My Manifesta ~Part 2

Happy New Year 2015 my friends!  My wish for you is that this IS your BEST YEAR EVER!  How BIG are you dreaming these days?  What’s in your heart to BE, BEcome and express in this coming year?  We are still in the window of newness and opportunity, so if you are still feeling the transition from 2014 into 2015, it’s okay, totally okay.  It’s not an “overnight” thing, but a gradual process that require time and space.  One of the rituals that I found to be very helpful in my own transition around the end of 2014/New Year’s Eve was to dedicate a block of time to journal and move through a completion exercise that my friend’s Life Coaches Kat and Elizabeth of Journey Into Being Retreats created.  The exercise is guided through an audio Podcast as well as a written text and is a series of reflective questions for your journal.  Here it is for you to check out and do, Podcast: Completions.

Both whilst and after doing the Completions exercise, I felt so much lighter and most importantly, more complete with the last 12-month cycle so that I can move forward intentionally, powerfully, clearly and confidently into 2015!  I have BIG dreams, visions and am super excited to bring these immaterial realities into manifestation!  Woo hoo!  And, I look forward to sharing my creative dreams with YOU via my website www.lorieneck.com and here of course.

So far this year, I have been “in” my sunny outdoor studio painting two of my large-scale paintings within my Fire Series and larger Elements Collection. Here’s a little teaser about the amazing story and impetus for my latest body of work.

Fire I-She (excerpt) 3’X4′ Mixed Media on Canvas

The inspiration for Fire and Water.
Legends speak of an ancient culture of advanced beings, submerged in the ocean and buried beneath the sands of time. Not of the lost city of Atlantis, but an entire continent known to us only as “Mu.” The inhabitants of Mu are said to have been artistically and spiritually inclined, and those immortal energies live on in the paintings and vision of Lórien.

Water IV, (excerpt) 4’X5′ Mixed Media on Canvas

I am looking super forward to sharing more about the magical and fascinating story of the Earth across time through my paintings.

Thank you for reading and I invite you to share your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear your comments here, reach out via my face book page, or email me at lorien@lorieneck.com.

May your year ahead be filled with more love, more peace, more creativity, fun, adventure and play!

In love, gratitude and beauty…

Personally Experienced and Recommended Resources

Journey Into Being Retreat

Quantum Meditation and Transformation

The Reach Approach

Copy Caravan

Conscious Calendars

And, a fun Upcoming Cosmic newsflash  I just learned about from my friend Kathleen Whalen, a Vedic Astrologer and Conscious Calendars founder.

We have a comet visible in the skies right now in Orion’s belt.  http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

Next LIVE viewing of the comet is Sunday January 11, 2015 20:00 UT.

 

www.lorieneck.com

Read Full Post »

Empowerment • Choice • Support

 

My palette for my Fire series, Elements Collection ©LEAD 2014

Warm end of summer (for those of us in the northern hemisphere) greetings to ya!  It’s been a very warm, yet mild summer here in So Cal and quite the productive one for this artist as I make progress, day by day, on my latest body of work, paintings Fire I, II, III.  As these paintings are born into completion, I will be sharing photos as well as some “in studio, in action” shots.  In addition to working in my studio and attending gallery events at LGOCA (Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art in Laguna Beach), I feel fortunate and grateful to be able to donate my energy and resources to a great cause that I truly believe in.

The organization is called Girls PACT,  a non-profit, curriculum-based program for young women ages 14-21 based in West L.A. that develops personal values, fosters self-confidence, teaches sexual health, promotes healthy lifestyles and serves the community by empowering young girls to make informed decisions, with confidence, so they may succeed in school, love and life.  Their mission is to inspire young girls to put themselves, their education, goals, and dreams above all else.

I found this to be an inspiring fact about Girls PACT:

OUR Statistics! (check out this link for more info About Girls PACT)

Below are the stats for our Girls PACT program. 

• Nearly 3 in 10 teen girls in the US will get pregnant at least once before age 20
• We have been offering the Girls PACT program for 18 months
• Resulting in ZERO pregnancies
• With ZERO current funding

My own personal experience as a young woman growing up through those tender years provided me a strong “learning curve” of developing self-confidence and making healthy choices, was certainly learned “the hard way”.  Fortunately I had some tough lessons early on which prompted me to be somewhat conservative throughout my high school and early university years.  I certainly experienced my share of painful lessons around self-esteem and self-respect throughout those years, and honestly, I still am growing, evolving and becoming in these areas of Self- realization.  Process, progress, not perfection is a motto that I like.

My inspiration and motivation to support Girls PACT is directly informed by my own traumatic experiences from ages 14-18 as well as my working directly with hundreds of young women ages 11-18 for over 14 years in the public education system.  My life’s journey has been immersed in deep healing and spiritual work, and lots of support from friends, a variety of healing professionals and spiritual teachers.  My vision and commitment is to support young women in any way that I can through sharing my time, energy, resources and my earned wisdom and I have chosen Girls PACT as one of my organizations to give to.  Looking back, I certainly wish that I had mentors during those times, to guide and support me through the labyrinth of changes, choices and opportunities.  With date rape, teen pregnancy, abuse (emotional, physical), body image issues, eating disorders and more on the rise, it is more important than ever to educate, empower and protect young women from these elements of our ever-changing world.

My introduction to Girls PACT is through a good friend of mine who is on the board and I am delighted to be able to donate a Soul Cosmology Painting Experience™ to their 1st Fundraising event, see details below.  All are welcome to this 21+ event!

 To purchase tickets, click here.

 

 Soul Cosmology Painting Experience™ samples

“Lori” Mixed Media on Paper

“Cindy” Mixed Media on Paper

“Kat” Mixed Media on Paper

Thank you for reading and I invite you to share your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via commenting on 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

Read Full Post »

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

 

Read Full Post »