you know who you are

You remember the story of the swan? 

Or the fowl who everyone thought was the ugliest duck ever? 

Here’s the thing: He wasn’t a duck.

All those times he was being teased and when he thought he didn’t measure up, how much would it have helped him to know who he really was?  When he felt so bad about himself that he was ready to give it all up? He saw those beautiful swans in the lake and came out from his hiding place thinking that they would peck at him, putting an end to his sad life.  But they recognized him for what he really was: a swan.  Something he didn’t even believe himself to be.  They accepted him instead of pecking him.
 

All along, he was a thing of beauty.  All along, he had a place he belonged.  All along, there was a time, when in maturity, he would be able to take to the sky.

The thing about it is that we can relate to the story.  We feel for the swan.  We want him to recognize the beauty he possesses.  “Look,” we want to say to him! “Look at your reflection in the lake! You are a swan!  You are beautiful!”

There are moments when I have felt trample and belittled.  I have done it to my own beautiful self at times with my negative self-talk and focusing on my failures. 

But I know who I am.

I am sacred.

I am divine.

Sometimes when you know who you are it helps you get through those hard times.  It helps you to recognize that when you are divine, you CAN.  You can dream and hope.  You can build.  You can create.  You can learn and grow and change.  You can be a beacon.  You can recognize the divinity in others and treat them appropriately. 

I made this painting as a little reminder.  Like looking at a reflection in the glassy lake

 

You know who you are, Sacred One. 

studio news

in progress

I have had my work hanging in the WISHstudio in Newburyport, MA. The perfectly quaint New England-y town of Newburyport will have their first Artwalk of the year on the weekend of April 21 & 22. At the WishStudio, there will be an Artisan Trunk Show on Saturday, the 21st. Click here to get more information on the fun and festivities.


Also on the evening of Friday, April 27th, I will be at the WishStudio for an artist reception. Click here for details! I would love for you to come by and say hello.


in progress

Lastly, one of my favorite local artists, Rose Bryant is hosting her annual Art on Union Street and she has asked me to show a piece of art there on Mother’s Day weekend. Click here for the details.



It is mind boggling to me that I actually have studio news. I have been placing one foot in front of the other for so long, trying to do the best I can to survive the frantic pace of the life of a mother of 5 (with 3-year-old twins, she thinks as her eyes cross), and somehow things have fallen into place. To have allowed myself the indulgence of diving into a creative community has helped me learn more about being an artist and made me realize on a deeper level that it’s not an indulgence to make time to create.  It is part of nurturing the soul in a world where nurturing is not common.  A soul needs nurturing to thrive, I tell you. I’m grateful for the support I feel from you, friends, online and face to face.

sight

sight. original mixed media on wooden panel, 12x12. sold.

I was driving early one morning and the sun hadn’t quite reached me yet. Everything was monochromatic and still. As I passed a huge field, several beams of sunlight reached it and startling color jumped out from the grass and the trees that lined the edge.

It made me think about light and how it changes things. Light can be physical and give us warmth and brightness and color. It can be spiritual and we gain truth and wisdom from its divine touch. It can be emotional and we are filled with joy as we let go of our heavy hearts. No matter how it manifests, light is powerful and comforting.

The past couple years have run me ragged. Although I wouldn't change my circumstances - I really love being a mom and find joy in my five incredible children - I have had a really hard time figuring out how to slow down enough to let any beauty and light penetrate.

(If something lovely happens to you and you don’t record it with paper or words or stitches in fabric or ink or paint or pixels, did it really happen?) (you know, like when a tree falls in a forest...) (get it?)

I almost didn’t go to Squam Art Workshops this year. At the last moment my mom and Jake talked me into it: Why wouldn’t you go? It’s your thing. Take care of yourself. You need this.

(They must really love me.)

So I emailed Elizabeth and told her I trusted her (because I’ve seen her gut telling her what to do and I’ve watched how she always listens and wondered at the incredible gift she has!). She emailed me back with which classes her gut told her I would love and then put me in a cabin she knew I would enjoy. I didn’t question it; I accepted it whole heartedly and kept running.

When I walked the familiar path through the woods, my body loosened. My mind widened. My eyes noticed.

The last day I was there, I took Alena Hennessy’s class, the joy of intention. I had spent the past days being filled up and refreshed. I was being fed. And Alena took us out and stood us in a circle and asked what our intentions were.

What?

How had I not asked this of myself? What did I want from this experience? How have I been touched and changed? How did I want it to manifest when I return home? What were my intentions with this squammie experience?

I thought about how the light had touched me while I was there. Not only did it warm me and dance on my skin, it had engulfed my overburdened mind and body and healed it with laughter and friendship and truth. I had sat on the dock and watched the sun rise and seen how the light has a separate beauty from the darkness yet it’s hard to tell when one ends and one begins. I had sat quietly and listened as the light of the Spirit whispered and confirmed and denied, and I could see my life and my potential for what it is: beautiful and imperfect.


(photo taken by the beautiful Elke May right after class.  Thanks, Elke;)

My intentions are to keep living through this season of motherhood that is filled with joy and pain, beauty and hardships, and when things are feeling monochromatic, find a way to slow down enough that I can look up and see where the light is shining to catch sight of what I am missing in my haste. Because there is always light and it is always offering beauty and comfort; truth and warmth; color and energy.



Here is what I wrote in class right before I started painting:

The light

comes in bursts

of hope and peace and

shines

upon parts of life that are hard

and suddenly I can see

the beauty

that was hidden from my

sight.

The color

reflects and shines

bringing joy and peace and awe.

The clouds part

and I know the way.

I am at peace.

Here is the piece that I painted in the inspiring Misty Mawn's wonderful class, Painted Icon:

seeker.  original acrylic on panel, 8.5x11.

(Cabin-mates: I can't help but laugh right now because of our experience with this painting.  Elizabeth was so right to put me with you guys.  You are dear to my heart.)

XO,

Britt

the light ahead

the light ahead: original painting, acryilic on stretched canvas, 6 x 6, for sale here

Today was one of those days.  It had good and bad. 

this is what the after-school equation looked like:

  field day
  92 degree weather
  school is almost out
+exhaustion
___________________
big, big freak outs

When one goes down like that you know how it effects the whole.

After the dust had settled and bellies were full and babies were in bed, I decided it would be a good time to run an errand.  So I took my tired sticky body and put it in the car and as I pulled away the same thing happened that always happens:



She ran as fast as she could alongside of me as I slowly drove away.  I watched as the smile spread on her face.  The sun shone from behind lighting up her hair and as she got to the edge of the property I looked in my review mirror and she stopped and cupped her mouth and shouted, "I love you SO MUCH!"  Her hand thrown high in the "i love you" sign.

And after I shouted the appropriate response I promptly prayed that I would not forget.  Too many moments have left my brain and I don't want that one to flitter away into the void. When I'm old and grey and my life is falling away from me, one of the things I want to remember is my child, happy and full of love with the sunlight kissing her head and possiblity holding her hand.

This path we're on has good and bad every day.

I will search for the beauty.

I will remember the joy.

I will let the bad teach me its lessons and stand taller as I let it take its place in the void, activly seeking the good all around me. 

There is always a light ahead of us with the promise of joy and peace and I am drawn to it with love in my heart.
 

we are here, we are here, we are here!

Really, I am still alive.  My girls are going through a very needy phase and every time I try to sit down to write something it...well, let's just say it doesn't happen in the end.  But I have a random few minutes and I thought I'd stop by and say hello:) 

Here are some pictures of stuff that has been inspiring and beautiful...or joyful and fun...well, the random goodness that I happened to catch on my iphone this week.

pure & true

pure & true: original mixed media on canvas board 12x16 (sold)
prints available in my shop (soooooon).

I'm just over here staying super-duper busy! 

Just wanted to say hello.

& happy spring!

Rose-colored Birdies

acrylic on canvas 6x6 inches

A little while ago I went to a painting demonstration given by beloved local artist, Rose Bryant. It was so much fun to see how she works! I love peeking into people’s brains, don’t you?

I came home and tried a painting Rose style. The first one I did, I painted right over because it was hideous. It was much harder to “copy” Rose’s style than I had anticipated; because of course she made it look easy!

I'm pretty sure that this is the painting that Rose was working on that night:

click here to see it larger
I’ll share some of the things that I tried to incorporate while I was painting Rose-ish…

Rose starts with a bold color underneath. I usually do my under-painting with the complimentary color of what will be on top. In one of my painting classes in college we did a whole section on pointillism and I loved it. The idea that I took from it and tried to incorporate was the idea that a little of the complimentary color will make it pop and be more interesting and bold. Anyway, Rose didn’t use the complimentary color. (I missed the beginning so I didn’t hear if there is a specific system she uses.) She had a canvas covered in red—the whole entire canvas!

So I painted my entire canvas one bold color. (a salmon-y orange-ish)

Rose doesn’t like straight lines. I was surprised how hard it was to take straight lines out of my painting! I must like straight lines.

She was painting with a black and white image for reference so the colors wouldn’t influence her. Boy, I wish I would have done that because especially the first time around, I tried to switch up the colors differently from what my image had and I got totally messed up. I decided that while I was trying to paint in someone else’s style I better just keep it simple and use the colors that were in the photograph. So that’s what you see here.

Rose doesn’t paint the background, then the foreground and so on in layers; she likes her painting to feel cohesive and be a part of each other and she said that if she painted in layers or went back later to add something in or take something out it looked flat and felt wrong to her. I can’t remember the exact way she explained it, but while she was saying it, I believed she was right about that and I thought that I must not paint in layers anymore. Then I tried to not paint in layers. Wow. That was hard!

One of the many things I love about Rose’s paintings is how the edges of the subjects are colorful and the brushstrokes show. Oh the color! So seeing her demonstrate how she does this was really cool. And watching her loose brushstrokes was inspiring. I was excited to try this out. By the time I had “finished” my Rose-ish painting it looked horrible. It wasn’t beautiful like Rose’s paintings! It took me back to the torture of a couple of my art classes in school when we would be graded on how well we copied some of the most famous styles of popular artists.

Anyway, I went back to my little birdie a while later and fixed the things that bugged me the most. I also layered in some color and since my canvas was only 6 x 6 my brushstrokes ended up more dot-ish than I had originally intended, but I rather enjoyed it since I haven’t been very pointillism-ish lately. I also straightened some lines a bit. I guess you could say I Brittany-ized it. Who knew? I thought I didn’t have a Brittany style but I guess I must because veering away from it caused my brain to hurt. But it was fun, Rose! Thanks for the great demo!

Go check out Rose's blog and oogle over all of her beautiful and inspiring artwork.