If your life is like a garden – to cultivate, to tend, to nurture — what seeds have you planted?
How have you tended it well? What have you nurtured in its fertile soils? What have you weeded out? What new plants have you introduced? Which ones have you transplanted? Where is it overgrown? Where is it barren and dry?
What is your garden asking of you today?
I had fun playing with creativity in my garden yesterday. Experimenting. Wondering, what if I… And then, letting the ‘what if’ guide me. Under its spell, I painted without knowing where I was going, trusting always that whatever was appearing was opening the portal to the next, and then the next, and then the next discovery.
In the art of creativity, I found myself immersed in wonder and awe, free-flowing through time, surfing on a jet stream of creativity that held me captive high above the earth, paying no heed to gravity’s pull calling me to come back to earth.
Eventually I did. Come back to earth. But not before something I hadn’t imagined would appear, appeared on the canvas – in this case an 11 1/5″ x 7″ piece of 140lb watercolour paper – filled with watercolour and inks, a bird on a branch, bright, joyful pops of colourful flowers popping up out of the ground.
The use of complementary and analogous colours was unintentional (that’s just a fancy way of saying ‘colours from the opposite sides of the colour wheel’). I had sat down at my studio work table with an idea in my mind of what I was looking to express.
It wasn’t what appeared.
And that is the beauty of the creative process. When I get out of my head brain and become present with my entire body attuned to the moment, magic happens.
For me, there is something chaotically joyful and abandoned about this painting. It stirs both my heart and my curiosity. It makes me wonder, ‘is the bird just alighting?’ or, is it just taking flight? What are the stories the wind is whispering to the leaves of its travels around the globe?
And then, the art-related questions of, ‘What would happen if I painted the bird white? Gave her a red belly? Or yellow one? What if…
And the circle continues. Widens. Broadens out to encompass more and more possibilities.
I’m not sure this painting is finished with me yet. I’m still wondering ‘what if’s’ and that is always a sign.
The choice to heed their intriguing possibilities is mine.
Hmmmm…. Will she or won’t she?
Ahhh. Life is such a beautiful, joyful dance of mystery, mysticism and magic. It is a garden full of all the seeds I’ve planted growing into my life today. No matter what seeds I plant, or what seeds are pollinated by the winds of time, it is my destiny to tend it so that all that grows, all that flourishes, all that becomes known and witnessed and experienced is, Love in all its rainbow colours.
Namaste.
Dare Boldly 
gorgeous!
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Thank you! ❤
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❤
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❤
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Louise, a beautiful, gentle depiction of a garden of hope, thanks for sharing. In my humble opinion, touche pas!
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Merci! And I join you in the ‘touche pas’ conclusion. 🙂
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Louise, your words and your art are so lovely. Thank you for the light. My contribution to nature today was remembering to water my sad and neglected Devil’s Ivy, leaves parched and crisping. I am deflecting blame on the damn COVID. What types of mediums do you use to create your artwork? ❤️🙏
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Thank you! For this one it is mostly watercolours and acrylic inks. The background layer was watercolours with red hearts which I then applied a thin gesso wash over (I wasn’t happy with how it all looked, hence the experimentation with gesso) and then, spray inks via stencil and then… another thin gesso layer and everything else with acrylic inks — I love their vibrant colours and transparency.
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So do I! Thanks for sharing your process! 😊
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What a joyous painting, Louise! I love how the act of painting directed you and not you directing it. Abandoning all restraints resulted in a pop of joy. Of course, your prose that goes with, is wonderful as well.
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that is exactly how I felt creating — popping with joy!
Thanks Dale. Much gratitude and joy! ❤
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It shines through on your painting!
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Well said my friend
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Thank you Joanne! Much appreciated. ❤
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Mystery, mysticism, and magic……LOVE this:)
Yes and yes and yes:)
And your beautiful heartpour in paint is stirring.
Thanks for being who you are – I don’t always take the time to stop and
say but I just had to this time – to say thank you for being such an amazing leader in this community. For leading in love. For being a light in dark places. Your voice is beautiful and needed and it matters what you share. Big warm thanks for being just exactly you out loud.
Big love,
Jennifer
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Your heart shines in everything you do and write Jennifer. Thank you for sharing such loving, shining words with me. My heart is dancing in gratitude, my soul is rising in hope.
Big love to you too my friend.
Louise
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