Norse Goddesses

I was recently talking to a friend of mine about myth and goddesses. I thought I'd share some illustrations I did of Norse goddesses that I did many years ago...

Freyja-Norse goddess of love, fertility, beauty, daughter of Frigga

Frigga-Norse mother goddess, wife of Odin, spinning the fates

Sif-Wife of Thor, fair-haired like the color of wheat Enjoy!

Tim Minchin and Kirsten Dunst

So I've been doing some portraits lately. In between watercolor pieces, I got out my #B pencils. When I was younger, like in high school, I did a lot of portraits and I thought I'd rediscover my love for them. I like choosing people I am interested in, maybe it's their creative work (like musicians or actors), or if I have seen a movie that I find riveting, I might do their portrait too. But I particularly like portraying emotions and feeling states and capturing someone's expression. I recently saw the film "Melancholia" and loved it for it's depiction of what people do when disaster strikes and their emotional responses to threat. I thought Kirsten Dunst did an excellent portrayal of falling into a depressive state. This portrait I did on a freeze frame from the opening shots of the film.

The other person here is Mr. Tim Minchin! Our family is a big fan of this comedian/musician. He is incredibly talented. He has crazy teased red hair and wears dark eyeliner. I love his irreverant humor. You can see more of his work on youtube. So of course, Mr. Tim Minchin needed to be drawn as well!

I do commissioned portraits so if you are in love with a certain celebrity, or want a portrait of a family member, I would love to create a piece of artwork for you!

Compassion Bears in the Forest

This is a watercolor I did called "Compassion Bears." Inspired by a Buddhist type of meditation called Metta (Lovingkindness).

May I be safe.

May I be healthy.

May I be happy.

May I be at ease.

I was thinking a lot about compassion for the self and reading a wonderful book called "The Mindful Way to Self-Compassion" by Christopher Germer. When we are faced with pain, whether physical or emotional we can easily extend some self-compassion for ourselves through metta. Self-soothing. These compassion bears are coming through the forest with hearts of compassion to soothe you.

The Kindergarten Lineup

What has happened to my blogging? It has gone by the wayside! School is now in full swing, my son has entered Kindergarten. The first couple of weeks were full of transitions, harder for me than for him I think. That first day of school was so iconic. Kids crying, some happy, moms and dads milling about watching over their young, saying goodbye, tears shedding in secret as their kids walked away with their teacher. My tears came on and off for that entire week, as I watched my mind go backwards in time to when he was small. Stay in the present I reminded myself, as I walked through Costco trying to buy groceries. But also allowing the feelings to be there and to subside. Not to get swept away into the Bermuda triangle of emotions. It is easy to get swept up in emotion mind. Dwelling in equanimity, that is harder, but more pleasant. A friend of mine said to me, "Don't stuff your feelings, or else they will come out sideways." I love that analogy. I am also selling my original watercolors on Etsy, so please check them out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/JenniferBaylis I am keeping them affordable so that they can be enjoyed! Now I give you "The Kindergarten Lineup." Watercolor on paper, 9x6 inches.

Snow White and the Huntsman

I'm such a big Snow White fan that I have two tattoos from the fairy tale on my body, I sing songs around the house from the Disney version and in general am a bit obsessed. So why the current Hollywood resurrection of her in two recent movies? I wonder. I did not see "Mirror, Mirror," but I'll probably Netflix it when it comes out. I'm just not a big Julia Roberts fan. But I was chomping at the bit to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" because of it's dark appeal and looked like it would take some interesting turns from the original. So to celebrate our 12th year wedding anniversary, we had our date night with this movie and a couple of pints afterwards at Muldoon's here in Newport. First off, it was a feast for the eyes, darkly beautiful and inspiring, visually stunning. The whole film seemed to have blue/grey filter on it. It was filmed in the UK amongst the rocky crags and cliffs. Gorgeous! I thought Kristen Stewart did a pretty good job with the Snow White role, she plays a tough Snow White. I know Kristen gets a lot of bad rap but she was good enough in my opinion for this role. Charlize Theron rocked the wicked queen and I liked how they amped up her magical ability. She truly was obsessed with beauty at any cost. The costuming was scrumptious too...the wicked queen wears a dress adorned with bird skull heads. Creepy! There is also a twist at the end with who awakens Snow White from her spell. Critics said that the movie was undone by uneven acting, problematic pacing and a confused script. Hell, I didn't care, it was Snow White, she's my heroine and I probably would have liked it no matter what! Two thumbs up from me. I leave you with my new recent tattoo of Snow White's poison apple. It's on the back of my forearm, opposite my Snow White portrait. It was done by Lindsey Carmichael at Gold Rush Tattoo.

Small Watercolors

I've been working on small watercolors again, 3x5 inches and enjoying working on a small scale. The aim of these is to use them for affirmation cards or what I'm calling Dharma cards, inspired by Zen and Buddhism. I'd like to sell them on Etsy...to inspire, to meditate on, to bring comfort. I hope you like these.

Watercolor is such a nice fluid medium. I can be spontaneous, non-thinking, free flowing, more instinctual. They can be quick, simple, sparse, just hinting at something without being fussy and overworked.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Zen quotes: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few." -Shunryu Suzuki

Art as Therapy

In the past few weeks, I've been doing more drawing of a therapeutic nature to deal with my feelings and emotions. Turning to art in the midst of strong emotions is healing and cathartic to me. It's always been like a friend in the midst of inner turmoil. It's as if I can just get it out of me onto paper, it weakens it's hold and I feel some release. It is art therapy.

So in particular what was coming up were these sad feelings that my son will be going to Kindergarten in the fall, even though he has been going to Junior Kindergarten this whole year at St. Andrews. But he'll be moving schools which brings up change and well, like the Buddha said, there is impermanence! (I don't do well with a lot of change.) There is the transition into summer and summer schedules and then another transition into a new school. I was getting anxious about that! Well, then I had to go to an orientation at the school he will be attending, which set me off again, so I used my mindfulness practice to deal with my experience at the time and I wrote these words that morning...please excuse any rambling. It's largely unedited.

"So I go to a Kindergarten orientation for my son today, which doesn’t start for 4 months. My parent friend Paul, shares some of his feelings with me as we go on our tour. “It’s going so fast.” We hear that often as parents, this idea, this refrain, of “it’s going so fast.” “They grow up fast.” We wish we could slow things down, but this is just how time works. This is just the way things are in the universe. Time doesn’t stand still, it keeps moving. We do too, but we are not as open to seeing that. We may not want to see ourselves as changing, not aging, but we are…kids are growing, we are aging. This points again to just the way life is. The impermanence of everything. The impermanence of our own lives. I started having sad feelings, watching my mind go backwards in time when he was a baby, then seeing it reach anxiously at the future when he goes to his first day of kindergarten and I have to let him get in line and say goodbye. Oh, that bittersweet feeling. Oh, these feelings we feel as mothers, how tender they are. Noticing the strong body sensations as I let myself cry. Then I remind myself that things are just the way they are. These feelings come up for most all mothers. Alas, he will grow up. He is blooming like a flower. And I get to watch him bloom. Am I blooming too? Can I allow myself to bloom fully into the flower that I am? To not be scared of these feelings, to allow myself to have them. To allow life to work in me and through me. To not be afraid of change, of this impermanence. To just simply experience my life. I watch my son and he is not afraid to live fully in the now. I can learn a lot from him. A zen monk once said that if he could learn from a seven year old, he would."

Here is me as Snow White, that iconic figure I love so much, crying as her son enters kindergarten. The unicorn girl is more ambiguous in nature, it wasn't a planned drawing. See what kind of symbolism you can find.