Soaring gardens and stimulated creativity

I have been struggling with my art for a few years now.  Before I left for my artist retreat, I was asked to show my work with two other women in a new gallery in Dumont NJ.  I met with the dealer at my house to show her my work.  She liked the work and asked me to put up digital representives of the images on my website.  Given that deadline and since I was leaving in three days I got to the job and got the images about forty up on my website and notifed the Dealer via email.   Off I went to the everlasting mountains of Pennsylvania.  Soaring gardens is such a wonderful place, isolated, quiet and can be a little creepy at night. No street lights, unknown animals braying in the dark and foot steps on the roof which kept me awake one night.   I had decided to meditate each day while I was there  and I still can't believe that I actually did it for ten days and continue to do so today.  Tsugio Hattori my teacher and mentor use to say. " Cassandra before you paint you must sit in studio and meditate!" This is what he did before each of his studio sessions.  It's apart of his culture I thought at the time.  Now  after several years in spiritual centering it's becoming apart of my life though I haven't included it as part on my studio practice yet.  

  The studio is huge able to accommodate the four of us with amble space on the second floor.  I had plan to work on five works on paper while up there.   I started working and as most artist recognize, you come to a place when painting comes to a halt, your brain is not giving up anything for you to put on the canvas or paper.  Once I reached that point which was the second day, I think, I looked around for something else to do while waiting for inspiration to guide my brush.  Some times it's right away other times it's weeks.   When this happens I usually start working on something else. So  I picked up my iPad and looked at the Adinkra symbols I previously drew.  I have about fifteen of them on my iPad.  When I drew them I had no idea what I would do with them.  Just so you know Adinkra symbols are used to make adinkra cloth.  It is made in Ghana, West Africa and is often worn by the Ashante people who live in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.   After looking at them for awhile I decided to use them in a small painting.  I started working on them and a great pleasure passed thru me, I was delighted. I also brought with me this handmade green crinkled paper which I planned to leave in the studio closet for others to use.   I started working on that paper and a smile crossed my face as I saw the results.  I was entering a happy place.

  The first thing we do after setting up in the studio is check to see what's available in the closet. There are always good stuff in there, so I planned to make a contribution.  But soon I was using almost all of it, I think I left a dozen pieces up there.  I believe that when I'm ready what I need will come to me.   And I am needing inspiration desperately.  Meanwhile in the back of my brain the show is grinding on.  I needed small pieces for sale.  I have many works on paper, time to get them ready for selling. I made some business calls so that I can prepare them for sale.  That made me feel good. The packaging was waiting for me when I got home.  So was the list of paintings from the dealer.

  As I wandered around our environment,  acres of green, a few ponds, butterflies, all kinds of rodents running around but no humming birds this time.  I felt so fortunate to have this opportunity.  Last time I didn't appreciate it so much. I was excited about the work I was doing with the adinkra symbols.  My mind starts to come up with ideas for new paintings.   

There are four of us working. So lunch is up to us and one of us make dinner each night. The others clean up afterwards.  Each night before we eat we start with grace, which always supprises me, each of us takes turns saying it.  I do this with other friends and am surprised that there is no grown up grace.  Everybody says the same grace, the one we learned as children.  It's different each time depending on how well its remembered.  

 Ten days, two travel and eight days creating art.  Every day some of us got up at seven, others got up at ten.  We eat, have a lot of conversation about life, family, music and art.  Then we go to the studio and work until lunch which is about one or two.  Then we are back in the studio by three, we work until   Six thirty. While one of us stop working around five to prepare dinner.  After dinner and cleanup we are back in the studio, some of us work till midnight. I usually stopped around 9:30 to be in bed by eleven thirty.  It could be exhausting.