Today's a busy day...in fact it's going to be a busy weekend. I'm co-facilitating a new workshop with a friend of mine we're calling Death Rehearsal: A Playfully Reverent Exploration and Artful Preparation For the Final Curtain Call where we will be using creativity to explore our feelings about death and dying. I know it sounds like it could be morbid, but it's really not. First of all, we're planning some really COOL creative exercises, including painting a cardboard casket together as a group. And we'll be writing and dancing and making music. And we actually anticipate laughing quite a bit.

And even though I also think it's going to be pretty intense I am hoping that I will get some sense of that spiritual truth that knowing we are going to die, someday, and facing that knowing head on can actually allow me to be more fully alive now. I'll let you know how it goes.

So a lot of my creative energy is going into creating the workshop. And I'm also planning on taking some photos of the art projects I'll be making during the workshop. Which of course I can post here as my creative every day commitment.

In the meantime, I was able to take a few minutes and make this little sunburst doodle sketch.Which is a pretty cheery little thing considering I'm going to be spending the weekend hanging out with the Grim Reaper!!

Whenever I am painting or drawing I often don't start out with any particular idea. I just start moving the brush or the pencils and let the drawing or the painting  lead me. It's relaxing and nerve wracking at the same time to create in this way. Relaxing because the pressure is off. I don't have to worry about performance anxiety since it's not really "me" doing it anyway. I'm just following where the brush or pencils are taking me. So I can't take any responsibility or blame for what shows up.

It's nerve wracking because I never know what the heck is going to happen. Oftentimes I'll be in the middle of something and thinking to myself "Now where in heaven's name is THIS thing going." And believe me, a lot of weird stuff shows up in my artwork.

This particular drawing is a case in point. I have no idea why this woman is headless. And I certainly don't know where the dress came from. It looks to me like a cross between one of those push up bra sundresses women wore in the 50's and something out of an old space age cartoon series I used to watch as a kid called the Jetsons.... which I'm sure most of you reading this blog will never have heard of because it's a cartoon about the future but it was on the air in the stone age of my childhood!

It's a good reminder that I don't have to understand some thing in order to create it. And that it's enough to just have fun and to play and to create a totally meaningless piece of artwork!

Today I played around with watercolors in my sketchbook. What showed up is another one of those images that is puzzling to me on a lot of different levels. Although its certainly not the first time THAT has ever happened! I've been going through some serious dental trauma the past month ..... lots of dental surgeries, lots of pain, lots of limitations... and I've actually been kind of depressed. Feeling old. Feeling powerless around GETTING older and missing my younger body. Grieving for that time in my life when other things might have been hard but I wasn't dealing with so much in terms of PHYSICAL limitations.

And then this girl shows up. All happy and shiny and joyful. A veritable flying love machine.

I know from experience that the paintings don't always reflect what I think I'm feeling. Or my current mood. Sometimes they touch into something deeper than my current story or drama about my life. And sometimes they give me what I most need at the time. And today, I was needing a bit of carefree love and joy.

Thank you flying heart lady.

I love Mexican and Southwestern folk art and Day Of The Dead stuff. My house is just filled with all kinds of art and figurines that depict those lively skeleton figures. In fact, here's one of the altars that I have in my house. I was so happy to find a Day Of The Dead Madonna.... she's one of my prized possessions!

This is also the time of the year when there are Day Of The Dead celebrations all over the place.... at least here in the San Francisco Bay Area. So the whole thing is kind of on my mind. I thought I would try making my own goofy skeleton figure, again using the colored pencils. I think it's a he although you can't always tell with these guys.

When I draw or paint I have a bit of an idea in mind but I always try to be open to the surprises at the same time. So I kind of liked it when a halo showed up on this figure, and I was also intrigued by the obvious throat chakra, which I associate with creative self expression.

I do feel like my creativity is really opening up on a lot of different levels. And maybe he/she was a saint when they still had skin on those bones?  The thought of that makes me smile (-: