May 23rd was a recovery day for me. After days of constant busy and little rest. I missed the live Soul Art group events, but was so thankful to watch them late in the day. I completed the worksheets, glanced at the Facebook group postings, and started my Soul Art journey.

I began with the body map. Watercolor and pencil. The largest sheet of paper I had, 12 x 16. Scribbled Neocolors, activated with water. Working quickly. Listening to songs and stories of the event leaders. I buried the body map with soft ivory acrylic. While it was wet, I scratched and scribbled into the paint. The texture remains visible in the final piece.

I poured colors into a butchers tray, started to cover the white with patches of blues, and desert earth tones. Clay and sand. When I added the green, instead of abstract patches, leaves began to form. Laura Hollick is the host of this annual event. This year, over 12,000 creatives took part.

 

Every garden presents innumerable fascinating problems.
Winston Churchill

 

It was not in my mind to create a scene. The questions and answers prompted by the worksheets are, not surprisingly, clear to me here. Focus on growth. My artistic growth.

 

A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious
with a feeling of serenity and joy.
Luis Barragan

 

Every grain of experience
is food for the greedy
growing soul of the artist.
Anthony Burgess

 

 

 

Look at the earth crowded with growth, new and old
bursting from their strong roots hidden in the silent, live ground, each seed according to its own kind… each one knowing what to do, each one demanding its own rights on the earth…
So, artist, you too from the deeps of your soul…
let your roots creep forth, gaining strength.
Emily Carr

 

Click the images below or links for more.

 

Soul Art 2013

 

Soul Art 2015

 

Soul Art 2016

 

Soul Art 2017