heArt Exchange

In May, I took part in Louise Gale's heArt Exchange 

To quote Louise:

heART exchange is a global art swap to create, share & receive LOVE in the form of a gorgeous piece of artwork. 

This is the second exchange I have taken part in and I can share this now as our pieces of heArt have been sent and received.

I received this lovely mixed media piece from my partner Michelle all the way from Fort Wayne, Indiana. This little bird flew across the Atlantic Ocean bringing Michelle's heart energy all the way to me in the north east of England.

I love the swirling pastel green and the pasted hearts but especially love the little bird and her heart.  What you can't see in this pic is that Michelle added gold detail around the edges, on the hearts, the bird and on the text - just beautiful!!

I sent Michelle a little hand made book full of love and hearts and heart filled messages.

You can click on each image to enlarge. 

I just love the concept of heArt Exchange -putting in a few hours creating something special from your heart for someone you've never met and spreading that heart energy and love around the world.

If you feel inspired to take part head over to the website at http://yourheartmakesadifference.com/heart-exchange/ and sign up for the next one - you won't regret it!!

How do you connect with your heArt?

From my heart to yours

Rachel x

Painting!

I've had fun painting and preparing to paint since the last time.  

I'm still using Flora Bowley's method of painting in layers - it makes sense to me - our lives are layers of emotions and experience - we are all multi-faceted.  I enjoy applying the paint in what seems like a random act and watching the painting take on a life of its own.

I decided to re-cycle some canvases I had started and not finished or was dis-satisfied with - this felt great to watch them come back to life!

Once they were on their way, I chose one and started the next layers.  This canvas is the one closest to you in the image above - it started life as a mandala - you can just see the purple and blue underneath.  The energy of the mandala is retained throughout the subsequent painting even through its toning down and calming colours 

This painting went through several different incarnations - the most difficult bits were the flower heads - the details in life are often the trickiest to sort out but here's the finished piece (and it is peace full)...

I'm still working on this next one, but I like the pics of the process.  This is painted over a symbol of the sacral chakra:

I love the colours that are retained from the original painting and the energy of the marks from my overpainting. Like the paintings we are all many layered, we can't (and don't want to!!) rub things out completely - what has gone before is what makes us how we are today.

I'm fascinated that this process has so many parallels in my life...

I love the energy that is in the early stages of these paintings - and I have this energy, but I can't live at that level; I have to have calm, so too my paintings become calmer...

What is your process - in life, in painting??

Letting it flow

I started to make a journal page yesterday with a dear friend in mind - she has been going through a tough time. I wanted to make something that expressed my love for her and to let her know how loved she is - not just by me, but by Source, the angels, her friends and family....  

As I made the pages, I decided to take pics of the process because that's what we're all in the middle of - a process - however tough it feels right this minute,  it will not stay this way - the tide ebbs and flows and our emotions do the same.

Lots of people have been going through it recently so this goes out to everyone who has been feeling a bit low, emotional or just going through whatever changes are happening for you right now.

The words on the journal pages just flowed as I started writing:

Let your emotions flow and know that you are supported; let your emotions flow and know that you are loved;  let yourself go and know love; let yourself know...

So be easy on your Self and let those emotions flow and know that YOU ARE LOVED...

 

 

 Art journalling is my way of letting my emotions flow and getting them out there - what's yours??

Art with heArt

Hi there!

This week I've been journalling most days and I've also been creating my piece for this quarter's heArt Exchange  I can't show you it yet, beacuse my heart swap partner doesn't know what it looks like!  But I can show you the mandala I sent out last year to the lovely Kim Nanstad Hutchinson who has her blog at http://jumbledhutch.wordpress.com/ and the gorgeous pendant she sent me...

I love the little owl and his blue heart - this came beautifully packaged - it was so good to send something off and know that a little heArt-centred packet was on its way to me!!  

I love the concept of heArt Exchange:

Giving and receiving is the constant flow of energy for our heart and what better way than to create, send and receive something beautiful and hand-made through your letter box.

Louise Gale

Louise loves to spread the love and to encourage us to do so too - she also runs heArtFull Mondays and today I have submitted one of my journal pages 'Cosmos of the Heart' 

From my heArt to yours...

Update on Monday, May 21, 2012 at 11:39AM by Rachel Ellen Andrews

ps I have also added a mailing list subscribe button to my blog - it's at the top of the right hand column - just click and subscribe to get updates via email...

Hi, I'm here

Hi I'm new to blogging, but I'm here!! 

2011 was a big, big year for me.  I started to make art again.  

I originally trained in Fine Art, graduating in 1980, leaving university knowing that I wanted to PAINT.  I did this for 7 years, supporting myself with various part time jobs, but in those days, pre-internet, it was much tougher to sell art and get yourself out there.  I made my paintings, but I didn't sell any.  When I hit 30 I became severely depressed and stopped painting.  I came out of my depression, but by that time I had my first child and then didn't find the desire to go back to my creativity.  Life went on, the years went by; I had another child and another depression and other important life events meant that my creative self went deeper and deeper.

But she was still there, sleeping in my heart, till one day she woke up and I couldn't ignore her whispers anymore.  The whispers became shouts and I knew I had to start making art again.  I began with art jounalling and creating mandalas. Both were extremely healing processes for me.

During this time I did a lot of healing work on myself using Angelic Reiki as my main means of support. This inner healing enabled me to find out what I really, truly wanted to do with my life and I committed to daily art/creative practice; first of all with Louise Gale's Colour Bliss Mini Retreat and then just took off on my own.  I wasn't too hard on myself - if I didn't do any art, I created vision boards, mind mapped to define my dreams or baked a cake.

Slowly, over a period of months the need to make art a  much bigger part of my life grew and grew until I realised that my BIG dream was to stop teaching holistic therapies and live a CREATIVE life - to be the artist I dreamed of being in my 20's.  This would be a giant step - I had been teaching for 12 years and had built up my own training business.  I took Kelly Rae Robert's Flying Lessons and found that I knew in my heart of hearts that I could do whatever I wanted to do...

I've taken baby steps towards that dream - I've led a mandala workshop, facilitated my first creative healing workshop and co-taught two goddess workshops (which are based on soul work through creativity).  Most importantly, having spent a year doing art journalling and mixed media work I started PAINTING again thanks to Flora Bowley's course, Bloom True.

And so...where am I now??  

In the last month I've taken the GIANT step!!  I've given up teaching therapies and handed in my keys for my training/therapy room.  My training business still exists (Amethyst Holistic Training) but now I do the admin but no teaching, therefore freeing up time for creativity.

'You have to put yourself out there, if you want the Universe to come rushing in...' 

Kelly Rae Roberts

I've spent the last 18 months re-connecting to my creative self and at last I've reached a point where I feel brave enough to put myself and my art out there.  And now I really, really want the Universe to come rushing in...

I'm here!!  Here I am...