Who’s Your MUSE?

In my outdoor studio with my new Fire Series in the works, (l-r) Fire II, Fire III, Fire I ©LEAD

WHO IS YOUR MUSE?  Where do you find your inspiration?  What inspires YOU?  Where to start?  I recently was chatting with a woman at an event I was at, she told me that her challenge with creativity is where to get ideas.  Hmmmm.  She asked me about where I get my ideas and how it all starts for me.  Well… that question is one of my favorites to reflect upon as I am regularly inundated with yummy inspiration, a flood of ideas and stimulation emerging from both within and without.  The early stage of the creative process is for me often my favorite, although the entire journey of the creative process is exciting and enjoyable.  I wrote a bit about my creative process in my last post, Trust and the Creative Process. 

Fire ceremony ©Photo LEAD

Pele~ Hawaiian Goddess of Fire

Inception of an idea can start anywhere, for example, a hunch, a whisper, a dream, a conversation, an image, a word, a glance, the options are endless really.  To illustrate, I will refer to my latest inspirations for my new Fire Series, as past of my Elements Collection.  From water came fire for me and it was (and tends to be) a spiral-like journey, vs. a straight line.  My initial interactions with the element of Fire was ignited strongly whilst on the Big Island last year when I spent time in meditation, retreat and ceremony with Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of the Volcanoes while at the Kalani Retreat Center.  Pele grabbed me and I have been under her tutelage as my main Muse through this moment as I continue to create my new Fire paintings.  Pele urges us to follow our passion… what’s yours?  Are you following your passion?

Pele flowin’ on the big island of Hawaii ©Photo by MaKia

Excerpt of Fire I in process, 3’X4′, Mixed Media on Canvas ©LEAD

Kilauea, Hawaii

Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world. The Hawaiian mountain has been steadily flowing since 1983! That makes it one of the most long-lived eruptions known on Earth.

I look forward to sharing more about the journey into the Fire as I roll out my paintings one by one over the next few weeks, sharing the story and artwork here and on my website.  Stay tuned and in the meantime, there is a wonderful NEW art show where I am showing the paintings below at,  MUSE: The Art of Transformation and Healing.
Cosmic X, 9X12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper ©LEAD

Lagoon Nebula III, 12X16 inches, Mixed media on paper ©LEAD

Curated by Art 4 All People

June 28 – September 28, 2014

Commonweal Gallery, a nonprofit health and environmental research institute
451 Mesa Rd. Bolinas, CA 94924

Opening Reception and Arts and Healing Festival
Saturday, July 12th from 1:00 pm – 6:00pm

The Opening Event Line-Up

Closing Reception
Saturday, September 27th, 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm

All are welcome! 

Thank you for reading and I invite you to share your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via this blog, my face book page, or email lorien@lorieneck.com.

In love, gratitude and beauty…

www.lorieneck.com

“Art has the power to heal.” ~ Lórien

 

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Silence as good medicine, just like beauty sleep!

Kalani Wedding Flowers ©LE Fine Art (photo)

“If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet…maybe we could understand something.”

  ~Federico Fellini

The month of October was a very special month for me.  After a solid commitment and about 4 months of careful preparation, that included a renewed daily yoga practice, more silence and lots of focused inner work, I felt ready for my retreat at Kalani with one of my teachers’ Cass.  The title of our retreat was Path of Love and its focus was LOVE.  Love as a practice, love for the journey itself, love through all of the spirals, curves, twists, turns and for the SELF.  The retreat center itself was on the Big Island of Hawaii, where Pele the goddess of fire and passion resides.  Kalani retreat center is a beautiful backdrop and sacred container for any retreat, gorgeous jungle, clean air and away from civilization.  Truly a ‘bubble’ enclosing a tropical paradise serving as a crucible for many a phoenix rising.

Our retreat encompassed diving into breath work, movement, art-making, dancing, bio aquatic time in the Watsu pool, silence, sharing and  lots and lots of PLAY in the quantum field of LOVE.  During our 5-day “intensive” together, we honored a day of silence.  This intentional silence time/space truly provided me with my nourishment and the integration that is essential after so much deep unwinding and unraveling…. Yum!  I enjoyed that silence time so much that after retreat concluded, I spent more time in silence during my extended stay at Kalani.  I experienced pure pleasure as I steeped in my own medicinal brew of heightened  SELF awareness, synchronicities and surprises.

Silence has also been a core theme of my long time Raja yoga meditation practice started up in 2001.  So, this was nothing “new” to me, but is so so so integral to propelling my creative evolution forward at this juncture.  What this silence provides for me now is the critical “stitching up” and full embodiment of what emerges and is dis-cover-ed through such a retreat, or any created space for personal growth.  So, as each day rolls out, my beat goes on of weaving the tapestry of my gifts to offer up to our world in a form that is visible, vibrant and juicy…

Thank you for reading and I invite you to write your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via this blog, my face book page, or email lorien@lorieneck.com.

In love, gratitude and beauty…

Personally Experienced and Recommended Resources

Awake-One

Cass Phelps is an amazing individual and his inspired body of work and offerings have been a phenomenal resource for me! His work is comprehensive, relevant and rich…I am eternally grateful to one of my lifetime teachers, Cass.

Kalani Retreat Center

         Kalani is Hawaii’s largest retreat center, one of the best-loved centers  in the world for more than 35 years.

The Torus

The involuting of the Self into itSelf.

www.lorieneck.com

“When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.”

-Eckhart Tolle

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