by Muse Kiel Hemenway, CitraSolved and other collaged papers

Angel of Dissolution, inspired by broken arrows of divine light, blessed with clarity and foreknowledge, bless this world with your powers to dissolve. With greatest wisdom and compassion, with the intrinsic power of awareness, melt the hard edges of fear and ignorance. Direct the Divine Light into all the darkest corners. With the greatest Love, and awareness of the Ultimate Truth, bring your powers to bear now on all the realms beset by suffering and strife. Let no dark corner, no benighted being remain untouched.

  May the Light of Truth reach all and everywhere.

  Amen.

by Kiel Hemenway

Sometimes I wonder at my great good fortune to be in the presence of Muses who can channel such wisdom and blessings (through art done in the short 3 hours class). It is the culture of the group that each person’s art becomes an offering to everyone in the group, whether that is in the form of discoveries made about technique, color and design or words of wisdom shared.

This piece by Kiel was done in the Monday Muse Group, which will be continuing/restarting a new 8-week session in June (in my Sebastopol, CA studio).  There is one space left, if you are interested.  More info on my website.

]]> http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/angel-of-dissolution/feed/ 0 Susan kiel http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/landslide/ http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/landslide/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 00:46:35 +0000 Susan Cornelis http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/?p=5576 ]]>

“Landslide”, acrylic on gesso textured canvas with Masa paper collage, 48″X36″

Paint larger.  That’s been my mantra for the last few months as I wished that I could be an Alice and take one of those “eat me” pills to grow larger so I could keep to the same scale.  People told me, “just use bigger brushes” and so I tried that.  I’m still trying that.  But there’s other issues to solve.  Like the table, (when you work flat).  It’s too small.  And you can’t just reach across to paint the other side from one position, so you end up having to paint up side down or sideways and use bigger muscles to reach. And then it takes up so much more room in the studio that you can ill afford.  But ah!  the impact is so powerful.

I had planned an entirely different painting when I started this latest Fantascape.  When it wasn’t working I kept just making changes, hoping something would materialize.  I never intended so much realism, but these rocks kept looming and I finally gave into it. I don’t know anywhere such a landscape exists.  Perhaps in Lord of the Rings country?

Last week I hung some of my paintings at Raford Inn, a beautiful bed and breakfast inn on a hill overlooking the vineyards not far from my house.  I certainly couldn’t have shown my current series of colorful abstract paintings at this venue with the flowered wallpaper and antique furniture. But I still have some original paintings and prints that harken back to my days as a watercolor painter and they looked like they belonged on these walls.  Of course I’m hoping that some wine country tourists will want to take them home!

“Montepulciano”

The setting is phenomenal.  You feel like you’re inside a picture postcard with the roses everywhere and the tapestry of vineyards unfurling below and the family of red headed woodpeckers working away on the stately palm tree out front, not to mention the Orioles in another tree.

I just stood for a while and watched a baby woodpecker at the foot of the palm and listened to his plaintive call to his parents, who were too busy drilling to respond to his cries.

“Rose Persimmon Quartet”

As requested I’m re-posting the student images so you can see the detail.  Since I have forgotten who did all these pieces, I must post them without attribution (to my great chagrin).  I guess this will teach me to keep better track.    Thanks to the students who allow their pieces to be photographed, often even without having finished them!

by Muse Student, inks, textureed papers, stamping, dried plants

by Muse Student, inks, stamping

]]> http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/as-requested/feed/ 2 Susan student1 student2 student3 http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/art-camp-for-adults/ http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/art-camp-for-adults/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 23:31:52 +0000 Susan Cornelis http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/?p=5559 ]]>

Three Muse Students do the Wabi-Sabi with inks, textures, Citra solv collage. . .wow!

(My husband Bob just gave me a new lesson in Photoshop Elements, so now that I know how to put jpegs together, you’ll probably be seeing more of this!)

When I turned 50 my husband Bob asked me what kind of party I would like to celebrate.  My choice was to have my friends over and play art together with loads of paper, paint, collage, pens and more.  Their gift to me was the artwork they did together around our dining room table.  A perfect way to celebrate my mid century mark by being kids together again.  The art pieces hung around the top of the walls of my little studio for a long time, until we moved.  Now they’re stored reverently in a box.  Little did I know that my birthday would serve as a model for later Muse Groups, which always seem like a kind of celebration when we get together to explore art and end up getting to know ourselves and each other better.

I teach the Muse Groups now, with loads of mixed media fun to share.  But invariably it’s the discoveries of the individual students which get us all so turned on.  Our credo is that it’s OK and even encouraged to steal ideas, techniques from each other. The artistic ego gets checked at the door so we can relax and let the creative juices flow.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area you may want to come and try out a Muse session this summer and call it summer camp.  A new weekly Monday afternoon group is starting up June 3.  Or you can sign up for one or more Saturday (or one Sunday) classes:  June 1, July 14, August 10, September 7. For more information and to register visit Imagine With Art.

]]> http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/art-camp-for-adults/feed/ 5 Susan student3-5_13 http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/vestiges/ http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/vestiges/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 03:41:06 +0000 Susan Cornelis http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/?p=5551 ]]>

“Vestiges III”, acrylic on molding paste textured wood panel, 6 X 6″

More fossils, carbon dated 2013 but carrying the vestiges, as we all do. . . circulating through our bodies the same molecules that have been around for eons.  In some ways our bones are as ancient as the fossils we find.

“Vestiges I”

These bear some resemblance to the discarded seed pods I find in my garden.

“Vestiges II”

The material qualities of the Wabi-Sabi universe (from the book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers by Leonard Kohen) are “the suggestion of natural process, irregular, intimate, unpretentious, earthy, murky, and simple”.  If it starts to look too planned, too hard edged, too colorful. . . simplify, murk it up, rub it down to a patina.

by Muse Theresa Vernon, iridescent/interference acrylics, gesso, stamping, collage on w/c paper

Almost Out Of The Woods

Almost out of the woods.  Are these the woods I am almost out of?

An intense place to be.  Ferment cracking the surface.

The fire underground.  Dark growth – the roots of the future.

Blue skies appearing ahead for sure.

But meanwhile I am still in the thick of it.

Engaging the elements and creating what will pay the price of freedom.

I can think, I can fast, I can wait.

This is the place of transformation.  It takes as long as it must – no less.

Be in it in order to leave it behind.  Short cuts will not take you there.

The only way out, is through.

-Theresa Vernon

Theresa has been wowing us in Monday Muses with her intricately patterned pieces with healing themes.  She has lots of these up on her blog:  A New Life: A Path of Healing for the Whole Self if you’d like to see more. These words poured out of her in the five minute free write we do after painting/collaging.  We can all relate to this intense place in the woods, but how many of us are brave enough to face it consciously and let it manifest through our art?

A new eight week Monday Muse Group (in Sebastopol, CA)  will be starting June 3.  If you’d like more information or are interested in joining us, contact me.

acrylic inks, gesso on w/c paper, 10 X 11″

Churn   Invincible   Obsidian   Serenade

churn of wings

serenade at take off

piercing the sun

with invincible obsidian wings

More fun with word play.  Picking colors, adjectives, verbs, emotions, sound words at random from bowls we put them together for some metaphoric play to inform the art.  The bats we had living in our roof and occasionally our living room rafters have long since vanished, with the help of a professional wildlife expert.  But there are still liminal remnants of those nocturnal visitors in my art.

The main wildlife attraction of the moment is the hungry caterpillars devouring the pipevine under the apple tree.  Yesterday Lee Allen took this shot after Muse Group.  Thank you Lee!

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar, courtesy Lee Allen

]]> http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/obsidian-serenade/feed/ 0 Susan invincible caterpillar http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/paleo-reverie/ http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/paleo-reverie/#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:01:08 +0000 Susan Cornelis http://susancornelis.wordpress.com/?p=5533 ]]>

“Paleo II”, acrylic on gesso textured wood panel, 6″ X 6″

Sometimes we 2-D painters long for a more tactile art experience.  The fingers no longer are satisfied in communicating with the surface solely through the extension of a brush. I always tend to believe that I have in my studio the means to satisfy any art yearnings, and this “Fossils” series has been the answer lately.

“Paleo I”

I’m working my way up in size from four inches square to six inches.  The twelve inch panels are now starting to make my fingers itch!  (Of course that might be the poison oak rash I’ve had this week  . . .)

“Paleo II”

In the metaphysics of Wabi-Sabi everything is either devolving toward or evolving from nothingness. The point is to experience the ceaseless change in a world of infinite possibilities. My fossils are carbon dated for 2013, but they’ve come from the same nothingness as thousand year old bones.

(I do hope though, that my poison oak is devolving!)

Workshop News!  There is still space in the Mixed Media Workshop I’m teaching in my studio on May 18.  The focus will be on fun textures like the ones above.  (This was originally advertised as a two day workshop.) For more information visit my website.

by Muse Myra Polikoff,  iridescent acrylic inks and collage on w/c paper

the soul instead 

drank periwinkle nectar

and in a sleepy state

sensed hope

the soul instead

tasted saffron pudding

and in a wild state

sensed freedom

the soul instead

sipped magenta ice

and in a state of quietude

sensed peace

the soul instead

rose from the depths of the pain

of all beings

soared above the suffering

of all beings

flapped its airy wings 

and 

instead

feasted on ruby grapes

and in a state of gratitude

sensed the oneness

of all

       by Myra Polikoff

Sometimes we use words in our palettes as well as colors.  Words that describe colors add spice to our descriptions, conjuring up imaginary realms.  This painting with poem by Myra was done in the Muse Group “word play” lesson where we started out with piles of words and put them together into sentences, not the kind that would get you an A in English class, but the sort that would send you rockin and rollin into your next art adventure.  Words first, painting second, and writing about it all, third.  A fruitful pathway for the soul that prefers periwinkle nectar!

Yesterday I was sitting with my first grader whom I’m visiting each week in the Schools of Hope volunteer program to help her with reading.  She’d become a bit bored with our exercises and was reluctant to struggle through reading to me, so I spread out her flash card words and said “Let’s play a game where we make silly sentences out of these words!”  She was definitely up for that – who wouldn’t be?