Woman with Flowers in Her Hair

Woman with the Flowers in Her Hair by
Homelight 2019

Symbolism

The unconscious mind works in symbols, whereas the conscious mind doesn’t need to code things into symbols. Our conscious minds communicate through concertizing abstract ideas into words. Our words, at best, serve as a crude estimation of the abstract ideas we wish to convey.

Meditation and contemplation were part of the painting process. Symbols and colors would appear. It is a thing or color representing something abstract. Personally, I see symbols as Motherfather Spirit telling me stop, be alert and take notice. Contemplating their appearance helps me be open to what is needed or eliminated in my life.

The following symbols appeared in my meditations repeatedly and were included in my painting.

Bluebird: Harbinger of Spring, renewal and transformation, growth. cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird. Messenger bird of Xi Wangmu.

Navajo Song for waking up and greeting the morning sun.

Bluebird said to me,

"Get up, my grandchild.

It is dawn," it said to me

When I put her in, my best friend said Zippideedodah. I remembered this being my favorite song as a child. The song put me in a different place.

Dogwood flower: Symbol of rebirth and resurrection. Victorians saw the flower as a signal for love and strength. The Dogwood flower comes in many colors.

The dogwood kept showing up.

I also see the flower representing the four directions of a compass and the center being where two roads meet. A crossroad being a place in your journey when a decision needs to be made. It is a place where there is a balance of opposites. In many stories, it is a place to meet guardians to help you: Hecate, Vanth, Elgaba and Brighid. Wise women to assist you with your decision. All you need to do is ask. This is something hard for me. I have problems asking for help. I am first to help others, why not the reciprocal?

I am nearing a crossroad. I am ending my present position and trying a new career. I want to use art in this new career. My wish when I come to the crossroad that I will meet interesting people to show me how.

Colors of the dawn based on western European traditions:

• Reds: excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, strength, power, and passionate

• Oranges: energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention

• Yellows: signifies joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, and friendship.

• Purple: spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, honor, mourning, and temperance.

• Turquoise: symbolizes calm.

Dawn for me is about new beginnings. A new day to shake off what isn’t working and forgive. A new day for joy.

Owl: Knowledge and wisdom beyond intellect. Ability to see what isn’t seen. The owl announces change and transition. Important changes are about to take place.

I did not purposely paint the owl into my painting. The owl appeared after the last glaze. It appeared very ghostly, and I chose to maintain the owl’s presence by faintly painting it in.

The Celtic Triple Spiral or Triskele: Is a female power sign and one of transition through growth. It also is said to mean one cannot be healthy without all three elements joined together: mind, body and spirit.

The Three Rays of Awen: The Celts used this symbol for transformation experienced through the power of fire. This symbol can be found in the Dogwood flowers.

Tuning Fork: a two-pronged steel device used by musicians, which vibrates when struck to give a note of specific pitch. The bluebird stands on it. I keep returning to Jonathan Davis’ article on how to restore harmony within and with others (2015). Davis writes about the Hawaiian practise of Ho’oponopono (I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you) helps retune one from discord to calm. Each day is an opportunity to reset and try again to be a better person.

Scars Symbols were a leaf like symbol inspired by Henri Matisse. Each scar placed into the painting were ones I self-identified through an exercise shared by Louis Reed, Energy Medicine Institute. Louis Reed was a guest lecturer at Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici Women Unleashed Winter 2018. These were painted over during a glazing process. One of the scars turned into the owl.


Aqua Aura Quartz: The properties of the stone are said to help one to realize self truth, even the truths you refuse to know or believe. It is a crystal to give you mental clarity and help develop your spirit. The crystal is also said to help you balance your masculine and feminine energy and release feelings of anger.

I have Aqua Aura Quartz on my desk at work. A small crystal fell off while I was dusting. The tiny quarts was painted into the heart area of the women with flowers in her hair.

Woman with the Flowers in Her Hair: Part 2

Homelight. Woman with the Flowers
in Her Hair, 2019

“She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no one. She spent hours on the riverbank. She smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims...” ~~― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” ~~Iris Murdoch

“We need to spread more seeds and fill this Planet with love to be surrounded by flowers just everywhere! It starts by simply opening up our hearts and hands to one another. It's in simple things where true Happiness may flourish.” ~~ Ana Claudia Antunes, A-Z of Happiness: Tips for Living and Breaking Through the Chain that Separates You from Getting That Dream Job





Steps in Completion:

The Woman with the Flowers in Her Hair

By Homelight 1/10/2019

Let me tell you about the woman
with the flowers in her hair. I awake
moments before the dawn showers. When
sunlight paints hymns of pinks, cheery
oranges, playful yellows blended
Into divine purple -- rainbow hues
revel my beauty.

“Zippidee do dah,” I sing. “It’s going to be
a wonderful day.”

It is me with the flowers in my hair,
standing in my power -- heart aligned
to create my “today’s story.” Everyday
a choice for more joy, for more love, for more
expansion along my spiral journey.
Nightly rituals to make right within, I shed
sloth off yesterday’s walls, outgrown
habits-- rocky people all forgiven
I am reborn into the sunshine
lite, renewed.

“Zippidee do dah,” I sing. “This day will be
wonderful.”

I love that woman with the flowers in her hair.
I am strong, kind and gaily spread
infectious laughter. It's in the tunes
I whistle to make feet tap, hips sway
with merriment. I am a woman
with flowers in my hair -- opening hearts
to possibilities in all things. I am woman
who love life.

“Zippidee do dah,” I sing, “What a wonderful
day.”

Nebula the Muse: Part 2

Homelight. Nebula. 2019

“Did you know that the center of a Protostar (the star in the middle of a nebula) is called a Nuclear Furnace? So you can call that the star's "heart." The heart of a star is a furnace. Not much unlike the human heart.” ― C. JoyBell C.

"I am just learning to notice the different colors of stars, and already begun to have enjoyment.” -- Maria Mitchell

Stages of Completion 

Painting provides me another way contemplate and reflect.  Each brush stroke is an opportunity to dialogue with Motherfather Spirit.  I stand back or sit and stare at the painting and ponder different questions.  During my painting of Nebula, I thought about 1) how can I have a life filled with joy and happiness? 2) Does the lack of laughter and silliness a result of life without my muse?; 3) what does life feels like when the two are working as a team?

I want to acknowledge that my critic is needed to inquire and think logically through a problem, and my muse is needed to be a little off the wall for solving a problem. However, my muse can tolerate my critic only so much. She has a tipping point with unnecessary crap and frequent bad news and negative feelings found in meetings or back to back conference calls. These are what my critic thrives on. But, my muse’s heart wants space to dream of orange-vanilla globules and gales of candy pink bubbles. My muse wants to dance under the stars or at least pirouette in her office chair.

This painting felt more intuitive than The Woman with the Flowers in Her Hair. I turned the canvas around and around after putting in the initial color brush strokes. Her face appeared in the canvas and all I had to do is follow the lines to draw her and her hair in. Initially, I saw her as a cross between Cyndi Lauper “Girls want to have fun” and a Joan Jett “Don’t Surrender.” I placed rune marks throughout her hair: peace, love, joy and balance; and only one grouping remains. The runes are symbols for having a peaceful and joyful relationship between the muse and the critic.

Following the first glaze, the colors revealed a different story. She became Nebula: the one who births stars out of dying stardust. Nebula, the muse, is a creator.  It is very descriptive of what I do.  How often do I see something new in broken pieces?  I see the potential of a new star.  As I glazed over the canvas two birds appeared.  I left them as outlines and interpreted them as an awakening. 

The painting is an awakening for the muse, critic and I to be better team players.  I have a strong compassion and love for both.  These two in balance make a better me.  

~~~

Nebula (April 2019)
by Homelight

I am the spark, the seed, the first notion of a wish.
Exploding stars, dark giants, orange-vanilla globules, knots of lime green;
primal ephemeral - transformed gas and glitter into fiery lights.
I am the universe of unlimited possibilities.

Exploding stars, dark giants, orange-vanilla globules, knots of lime green,
gales of candy pink bubbles melting metal and sand;
I am the universe of unlimited possibilities.
I lose myself twirling, spiraling in a celestial dance.

Gales of candy pink bubbles melting metal and sand,
primal ephemeral - transformed gas and glitter into fiery lights;
I lose myself twirling, spiraling in a celestial dance.
I am the spark, the seed, the first notion of a wish.


Nebula is written in pantoum form. “The pantoum form is a Malaysian verse form adapted by French poets and occasionally imitated in English. It comprises a series of quatrains, with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the next. The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the first and third lines of the first stanza.” (Poetry Foundation)

Reference:

1. Poetry Foundation. “Glossary of terms.” Poetryfoundation.org, retrieved 7 May, 2019 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/pantoum

Nebula: The Muse Part 1

Homelight. Nebula. 2019.

“I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to know better.”  ― Frida Kahlo



“The golden anchor beckons, the blue sail rises
Like the wing of a dream unfolding to a new day.
Let us depart, my muse!
Beyond an anxious prow, the sea stretches itself out…” ― Delmira Agustini

My first encounter with muses was in Mrs. Bloomer’s eighth grade English reading Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. The muses, were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. I believe Mrs. Bloomer’s discussion centered on the gifts these nine women brought to humankind: the humanities and astronomy.

Literature, science, and art classes I took, explained that each of us had a muse. The inner muse was described as the spark of inspiration that gives writers, inventors, artists, and me the idea. This spark was the creative impulse that drove one to bring an idea into existence. Teachers, professors, and family members assured me I had it. Everyone had a muse. Inspired by the joy of creating; I would paint and write and crunch numbers and garden and knit. However, more often than not, I would receive less than an A or someone would scrunch their face and tilt their head to the side and tell me “perhaps my gifts was in another field” or maybe I needed to get in better touch with my muse by listening harder. Similar to Shakespeare, I thought my muse was dried up or she was partying somewhere out of my reach.

~~~

Sonnet C (1609)
William Shakespeare

Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long,
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return forgetful Muse, and straight redeem,
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey,
If Time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make Time's spoils despised every where.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life,
So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.

~~~

Since the beginning of April, I’ve been working on a painting entitled: Nebula. The theme of this painting module was to focus on being in contact with my inner muse. Truthfully, my inner muse has been out partying. The last time I saw her was in the opening dance scene for the movie La La Land singing “Another Day of Sun” on top of a car roof. She recently sent me a postcard from Lucca, Italy with a recipe for homemade tomato sauce and inquired about the status of my inner critic.

Life has been serious. The subject matter of my work is serious. My inner critic somehow managed to acquire super powers that sucks the joy out of everything. This inner voice has turned against me and nitpicks everything I seem to do. It echos people critical of my work from back in school. I can’t blame my muse for taking off. My critic doesn’t believe in howling at the moon, “what will people think?”

What will people think indeed.

I found this module a creative means to invite the muse back into my life. 

La La Land Cast. "Another Day of Sun."  La La Land (Original Motion Picture Sound Cast), Interscope Records, 2016.

Reference:
Homer. Illiad. Translated Samuel Butler, 800 BCE, retrieved 7 May, 2019 http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Homer. Odyssey, Translated Samuel Butler, 800 BCE, retrieved 7 May, 2019 http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
La La Land Cast. "Another Day of Sun." La La Land (Original Motion Picture Sound Cast), Interscope Records, 2016. retrieved 7 May, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CVfTd-_qbc
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet C.” 1609 retrieved 7 May 2019. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/Poetry/sonnet.C.html