Brush Confession #10

May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the Root of happiness.
May we be free from suffering and the root of Suffering.
May we not be separated from the great happiness Devoid of suffering.
May we dwell in the great equanimity free from Passion, aggression, and prejudice.

-THE FOUR LIMITLESS ONES CHANT

Brush Confession #9

I am going on a ten-day self-healing trip to Hawaii. Feeling good in my body again. I was lost there for a while but I am walking back into myself again. (Thank God!) Remembering whom I am, working on the things I need to tune up and change about myself. I look forward to the teachings of the island. This week is about self-love and self-acceptance. I chose joy! My plans for the week is to set good intentions for myself, my partnership, my art, my family, my friends, and myself. I step forward awake. My heart is open. When I return I will gift you with photos and journal entries. Until then, I ask you to play and find joy in your life!

Brush Confession #3

I have begun facing some big shifts in my practice as an artist. My painting boots are walking a thin line between the past and the future. I have striped myself away from the comfort of a home and a studio.
All I am now is a painter and my studio has become the great outdoors. The landscape is now my teacher, my home, and my heart. I am a gypsy preparing for the road. I am a human being letting go of material things and coming face to face with my own truth. I don’t always like whom I see in the mirror. I am as vulnerable as the animal that gives himself up for food. I am jumping through paintings with my heart open. Trying to make all the pieces fit. The horizon line is where a guardian angle embraces me. The trail of the brush has begun. I am consumed by the view and the endless possibilities. I am ready to surrender to the process. Less is more.
During this hard time in my life there have been a few books that have really spoken to me and one of them is Ordinary Sparkling Moments by Christine Masson Miller. A book that is a piece of art, a book that has struck my core and given me so much light during this time of transition. I opened her book randomly today and this is what my eyes read.

“It is innately human to want to hold on to things-people, memories, objects, moments. But life does not allow for such grasping on any permanent basis, and perhaps that is our greatest challenge as expressive beings…To create for the sake of creating, knowing that what we create might not have any value beyond our doing it. Knowing it will someday be gone. To live for the sake of living, knowing each moment we have is over with every blink of an eye, knowing we will someday be gone, with only our creations left behind.”

I must live each moment like it my last and know that I will always be an expressive being who work must move forward letting go of things, and people and surrender to both the process and the now. Life is to short and less is more!

Ps. If you would like to have Christine book go to http://www.christinemasonmiller.com/

Brush Confession # 1

Little house of travels,
Itching my subconscious.
Bristles eager to be dipped among
the endless purple mountains,
and blue amber waves.

Little house of travels,
Popping rhythmic chants against the hot and cold pavements…

My heart believes.

I am the road,
and the brush is my teacher.

Endless nights…
Heading for the horizon,
Living the life.
Counting the stars.

Tire to pavement,
Not afraid of time.

Surrendering to the process.

Walking in and out of paintings.
Not afraid of my will.

The brush has spoken.
The blank canvas awaits her.

Little house of travels,
Where art is born
and dreams become real.

Nov 2009
By Marlene White

The Brush & The Road

The Trail Of The Brush…

Goal:

A dear friend gave me a card once, with a quote by Denny Kaye that said, “ Life is a big Canvas throw all the paint on it you can. “ I have a dream of traveling throughout the United States of America in an RV, creating paintings that will be evolving along the way. My studio will no longer be confined to four walls; it will expand into communities, cities and various landscapes.

I will be creating a video about painting and my personal experience on the road. Exploring what happens when an act of painting becomes public and collaborative rather than an act done privately.

This project is about my desire to find a deeper understanding about my own internal process as a Deaf, Queer, Woman Artist grabbling with identity and the need to find myself through the power of art. Leaving behind the comfort of my home and a familiar community.

Every brush stroke will be a record of an exact moment traveled and experienced. Each mile driven will be an opportunity to bare witness to life. I will travel the states with awareness, not passing the things that move me, but stopping to know them. Capturing their teachings through painting. Revealing trails of brushstrokes created with mindful intentions.

The video and paintings will contain the stories of time and places overlapped. Memories carried into each other.

The road will be my teacher and the brush will be its voice. I will investigate all directions; share both my internal and external growth and the power of painting. I know the canvas will be measured by inches, but the outcome of this journey is limitless. True art strikes deeper than the surface and life is a great big canvas waiting to be painted.

New York City

My goal for traveling to N.Y. was to visit with galleries and old friends. My mission was accomplished; however, I received much more! N.Y. is a city full of life, art, performance and play. I never walked so much in my life! Everywhere my eyes looked I witnessed art. My heart was full and my mind was stimulated. I was completely in my element. I chose to do this trip alone, which allowed me to experience each moment fully! My eyes embraced rhythm, organization, concentration, balance, dominance, color, and life. My love for art was re-charged and I fell in love all over again! I was reminded that art is not only seen in museums or galleries. As artist we must live, work, play and create. My process as an artist feels very deep and centered right now. During my walks around the city I realized that my work is a result of deep consideration, and I believe in the importance of what I am doing, what I have seen, what I have experienced and therefore I believe my work can and will stir the world. I fully trust what I am doing and who I am as an artist. What I witnessed in N.Y. was a gift and worthy of my time. I am ready to look directly at my work and join no false creed and respect all the truth my eyes witness. I promise myself that I will continue to investigate my work in all directions. I must trust my eyes again and know that the future is in my hands. I must live. Work. Play. And Create.

Air Blog #8 Travel Day Number Eight

June 28, 2009

Opened my heart,

to a land of green.

Where monkeys can swing freely,

and birds can sing proudly.

Opened my heart,

to a land of green.

A place where funky lizards dance moonwalks on sunny paths,

and wild snakes play hide and seek,

while toads jump gracefully.

Opened my heart,

to a land of green,

where the people live richly with less and smile with glee.

Opened my heart to a land of green,

where the air smells like sweet mangos,

and my heart was set free…

Air Blog #7 Travel Day Number Seven

June 28,2009

I am soaring over the land of Mexico…

What a beautiful country….

I need not more but simplicity…

My eyes witness the beauty of humanity.

I am awake.

Returning home to a society where our minds and souls are filled with fear.

We have lost the ability to recognize beauty.

It is fear,

this lack of truth that brings about all the disasters the world holds.

Our civilization is smothering greatness.

We destroy what we love and we reverence what we destroy.

But I truly believe deep in my heart that beauty can force its way through any boundary.

My return from Mexico,

A land that shared with me the simplicity of life through its people.

The footprints of this country will forever be remembered.

Thank you.

Air Blog # 6 Travel Day Number Six

June 27, 2009

Be yourself today,

Master who you are.

Use what you have.

Don’t wait till tomorrow.

Air Blog # 5 Travel Day Number Six

June 26, 2009

Today is my Birthday…

I dreamt a flowing river of dreams…

I am seeing…

I am free…

Why?

I am a painter…

Painting is the purest freedom that exist…

Painting is the spirit of life,

the constructive force,

the key, to internal growth.

Painting is order and balance.

To paint is to lead a life of questioning.

A life of love.

A life I would never give up.