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Medicine Niche

Fun thing - my granddaughter Alyssa recently turned 25. When I asked if she'd like a painting said, 'how about that one?!' Alyssa's a dragon girl, so I began sketching in some new details. Another dragon appeared, and a dragon book. Her daddy Jeff loved carnations, so there's a flower with the chocolate ... New elements sketched in So the 'Healed Enough' canvas from 'o22-23 came along to our Portland Apothecary offering in early May, and soaked in the medicine from our medicine journey in Olivia's studio. Rosie & Shelley, Nadya, Jenn & Olivia Our metaphorical Apothecaries house alchemized remedies, medicine to assist balance and growth. Now it's nearly done - and has been a treat watching the evolution! Medicine Niche Elements: Portal of mystery Biophotons in the Matrix Selenite - liquid light Selenite Rose beads - family traditions 7 pointed faery star Spiderweb Roses Lavender Cup of dragon medicine Lace doily...

Play of colour

The sparkle and shimmer we see in opals is called Play of Color (I wrote a harpsong by that name - surrounded by opal geodes!) and informs our painting as well. No mud, no Lotus One of the concepts we work with in painting is called Mothercolour - more formally: starting with three colors, and mixing a bit of each in varying amounts. More simply - have several colors on your pallet, and mix as you go, so each color has bits of the others. Mothercolor sampler The glazing process we use, covering part or all of the canvas with a thin coat of a transparent color at least once, has a similar unifying effect. When in doubt, glaze! Burnish (soft dry cloth) or not - then sit back and journal. In the early stages, we dumped our water at the end of the day - but as we proceed (and need less and less paint) using 'dirty' paint water also helps bring a little of each color in, which in turn adds Mothercolor harmony. If you're using white, you might want a sepe...

Alchemizing our pathway

What a wonderful weekend spend with the sistarhood! In p ainting our Medicine in Apothecary, we alchemize our pathway of access to inner knowing, using creativity to consciously transmute old stories. Serpentine Path In talk therapy, we can spend hours, months , even years reflecting and analyzing ... until the cows come home! When we add inquiry and creative processes, a desired shift becomes actionable - you're ’re not just talking about your life, you can transform it! Dance of color In Medicine painting, we take energetic conditions, and learn together how to move that energy through, contain it, catalyse and change it, distil it, and bottle it. And at the end, we have a medicine cabinet of our own making. This metaphor of self-as-container opens a new layer of insight. It invites you to explore the architecture of your being—not as something solid and fixed, but as something spacious, sacred, and capable of holding multitudes. What am I holding now? What m...

In the Still Room

When my SiStars Olivia, Rosie and I sent the invitation to join our Apothecary journey, we began preparing our own Still Rooms (mine usually has dragons - the better to heat potions!!) Blue dragon Our invitation this week to the beloveds who said YES to making good medicine - begin considering Vessels to contain the elixirs. Look through magazine for images of vessels. Paste them in your journal, and ask several what medicine they offer/ what they contain/ what's ready to be alchemized? Look for obects which spark joy, and bring that to the page. Reflect on why this is the perfect moment in your life for this journey Collect ephemera - tea bag fortunes, slips of paper, paper towels used as paint ‘rags,’ magazine images, flower petals - and slide into an envelope or bag to bring with you to class. In the Still Room - find the dragons! You might wish to start a lexicon page, adding symbols and the meaning they hold for You. I'm fond of making lit...

Apothecary 5.0

As we prepare for our upcoming Medicine Painting journey, Olivia, Rosie and I are delving into our own Inquires and practices. Flower water We begin with exploring dreams and intention for the workshop. This is good to do early in the day; cozy up in a nook, with a cuppa and your journal. Some Inquires to consider: What if there was nothing I could get wrong? What old story holds me back? What new aspects am I ready to explore? What ‘seeds’ do i hold? How do I prepare the ground for planting? Painting In the garden IC SiStar Elisabeth Gibbons wrote , "By creating with intention, we create a cosmic portal, a quantum field where we can explore our potential and possibilities. We shine the divine light of our higher self into the darkness of our shadow self. We are able to heal and integrate all aspects of our psyche, and to access a miracle field..." Elixir of possibilities What portal is opening?

Vision board and cards

At the end of January, I saw an invitation to craft vision boards with one of our Neurographica teachers in an online session. I'd already made a soul collage card for my word of the year - Connected , and loved this invitation of another way to work with it. I've made vision boards off and on for several decades, and am always intrigued with the images and messages that appear. One of my first Red Thread offerings was making vision boards, in 2016! Vision board 2025 For the neuropathic vision board class, we used the Feng Shui 'bagua' grid to lay out the pictures in 9 'sections'. After they were in place, we drew neuro lines over the collage, to support our Word and our intentions! I made a smaller board (~ 8x15") w/ some of the left over images I'd chosen - and it's still on my wall 😃. I love that central figure! ᏗᏓᏂᎸᎢᏍᏗ di-da-ni-lv-i-s-di Celebrate! I often use lighter weight tagboard for the backing - but this year's boards are on so...