berkano, the equivalent of The Empress. This is the rune of abundance, creativity, fertility, nurtering, and of course the symbol of the Divine Feminine. My card for today is the Nine of Pentacles from the Wild Unknown Tarot.  Immediately I  felt so safe when I saw this depiciton: nine pentacles are symmetrically arranged in a diamond shaped nest. They are shielded from the outside world with white soft feathers. These feathers give  a very motherly feel to the nest.  The Nine of Pentacles is all about being content with what you have achieved and received so far. It is a card of accomlishment and gratitude. This card is related to the Hermit. Al the nines share an energy of solitude and reflection; of discovering who we truly are. But they also encourage us not to stay to long here but to move forward in life and trust we will have the tools and the wisdom to do so.

Personally for me today this means I want to trust and embrace my ability to make art. Considering my nine pentacles in the nest, this is not a strange thing to do. I’ve come to this Nine of Pentacles  through a lot of practice (Eight of Pentacles) but after having ""reveled in my success" it is time to spread my wings and leave the nest.

What is helping me a lot to move forward lately, is the notion that I don't have to be super creative all the time. Copying pictures is a very good practice and a lot of fun too. It is also a good way to warm up our creative muscle. The results are rewarding and it is very relaxing thing to do. 

Affirmation: Today I am grateful for the gift of creative abundance

P.S  I've added yesterdays drawing of a little gnome. M. noticed it looked like The Hermit. Now I like it even more. J

Diving for Light

For today I've pulled “Diving for Light” from the Sacred Rebels Oracle. We see a beautiful dressed and coiffured lady, who has taken the leap and plunged herself into the waters of her subconscious. She has wheat in her hear and seahorses as adornments. For me it says that she is still awake and aware while being guided on her spiritual journey.

This card calls us to find our inner Light deep inside us, in places where we will expect to find them the least: In the dark corners of your heart, in the shadows of your soul and the cobwebs in your mind. The places you've “forgotten” all about but still have a strong grip on you during your daily life. Each difficult experience and period of your life brings also gifts beside the grief and the hurt they carry. All too often these gifts get overlooked because we are so busy trying to coop, to forget or to repress.To discover  them we have to find the courage to dive deep, to accept the darkness, embrace the pain and gather the gifts.

Yesterday I felt inspired by Kerry’s post on Neopagan Priestess where she told us she was inspired by me talking about mandala’s.  Right there and then I picked up a piece of paper and started drawing too. First I drew three concentric circles and a few lines as guidelines but  I found the courage to skip the drawing of a “perfect” mandala with pencil and started right away with paint and crayons and colored pencils. It was so much fun to do . 

Feeling creatively blocked is kind of a dark place for me. Not feeling good enough, feeling unsecure and afraid of failing is always lurking in the corner of my mind. I feel like I have dived deep and found a little fearless gem by making this mandala. J

Solitary Tarot Challenge: So far so good!

It is just the third day of the new year but I wanted to give you a quick update about The Solitary Tarot Challenge, which I am so excited about. 

Each morning I draw a tarot card from my Chrysalis tarot deck and immediately I start  jotting down the thoughts  and feelings this card is giving me. There is no right or wrong; everything goes . It is all about listening to your intuition. Although I blog about my cards I haven’t been journaling about them for myself and I must say this is such a comforting thing to do. It is just me and my journal and of course a mug filled with my morning coffee.

The first three cards have made me realize how long it has been since I've drawn or painted something and how I miss doing this. Facing my fears, I picked up my pencil and made a quick little sketch of the Five of Stones, one of my daily draws and added a touch of watercolor to it. Doing this was very relaxing and it made me so happy

So I thought I would share my enthusiasm for this challenge because it has brought me already a lot in just three days  

Painting intuitively with watercolors

In this post I would like to share how to make an intuitive painting with watercolors. For me it is a very relaxed way to paint because you have very little influence on the final result. The  technique  I’ve used is called: wet in wet. This means that you paint with wet paint on wet paper. The paint washes over the paper and is going its own way. You can of course guide it, but you can’t paint detailed shapes.

I have made this painting in three stages:

I've dripped and pressed the paint on the paper and moved the drawing board back and forth so that the paint could find its own way. This time I've even turned it around because it made me think of a forest.

      After the painting had dried fully, I've  put another layer of paint over it. But now I was looking more consciously for shapes and lines. This can be compared with the interpretation of a tarot card; I search for images and meaning in my painting that are waiting to be highlighted. My “forest” could use some branches and trunks.


 In the final stage I picked up my pencils and added a few touches in my painting

I want to stress, this way of painting is not about the end result but more about the process, It looks to me a lot like meditation. You are completely present in the moment. Is relaxes me and gets me in a flow. I always find myself humming while I’m painting like this, so it will surely do me some good. Perhaps you like to try it for you self some time. J

My painting of Strength from The Hidden Realm Tarot

Yesterday I was inspired by my daily Tarot card the Five of Vessel - Ecstasy from the Wildwood Tarot to make art today. Due to my neck injury (which I am happy to say is gradually improving) I haven’t been painting or drawing for too long. So I've set  some time aside today for myself to play with my watercolors and pencils. I took the picture of Strength from The Hidden Realm Tarot painted by Julia Jeffrey as an example to work with. Although my skills aren't comparable to Julia’s I am very happy with the result and even more happy with the wonderful time I've had. I was humming and singing and painting and it felt like heaven. For today no tarot cards but some pictures showing the process of my painting adventure

First a drawing

Then some paint

A little bit more paint..

Followed by pencils

Finished!!

Autumn is coming…..

Finally the temperature is dropping to normal for this time of year.

I am really an a fall/ winter person. When summer is almost over I begin to long for the indoor activities. The wonderful peace and quiet of my own living room, where I can read a book and enjoy a hot cup of coffee . I long for my long-sleeved shirts, for scarves and for socks and boots. Lots of earthy colored candles  can be lit again…. .

Yesterday I have pulled out my Watercolor supplies It has been too long since I have played with them. Yes that is the main issue: dare to Play. Don't be scared if it is not going to good enough. It doesn't have to become a  beautiful painting on the wall. Just play. I recently had bought some small books in a local  thrift store about how to make watercolor paintings. One was about making flowers. So I made a flower and It felt so relaxing to copy this flower right out of the book  with the watery paint on my paper. Just one flower, nothing more. It was fun to do and I am sure I will play again.