Shadow Chasing...
This is what I worked on this morning. (With a lot of help from my "assistant"/evil twin. This afternoon,
I've been texturizing canvases...I'm working on adding texture to my Undersea one that didn't sell. I figure that I'll play around with it some more and then release it back onto Ebay. (BTW- it seriously pisses me off and hurts my feelings when a painting doesn't sell- I usually end up re-working it and building more layers- or paint it out w/ gesso and make something completely different on top of the ashes of the old one.) Fed-ex just dropped off 20 more canvases today and I have to start putting texture on those too....AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....business as usual. Before getting my hands covered in gel medium and other textural goop again...I thought I would make a post that I've been wanting to do all day long, so here goes-
The Creative Soul Lives In The Shadows-
"For me the soul of creativity lives in the shadows and must be continuously mined, embraced and expressed. I see those of us in our culture who take creative risks in art making as trailblazers, cultural symbolic steam valves, blood letters, permission givers, inspirational leaders and visionaries. But we pay a high price. I believe the health, emotional stability and prosperity of artists in our culture have suffered because of the subtle societal sanction and fear of this essential shadow material, which artists are naturally called upon from within to express.
Art is the embodiment of raw material into a work of soul. A transformation occurs. The absolute necessity of embracing the shadow, of what appears to be the hideous monster, for transformation to occur is depicted throughout history in myth and fairytale. The best known is "Beauty And The Beast."
There is a Beauty and a Beast in each of us. The Beast started out as a helpless, misunderstood child, our honest, emotional, out-spoken side that through repeated sanctions went underground. That naturally alive, creative, honest , sensuous child remained in our unconscious, under a spell, never dying , but growing uglier to get our attention in nightmares and spontaneous flareups, addictions and symptoms. Then one day, maybe because of a crisis, we are face-to-face with the now ugly fearful monster. We are locked in a castle-or in front of a canvas- face-to-face.
The act of painting the Beast as it is- not making it pretty- is your liberation. Looking into the eyes and heart of your jailer beyond the mask will unlock the true gift hidden within. Your original creative soul has been hidden within the monster, and acknowledging and expressing this part of you allows you and your art to heal and transform so that the true prince (or princess) is born.
So, the more you make conscious and welcome with compassion the unconscious aspects of your self, the more free and versatile becomes your creative expression. The more you creatively express these hidden aspects, the more soul and authenticity enters your art. The less fear you have of revealing anything, and the less energy you spend in inhabition, the more energy is available for free expression. In the Twelve Step program, there is a wise expression: "You are only as sick as your secrets." I would say, " Your creative limitations are only as great as your unexpressed shadows."
-Aviva Gold- Author of- "Painting From The Source" Awakening The Artist's Soul In Everyone"