
Artists as muses
The visionary artist Alex Grey has said, “When artists give form to revelation, their art can advance, deepen and potentially transform the consciousness of their community.” I think of the artistic process - from the crudest beginnings of us rank beginners, to the most refined touch of the world's visionaries and prodigies - as a way that invisible imaginings and dynamics are made visible. We are creating the world moment by moment, with our thoughts feelings and actions, as


The Dance of Color
Wassily Kandinsky, the famed painter said, “Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body.” He said this around the turn of the 20th century before science had a chance to validate the art theorist's assertions. Today we know that people heal from wounds more quickly in rooms painted a certain color, or with a view of nature. Hospital stays are shorter, appetites higher, demeanors calmer and moods br


Art as relationship
As I say often, art saved my life. I'm not talking about fine art - although it is certainly part of the treasure house. What I'm talking about is the waking up of sensory life, and as such, the refinements and insights that come with this awakening. How does it happen? It happens like this: I begin to draw a lady who is posing in front of me. I start with an outline of her thigh, hip and torso, flowing up into the shoulder. Then i move my pencil a bit to try to capture the s


When Art touches a Person
Today I want to speak to the way art can touch people without their ever really comprehending that it's happening. It is a process of intrapsychic wonder that still fascinates me. One client was a professional artist whose husband had been suddenly killed. In her grief she was stuck, kind of wandering around in her life with her talents in one pocket and her overwhelming grief like a shawl of shock wrapped around her person. She responded to an ad for my workshop posted by a

When the muses call
Here's the thing: when you are too exhausted to go on one more day in your great job, or great company, or great non-profit, or great cause, I've got your back. I don't know why Central Casting chose me for this role, but i was chosen (not solely, but chosen nonetheless). This blog was created to offer you little canapes of inspiration about how art acts in our individual, social and planetary lives in myriad ways to enrich our experience of living. What do I mean, "enrich ou