WISDOM AT THE CROSSROADS PODCAST.

”Warm thoughts on the paint wall on a cold winters day take us on a visual journey.”

SYNOPSIS (48)
Y2E5 “Wise Words: Presence”
Publication date March 21st 2023

“Each day is an opportunity to begin again, to forget the troubles of yesterday, to abandon our attachment to the promise of tomorrow”

Getting quiet and being still sounds simple but it can actually be quite complex

The queen of distraction gets lost and found in this episode. Organization may not be my forte  but it seems when I am ready for the words I have written while getting in touch with the deepest parts of myself the universe will find a way for them to literally cross my path

Rediscovering meditative notes on presence when I am ready to accept and share their resonance was a reminder that today is where we begin

Nowhere is there more promise or potential

Join in to the mindful self care moment at … in the recording to seek and find:
Presence, possibility and peace as we take a literal breath and engage in a simple process to alter the course of our natural rhythms and connect to the wisdom the resides at our core

The creative action in real time invites some reflection as works in progress at the studio flow through the lovely subtleties of initial marks…only to crash and burn when judgement is applied.
Add your own expletive here!

In the meditation that accompanies this episode on the podcast we repurpose those flames and take a stroll down memory lane to a crisp evening in the fall. The story leads us to pause around a campfire, to visualize the snap and pop of poked logs in a contained circle where we too pause to be present and to invite the aromatic medicine of the sacred fire within.

With this self care pause we’ll aim to slow down, to dip into the creative magic of being still.

We talk about paintings blooming and then crashing and burning on the paintball in this episode. It’s never the plan but unfortunately it does happen, possibly more than you might imagine. The image above is a detail of the right hand side of the “Pink Pair”, whose early marks were fluid and energetic yet soft and subtle. I had put the canvases aside and come back to them as I reacquainted with my space after an absence.

Burning with Passion…

I was excited to get back to work at the studio after a holiday absence but there was definitely some rust in the muscle memory to deal with. Getting back on the creative horse is the best way to deal with that. It’s like taking that plunge and getting back into the swimming pool, but not necessarily diving into the deep end. This session was more like wading into the shallow end to rest the waters before I got back to the rhythm of my practice. It’s definitely a process that builds and it doesn’t happen overnight.

The pink pair moved through several stages. This is one of the midpoints when i started to lose it by over doing it. In life as in art less can definitely be more.

Every painting period develops its own characteristics. I might begin with an intention but the process of solving a visual equation in acrylic colour often creates its own path. As go back to work and got more comfortable with my process I wanted to ground myself in the feeling of a loaded brush addressing a static surface. I gave myself permission to begin again on what I like to call a “painting start”, a canvas pair that had been under painted but abandoned or left to cure for any number of reasons.

I never approach my work with the expectation of producing a masterpiece at days end, and its just as well as i would be bound to set myself up to fail before I had even begun. If I allow myself to be present in the process each painting session becomes an opportunity to make more choices, to play mental mind games in colour, and to allow the composition to unfold.

The Pink Pair Left Side 20” x 40” acrylic on canvas 2023. This is where this part of the composition left off . There might be minor tweaks yet to come but I will do my best to leave well enough alone having lost and regained this pair once already.

“Choosing to take a particular path in a painting is making a choice. Not making a decision is also a choice.”

I have made many choices in the production of this pink pair for example. They had beginnings in an earlier season and have evolved. Some of the decisions I made in the process may not have been my best choices but in the cumulative process of painting, where every decision is impacted by those that came before it and will impact those that will follow, we are bound to have some blunders.

With this pink pair the ebb and flow of the creative process was in full swing. At one point i ended my day deflated and disappointed that I had worn my “Over Painting Crown” ( I hate that tight fitting accessory!) and lost the early subtleties that were leading the composition forward.

When I resist the urge to clean things up I produce some of my best work. In this instance I totally F…ed things up. Like any passionate golfer a bad day on the course is better than any day away from it and so too the painting process draws me back every time. I try to see my blunders as an opportunity for new decisions on the paint wall that might lead me down a new and unexpected path.

As Forest Gump reminds us “You just don’t know what you’re gonna get”, and that’s half the fun of the process., of eating chocolate and painting.

The Pink Pair, Right Side 20” x 40” acrylic on canvas, 2023.

Changing perspective by viewing a composition in a different scale is a strategy I use often. At the end of the day at the studio I try to remember to take a snapshot of where I am leaving things off. It makes for an effective way to reevaluate the composition on my phone before my next studio visit. I spy a spot for a little yellow in this one but that might be the last addition before a signature is added and I move onto to new challenges..

The duo may not have followed my earlier thoughts as I had intended but in allowing the composition to evolve through the cumulative choices I make, they did come to a resolution. They’ll be available for in person visitation at the PULSE GALLERY in Winnipeg at Johnson Terminal at The Forks April 1-30, 2023.

The mesmerizing action of an outdoor fire pit is shown above. This is where our meditative moment will take us in today’s self care practice. In fact these are the cedar fronds curling amongst the embers of the fall fire I speak of in the recording. I can almost inhale the scented magic of Cedar as I recall this seasonal memory from lake country.

Its a little too chilly where I live right now for an outdoor firepit. I’d have to dig out both the woodpile and wade through 3 feet of snow to uncover the firepit in the front yard at the cottage . The Hoar frost pic opposite was taken a few snowfalls ago.

Our Meditative journey this week…

A seasonal story of fall clean up warms us up on the recording begins at …in the recording. We gather virtually around the firepit on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Our meditative tool kit opens up to invite you to bring your creative imaginings along with you as I share a story and some prompts to join me , wherever you are and whatever the weather. This seasonal memory is shared in story format so there is nothing to but but lie back and listen in, unless you want to take me and some headphones outside on a walk with you, if that is an option where you are.

The firepit takes centre stage as we add our collected offerings to the sacred circle and invite the earths medicine to rise from the flames and warm us to the core. The power of visualization can take us anywhere we want to go when seasonal limitations prevent us from being present in the physical experience. Baby it’s cold outside as I type but our thoughts warm up our self care practice at the end of the podcast with our “Meditation”.

This pic of the cottage during a Hoar Frost was taken a few snow falls ago. The front deck is currently enveloped in a wide wind sculpted curve and is no longer distinguishable as a different level. It’s a little too chilly where I live right now for an outdoor firepit. I’d have to dig out both the woodpile and wade through 3 feet of snow to uncover the firepit in the front yard at the cottage.

Last week I mentioned I had been interviewed by the inspiring Whitney Baker Host of the “Electric Ideas” Podcast. Whitney, from the Windy City aired the interview we did together on her Podcast this week.

Whitney is a woman with a purpose and a sense there is more out there for us all. She is on a reflective journey. Connect to a sense of possibility by listening in to Whitney’s Podcast, “Electric Ideas” where each week she interviews a woman who is lighting a path and offering others hope. I was honoured to be invited to share my story of the Wisdom I leaned at a literal Crossroads when world changed. What began as a healing journey through change became the book, “Wisdom at the Crossroads” (2018) and now a podcast sharing the same name. Listen in the the interview below.

Click the arrow in the embedded player below to listen in to the interview.

Work at the office…

Not all day of everyday is a paint day. There is business to attend to and I have been working with my website designer developing an opportunity for visitors to purchase my book, “Wisdom at the Crossroads” and Mandart Greeting Cards directly from the website. Why have I been so resistant to doing that for so long?

Chantelle Andercastle of clearquartzcreative: an entrepreneur, podcast host, website designer and now magazine publisher is a dynamo. Find Chantelle at www.clearquartzcreative.co

Chantelle has brought my tech skills a long way. We joked i could only attach a single image at a time to an email when we first met and now I am embedding data so you can listen to my podcast above or The Electric Ideas interview below. Simply press on the little arrow and send thanks to Chantelle for the convenience.

Lastly…

Since we were in a warming up mood: on the paint wall in colour and on our visual journey to the campfire, I thought I‘d end by sharing a little bit of Georgian Bay’s summer magic from a series of smalls I did in 2011.

Warm thoughts led me back to this little gem , “Cocktail Hour”, from the Georgian Bay Series of 2011. In my painting practice I like to play with colour and colour relationships by turning traditional colour practices on their head. A warm sky like this one tends to flatten the surface because warm colours generally come forward visually while cooler colours recede. By inverting that principle the depth of field is reduced

Thank you…

We’ve come to the end of this post but before we part ways I wanted to remind you, I appreciate you tuning in to this podcast and joining in on the visual part of this journey with me here on the blog. I hope the images are helpful and that you are finding something of your story within mine. If my work or words inspire you please consider inviting a friend to share in our adventure or writing a review. Every shared word or post helps helps my to work reach those who could benefit by it.

Find me…

on instagram @mandartcanada or message me on the contact page of my website. I always love to hear your thoughts and comments.

With gratitude as always,

Nameste, Amanda

WISDOM AT THE CROSSROADS PODCAST.

The jostling characters of this small but feisty composition, 13” x 14”, on panel, affectionately titled “Shrinking Violets compete for attention and visual elbow room. In this fictitious perennial garden, full of vibrant colour grants an introduction to new beginnings that merge a path of discovery and experimentation with textiles and technology.
We learn the value of a good reading list and friendships; in life, art and business. We also discover that red is delicious no matter which way you serve it.
Join me to discover some creative magic along the road less travelled.

The meditation begins at 10:00 In the recording. This one comes from the child within me. It takes us on an imaginary journey through “Adventure Island” and passes through a threshold to interact with a version of ourselves.
I hope you’ll join me as we; visualize. Reflect and project; to seek awareness, connection and gratitude, together.

SHRINKING VIOLETS, 13” x 14”, Acrylic on Panel, 2007

“Shrinking Violets” is a small composition by my standards. She doesn’t take up much room physically though visually she packs a bit more punch and carves out a little more elbow room for herself than we might think she would need.

` The subject is a sunny clatch of energetic blooms competing for space and resources in a rambling garden vignette. They have that rambling english garden feel, more kitchen garden than formal border. At 13” x 14”, painted in acrylic on panel, what she lacks in size she more than makes up for with intensity.

The composition features exuberant characters that range from poppy like blooms to the suggestion of a rose. The trio of red, yellow and blue are well represented though the yellows are earthy and lemon, the reds are clear and demanding while the blues are dominantly mid ranged and intense. There is nothing subtle about these “Shrinking Violets”.

The composition has some diagonal elements that help to suggest movement within the squabble of garden girls competing for attention. At the time I painted this series I was also exploring work in textiles, the duel arms of my studio practice were developing yet also merging in new ways. I had applied for and  was awarded an arts council grant to support my explorations that sought to find a way or ways to transfer my painterly signature to fabric. I had been advised on more than one occasion to make a choice to find my voice in one media instead of spreading my limited work time thinly across both. I couldn’t do it then and i don’t  think I can now, so instead I sought ways to find common elements between the two that i could elaborate on in some way.

Shrinking Violets Yellow Detail

My inexperience with blurred boundaries in my studio practice might have mimicked my issue blurring the lines between personal and public space. In my defence though, if you had wandered into my front yard to photograph my garden i would probably have made you a cup of tea as we visited and sent you home with a cutting or two and some seed heads.

I mention the Tresspassing series again in this episode because it was timely, the paintings of that series were small and portable and miraculously fit the limited space of the scanning bed I was able to access for my experiments. I needed to get an  extremely high definition image of an example of my work.  “Shrinking Violets” was an image that was current at the time, incorporated a wide colour range and she fit the scanning bed. That made her the perfect candidate for my initial experiments into reprographic processes.

So why bother? Why go to all this trouble?  Why couldn’t I just paint on fabric in the same way I painted on canvas or panel?  Well, Painting with dye on cloth produces a watercolour effect where the colours bleed or diffuse across the surface and soften into a delicate effect. The word softness was not a word many if any would apply to a description of my work in acrylic at the time, or now for that matter. Watercolour is soft and delicate in comparison to the energetic and bold, some might say intense compositions that evolve at the end of my paintbrush.

I could achieve some of the intensity of acrylic on panel painting on fabric, by adding mediums to the colour . That might help the intensity and show the action of the brushstroke more effectively but the surface would become so hard and dense that i could no longer machine stitch through it. Breaking or gumming up needles as i tried to add machine stitching stalled my progress.

When the process of dye sublimation was introduced to me by a knowledgeable and supportive local firm I was excited about the potential of our collaboration. In fact i have continued to be inspired by this local company and I have maintained a working relationship with them since 2009. Shrinking Violets had the colour range I thought would be a good place to start and as well she has several areas within the composition that i like to refer to as Compositional seeds. These were areas of interest that i could see becoming compositions in their own right once moved through changes in media and scale.

Shrinking Violets Red Detail

Once the image was processed and I had a high res scan to work with we began with reds and the largest floral like area at the bottom right of the painting. The project became known as “Seeding apples from oranges” partly because my photographer Rob was reading a seed catalogue at the time I was photographing the trespassing series work with him. And partly because I was creating a secondary image from areas within the original painting.

The grant project was about visual comparisons between two similar yet very different media so the project ended up with the handle, “Seeding Apples from Oranges”

Names can be tricky, they can be literal or they can be descriptive. The first test print of the series was inspiring, the reds were delicious and so “Red Delicious” , the name of a variety of apples from the seed catalogue became the working title of the art quilt that evolved out of the process.

The name game can definitely be a tricky one. I always want to provide a secondary was for a viewer or client to make  personal connection to the visual image they are seeing. Sometimes that might be a song lyric, a description, something humorous or sometimes a cheeky reference to some kind of perceived personification of an inanimate object. Other times I have named paintings with the help I am offered from requests put out on my instagram. Kaleidoscope and Wonderland are both recent examples of that name game. I don’t have the advantage of using my photographer Rob’s extensive vocabulary and interesting reading list to help me with titles now that he has moved well north of the city.

(Above: I recently came across a long ago client who shared this snapshot of her painting with me as a reminder. This little sister also grew out of the Trespassing series.)

I know I am getting off on a tangent here but I should tell you that the finished art quilt “Red Delicious”: did end up as a new beginning or a heading in a new chapter of my studio practice on the textile side. I kept her and hung her in my bedroom so that i woke up to her flowing red gestures and meandering machine stitching lines that helped to bring out the energy of the brushstroke on fabric. I have kept the first of many projects for the lessons they have taught me as my creative journey has developed and that’s where this podcast began, sharing the backstories illustrated through these various projects. “RED DELICIOUS” found a home last spring and though i was reluctant to let her go everyone needs to fledge at some point. She could not have found a more comfortable home. Some things are just meant to be. See her insitu below.

The original “Shrinking Violets” also inspired  a 39” square quilt i called  “Shrinking Violet” because the focus was on a singular image within the painting and not the entire gaggle of competitors from the original image.  This quilt happens to be draped over the railing in the kitchen right now??? , handily Its label reads…

The dye sublimation process has allowed me to transfer my painterly signature to fibre without compromising the materiality of the paint or the malleability of the fabric surface. From the leftovers of the last is where the next begins I like to say. See this yellow quilt below shown in context with the original painting.

It is amazing how much material we can gather from a single image. In fact those compositional details are often my favourites. They work their magic and draw me in to pay attention every time. I still have designs on examining these poppers as we called them when my girls and their friends were little and jostled to join me in my sewing room to play with colour and fabric. at bay feet on the floor as I worked. One day i hope i might get to  act on the lengthening list of ideas that keep me at work at play in my studio.

The cast of “Adventure Island”. A vignette from this children’s TV show was the inspiration for today’s meditation.

.Being away from the studio this week, my painting schedule has had to adjust to my absence and put a few commitments on the back burner while i took in the inspiration of a new landscape and allowed myself to be present . I got to take in some lovely sea air. which for me is always restorative. Change is good and travel is better. Let’s hope this returning trend continues. for us all and fills us with inspiration to interpret the coming season in colour.

So, before we head off to take in th meditation here are some takeaways from todays chat:

Colour can pack a might punch no matter what the size.

Big isn’t always better

There is so much to explore we can’t possibly be confined to a single focus so let’s not beat ourselves up when we have squirrel moments. you just never know what magic we might discover in the road less travelled on our creative journeys.

The meditation offers a choice today.

Where do your preferences lead you?

The meditation is a sweet one this week. Writing it took me back to childhood dreams. We didn't watch a lot of TV in my house growing up but “Adventure Island” in Australia was always a highlight.

The story I would like to offer you comes from the small child within me. The one that was enthralled to watch a little show on Saturday mornings. Adventure Island was not about an island at all. For me it was magical and i loved every opportunity i had to watch it. In one of the regular segments three different shaped windows or mirrors filled the screen in a neat row. The trio included: a rounded arch, a tall rectangle and a large oval segmented window frame, The camera eventually followed a route into one of the shapes and a vignette would be revealed after we crossed the threshold of the opening where a visual story would play out. It could be kids at play or maybe something about animals? I don’t even remember I just remember the tantalizing choice deciding which window would draw me in and was it going to be the one the camera also chose?

The important thing I know now that my younger self didn’t know then is that we always have choice.

I chose recently to read a book I was gifted, “Flower Diary” by Molly Peacock, “In which artist Mary Hiester Reid paints, travels, marries and opens a door”. I found her life and work fascinating and the book to be compelling and beautifully written. The journeys we take both real and imagined tend to take us to new experiences. Molly Peacock wrote of Mary Heister Reid at one point in her journey.. “ Paris life seemed to allow Mary, as if in a fairy tale, to pass through a mirror into her own ambition”

I love that concept. I’d like to try to marry that idea with Adventure Island’s row of windows to take us on a contemplative journey of our own in the meditation. This week’s meditation begins at in the recording. I hope you’ll take a listen and find something that resonates for you in the process.

Relative context. If you are visual like me context can be helpful. Here is the Shrinking Violet Quilt slung over my side fence. The image was generated by scanning the painting SHRINKING VIOLETS at high resolution and then used a process called DYE SUBLIMATION. The original painting is tiny but technology allows me to enlarge and source compositional seeds for use in new work in textiles.

Finding presence wherever we are is the name of the game.

You know I love to view life in the details. This little vignette shows the pause I took while uploading this blogpost in the Donnington Garden on Vancouver Island. I will imagine this sweet little spot with the mighty visual impact in winters to come.

At the studio this week my time has been disrupted by an absence. I got to travel to the west coast to participate in a Textile exhibit on beautiful Vancouver Island . Here we assembled 55 textile art pieces from 6 Textile artists created over a 20 year association.

Seeing completed art works hung in a complex series of spaces set in a magnificent 5 acres of permaculture garden was gratifying, Equally impressive was watching the reactions of visitors. The connections we make through creativity and colour are always a highlight for me. I am endlessly surprised how creativity creates a narrative that connects my stories to yours and yours to mine. For anyone listening in who attended Articulation’s Donnington Show, “Art in the Garden”, by invitation, thank you for your interest and enthusiasm. It was a lovely event.

This snapshot came to me from a friend on her travels. It seems i don’t need to trespass to find inspiration :)

We have come to the end of todays backstory. Thanks for tuning in to this episode. I hope the images are helpful and that you are finding something of your story within mine by listening in to the podcast, or catching up through this blog. If my work or words inspire you please consider sharing the podcast with a friend or writing a review on apple podcasts . You can listen to the full episode anywhere you get your podcasts.

All best, Amanda

Apple Trailer - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-at-the-crossroads-trailer/id1609992256?i=1000551067035