art process

Painting and Listening

In the last few months I traveled halfway around the world. The trip was like a rock dropped in a lake, and I'm flowing out in the ripples. Opportunities to share the story of Sanctuary of Hope and Pamba Toto abound. I'm swimming hard to keep up. Amidst it all, my children, home on summer break…Read more Painting and Listening

Art: Mushrooms & Dialogue

After three years of painting almost every day, I'm slowly finding a better flow in my work, feeling less desperate about killing every piece I start. I've developed a fuller body of work. I still have so far to go, areas where I just can't translate the image I see in my heart onto paper,…Read more Art: Mushrooms & Dialogue

Failure, Rejection, and Passion

Failure: When you work on a piece for weeks, wrestling the paint and your vision, and they simply refuse to dance together. And you reach the desolate conclusion that it's dead for good, and you rip it in half. It's not a violent gesture, simply an acknowledgment of its state of being. And you feel like you'll never…Read more Failure, Rejection, and Passion

Dreams in Her Eyes

Funny  how she is always thanking me for spending time with her. I've out-lived her by some three decades, and my greatest hope as I mentor her is to impart courage to keep seeking, to keep pressing into the unique gifts she holds in her heart. In some ways, I am motivated by a debt. Once,…Read more Dreams in Her Eyes

Strange how hope swells…

  Strange how a lantern can appear out of nowhere. Walking barren tracks, and suddenly there's a light in your hand. Sincerely Danielle Shunk (SDS) plunked into my grasp like that. A friend knew a friend, who told her about SDS, who told me. I stepped foot in that magic space and before I knew…Read more Strange how hope swells…

Choice of the Muse (Studio Update)

FOUR CHAIRS SERIES: After much curiosity as to which painting Danielle would choose, the muse for the series selected Chair #2. PRINTS & ORIGINALS AVAILABLE: Limited edition giclee prints of all four chairs as well as two of the original paintings are now available in my Etsy shop: Fragments of Light. SHINE LIKE STARS: Without a doubt, the Shine Like Stars exhibit…Read more Choice of the Muse (Studio Update)

Four Chairs, Part 4

I believe what we can see is only a dim reflection of true reality. I think of the work of an artist as one who reaches into the invisible; tugs out little threads of color, pattern, texture; and weaves them into a language visible to others. Artist Paul Klee put it this way, “Art does…Read more Four Chairs, Part 4

Four Chairs, Part 3

This chair, I killed. Once I reached the version pictured in the last photo below, it seemed finished but it just didn't "feel right." I could not stop poking and prodding (process not pictured) until it simply sputtered and died: Knowing that sometimes my best work emerges from ashes (surely a living parable for circumstances in life), I refused to give…Read more Four Chairs, Part 3

Four Chairs, Part 2 (Magic)

I've always believed in magic. I suppose it isn't surprising when I think about my Irish grandmother, Margaret (O'Laughlin) Ferguson, known to many as “Mickey.” Whenever I visited her home, brightly colored kitsch-art gnomes peered out from shelves scattered around her living room. Who knows but that they came to life at night and followed her…Read more Four Chairs, Part 2 (Magic)

Outdoor market – selling art

I paint my heart, so being present with my art and a real-live-someone-else at the same time often feels a little too real and raw, a little too exposed. So, I set up my tent in the morning for last weekend's holiday market at Sincerely Danielle Shunk (SDS) with a great deal of anxiety. Then, amidst strangers, family and…Read more Outdoor market – selling art