Blossoms of Grace is a painting and heart haiku that evolved and developed over the span of 4 months. I was just along for the ride and doing my best to listen and follow as it called to me to color on purpose.
It is a creative process that started as a pencil sketch/doodle and then inked with a little watercolor added. Then time passed and it re-emerged as a digital project.
The process began during a Conference I attended online on Friday, July 1, 2016 and as usual, during the workshop, I needed to doodle and draw. It helps me to focus and listen and to stay on purpose.
This year for the Conference, I was participating online so I was in my studio and had the luxury of “doodling” on a larger piece of paper. The focus of the conference was the Sound Current of God and inspired me to draw a vine of night blooming jasmine with my heart riding the flow above the earth in my dreams, traveling in Soul.
This is when I realized the enormity of the need for the background of inner-stellar space and that was part of what stopped me from working on the hard paper version. And to date, I have not worked on it again. But maybe, someday!
By mid-July, I became immersed in summer homework and the completion and sharing of “Follow Your Heart to Peace!” coloring book and journal. So I did not work on this painting idea for about 3 months.
Sometime in July I submitted this iphone photo of the finished and inked drawing for vectoring, but the vector artist was on vacation so not available so this drawing did not make the cut for the coloring book project.
Then in September the vector artist returned and asked if I still wanted it vectored…this was the result.
I have had so much fun turning my art into vectored art that it inspired my first coloring book….another story, already told! And that project, Follow Your Heart to Peace: a coloring book and journal, was the main project keeping me busy. And so this design did not make the cut for that book.
On Tuesday October 25, 2016, I was moved to get this project out, staring with the vector image, and create a painting in photoshop. I had fun coloring in the flowers in white and coloring the earth. The “accidental” coloring that I really liked was when the outline of the whole shape went from black to gold. I never looked back after that. Accidental inspiration!
I found a night sky background photo and began tweaking and editing it and adding more details and Light; it really began to come alive for me.
At that point the haiku was: flowing in the light / resting in blossoms of Grace / dreams of soul travel
When I woke the next morning, Wednesday, the haiku had changed to:
flowing in the light
my heart dreams of soul travel
in blossoms of Grace
On Thursday October 27, 2016, I had noted in my journal that I “completed blossoms of grace haiku painting”. This is that version…
However 10 minutes later, I went back to Photoshop thinking that maybe I would shade the flowers with gold for depth, I tried out the idea before retiring for the night. It barely shows here and I did not save the experiment.
Then on Friday October 28, 2016, the painting woke me up at 5 am. I am dreaming and thinking about this every night so there is no rest until it is really completed. I worked adding more definition to two lights in the sky, gold shading on flowers and a few other details….several hours of details!
And, AGAIN, I thought it was “complete”!
And again I was wrong.
Deciding when to stop a painting is one of the more challenging and critical moments since there really is no end to the directions that can be taken. I have and am still learning to really listen to the painting and to that creative whisper of the heart.
This time, a little whisper from my animated heart haunted me…..”where is the dreaming smile”?
So, I surrendered to my whimsical heart…and added the smile on the heart.
It is a subtle touch of completion of coloring on purpose and hard to see in the overview but my heart knows and is smiling too.
Then, the election and the turmoil in our country and in the news. Praying for peace, in reality and in dreams, I was moved to add “peace” to the haiku and painting.
“flowing in the light
my heart dreams of soul travel
in blossoms of Grace
viewing peace on earth”
I so enjoyed coloring to completion an image that arose as inspiration from my heart and soul.
May your days be filled
with inspiration, purpose
and a smiling heart
may you add to peace on earth
in gratitude
