These are beautiful one-of-a-kind original watercolor painting necklaces. They sparkle, a luscious punch of style, like jewels but crafted with iridescent, gold, silver and vivid luxurious pigments. Practically, they are durably sealed to outlast Costa Rican heat and water (please don't put them in the laundry though!). Ultimately, they are meaningful gifts that seal friendship, memories, love and self.
It is official. Goodbye Adrian made the cover of the German magazine raum & zeit (Space & Time). The magazine runs in print and is available in Germany. I have a few copies in Seattle but none in Costa Rica.
How did this happen?
I was discovered online. The magazine did a review of possible covers and Goodbye Adrian won the honor.
Yes, they contacted me for permission and paid me fairly for the use of my artwork. In a digital age, there are still organizations that respect copyright and the work of artists.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it. I’m honored.
Despite being on a hiatus from almost everything in Costa Rica my art and Adrian can take on a life of their own.
This work is a story of miscarriage, a story of meaning-making from loss, a closing, as well as a story of hope and beauty in the tragic.
This story, not an easy one, is being honored and being seen. It gives me hope for my art, the world and women.
“I always finish a painting in a day – max 2 days” she said. And I thought Wow.
“I can work on a painting for up to 6 months.” was my response.
We both looked at each other in awe.
The creative process takes many forms and there is no one right way. But lately, I have been exploring my limits and then pushing them.
What if I’m abusing the seemingly Unlimited and Abundant? In this case – Time? So I experimented.
I sat down and painted these three 12″ x 16″ watercolors with these constraint; paint for 2 hours max and when the time is done, you are done, no fixing, no double backing, no thinking about it – You Are Done.
Here is what I learned:
Constraints paradoxically Facilitate Freedom. Without a time constraint, there was actually too much to consider and too much time to think about it. I moved forward from stroke to stroke without doubt because there was not time for doubt!
Constraints provide Focus. With a constraint, I knew I had to finish and with that tension came precision in my artistic decision making.
Constraints encourage Experimentation. Knowing I had to finish on time, made me more likely to try some things I wouldn’t have before and to follow my instincts as I painted.
Breaking Down Limits yields an Abundance of Creative Energy. Since trying this experiment, my work has exploded and creative blocks have disappeared. I’ve grown more appreciative of my technical capacity and believe in my ability to do this work. And I more implicitly trust my artistic instincts.
I’ve come to regard the practice of painting with constraints like writing freely in a journal. Set a timer, choose the colors and just paint, see what happens, follow your instincts, Let Go and the world opens up.
There are incredible storms in Costa Rica, but none match the one I’ve lately tended to inside. A little over two months ago, I left my burgeoning art career in Seattle to move to rural Costa Rica. And my identity was lifted in the air and then…what?
The storm and dissonance are my path now. I have relearned firsthand that the moments when identity is challenged are powerfully formative, if uncomfortable.
Almost nightly, I watch lightning, matched by rainy sheets, occasional torrents and echoing thunder. And I breathe deep, bracing myself with who I am and want to be; an artist, a writer, a mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, strong, starting over and learning to enjoy the stormy ride.
Are you looking for inspiration? A little down to earth reflection and renewal? Want to stay current on what’s new and what to expect from Marika? My emails are food for thought packaged with color, soul and humor.
One week left in Seattle and then we hop on the plane for a new adventure in Costa Rica. Mostly, packing has consisted of purging, the getting rid of and lightening, but I’m willing to carry a few items for sentimental reasons. I will paint in Costa Rica. I’m packing all my paints but I can’t realistically take all my paintings. I’ve settled on five and as usual they tell a collective story not only of my painting, but the reasons why we have made this decision to pick it all up and try something new for our family.
A Beautiful Mind (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke 2015 Watercolor
Life Begins at Sea (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Daire’s Dragon (c) Marika Reinke 2015 Watercolor
A Wedding Vow After 12 Years (c) Marika Reinke Sept 2014 Watercolor
It has now been 13 years married and a partnership 15 years old. But the sentiment of A Wedding Vow After 12 Years so perfectly describes the complexity of our marriage. And believe me, this big move, the huge purging of a very settled life, the intentionally unsettling and the transition time is creating a few more explosions, merging and reconstituting. We move in hopes of realizing some dreams but also in reconnecting over a slower paced life too. This big change is also a renewal of our vows and the painting is a worthy reminder.
Continuing with the theme of bringing our family closer together, Daire’s Very Not Perfect and Wonderfully Uncompromising Dragon is dedicated to my son and his initial rendering, but also an illustration of the stubborn insistence on believing in magic and that you can have just about everything, even if it contradicts itself. Because we believe this, we move to Costa Rica just to see what happens.
Life Begins at Sea is a painting based on my daughter’s drawing and commitment to our family. But this also illustrates our commitment to sustainability and the natural world, not to mention we will be living in an area saturated with many nesting sea turtles. The school the kids will be going to, La Paz Community School, is also committed to the legacy of sustainability and is a strong motivation for sending them there. This one must come.
Unusual Weather is one of my personal favorites. It is a story of climate change. As rapidly as the world is changing around us, I feel a deep need to go see it before it all slips away and reforms itself. This is why now is the time; not retirement, not when the kids are out of the house. Now. Those years in the future are filled with doubt and likely unlike anything it is now when these other milestones hit. I want my kids to have memories of the way the world is now, not an urban life or in the shadow of collective political panic of climate disruption. Now we go.
A Beautiful Mind is dedicated to my son again, who we recently found out is dyslexic (and as a result we found out my husband is too). This realization has reconnected me to my passion for education, specifically for dyslexics and educational justice. I have been fascinated by the study this summer and will spend the next couple years helping my son literally re-wire his brain to become as fluent a reader as he can be. It represents another renewed commitment to the best I can give my family, not to mention I think the painting rocks.
They are now rolled up and waiting for their next adventures, just like us.
This commission is taking me a long time to finish. I make three decisions and then I’m exhausted, and the paint needs to dry. I walk away.
As I work, I think about my client. She has an irreversible and deadly disease. This painting is for her life partner as a parting gift, in memory of their life together. Their best memories are in the water, the mantas are metaphors and symbols.
Thrilling, intimate, scary, flowing, connecting …. fill in the rest here.
We all know life is finite. But it is another thing to know death is looming. It is another thing to be touched intimately by it and be asked to partake in the goodbyes.
I love her (my client). Every decision is a worth a million more than the thought that goes into it. I want to have all the time in the world to finish this painting. I want anything to slow down goodbyes. I never want this painting done so she can never give it to him. So she will never die.
So I slow down. And reflect on color and life.
The Birth story: color and life
Of the images she gave me, there were sea turtles, mantas, sea life, water, underwater corral. Of the words she gave me, mantas, moving together, light and colors, love and the stories she has shared with me about them.
This image burned for me. This is sketched and painted on 9 x 12″.
Which eventually led to a rough idea and agreement.
I changed the mantas as little as I worked on the larger image which is about 26″ x 26″. They are purple; regal and spiritual. They come together in a more fluid shape. They merge so one is undecipherable from the other. The energize each other at the connection point.
And then I add background color. I also altered the color scheme a little, adding deeper blues and simplifying. The challenge is to keep the eye on the mantas while creating motion, energy, support and a story with color. A vivid purple draws the eye in just the right places, there should be color and contrast where meaning occurs.
The aquamarine frames the mantas. Dark colors keep the eye inward. The yellow draws the eyes to it and the mantas. Purple and yellow are complimentary colors, they glow next to each other.
Now I’m happy with the basic composition which is different than the first sketch. I took what worked from it and added and subtracted. Then, I return to the blues and yellows, softening, shading, darkening and adding depth.
This week, I came back to the mantas with more layers of colors and shading. The rewards for patience pay back huge in vibrancy and motion. The mantas are deeper purple now, the result is higher contrast which builds more energy and richness to the painting.
What is left?
I need to keep working the shading in the two mantas, their upper bodies are still a bit ill-defined and the background colors still need a few more layers for richness and just the right frame.
Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015 #WIP
She loves it. Believe me, she would tell me if she didn’t. I’m relieved and joyful. This project aches, but I’m so pleased that this painting is doing what she wants and needs it to do.
The specter of climate change is an underlying disquiet. What unusual weather we are having is small talk, a subtle code and acknowledgement. There is change emerging around a corner too sharp to see around.
The question is not if it is a hoax or who caused it. The real questions: What will humans do about the impending change? Can we adapt? Will we fail or thrive as a species?
I do not know.
The Earth is healing. She’ll be fine. She may throw us off like unwelcome parasites to make room for her rebirth. But this world will re-emerge, glowing, growing and beautiful.
Are you looking for inspiration? A little down to earth reflection and renewal? Want to stay current on what’s new and what to expect from Marika? My emails are food for thought packaged with color, soul and humor.
I dislike the word “disabled” and the word “disorder” is just as bad. These words focus on the many ways someone is not <some “normal” trait> which can be fairly translated as not mediocre. Words like “disabled” and “disorder” reveal weepingly dysfunctional thinking. Sadly, they are hurtful. Yet they are institutional terms we pretend are stripped of emotional impact.
Why focus on “not”? Why not reveal the strengths and nuance? Why not celebrate not mediocre?
So it is with dyslexia which at root means having difficulty reading. Many of you likely believe that it means someone who has difficulty keeping words still on the page.
What is not well known is that this common assumption is not always true and more interesting is this difficulty keeping a word still on page is a symptom of a fascinating, beautiful, amazing talent.
Research has emerged that dyslexics are particularly advantaged in a bouquet of abilities and one of them is three dimensional spatial reasoning. A high percentage of architects, engineers, artists are dyslexic (Leonardo DiVinci was all three and dyslexic). They are genius visual thinkers.
The problem: a word on a page is two-dimensional and highly symbolic. A dyslexic intuitively seeks to understand the word by picking it up with his/her mind, turning it around, understanding it on a contextual three-dimensional level. This strategy works in almost any other context but symbols on paper. And this strength, that will help a dyslexic excel in construction, sculpture, problem solving, visual reasoning, creativity, management, advanced mathematical concepts and even planning will only send them down the path of failure at a traditional school.
Disabled is not the word I would use to describe a dyslexic. Perhaps it suits the education system better. It is certainly not a just system.
Those strengths are not assessed in school but in the real world, watch out. A dyslexic will score 30% higher on a creativity test than a “normal” person. 35% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Some of the most creative thinkers and leaders are dyslexic; Einstein, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, Winston Churchill, Ann Rice and John Irving. A blind sample of the population, regardless of gender or culture reveals that up to 20% of the population is dyslexic. (See Reading List below.)
My son is dyslexic.
This also means he is a right-brain visual thinker with weak neural circuitry to his left brain language processing center. He is six and in kindergarten. It is a research-bound fact that if he is taught with a functional multi-sensory explicit phonics-based teaching approach now, he has a high chance to learn to read just as well if not better than his peers. Currently, schools tend to eschew this method because the assumption is it isn’t fun, familiar or popular though more children can learn to read and become better spellers with this method.
So, if your learning style isn’t fun, you are out of luck? And the “disorder” award goes to…?
Most importantly, a dyslexic mind is a Beautiful Mind.
A Beautiful Mind (c) Marika Reinke 2015Three 10″ x 7″ Watercolors (c) Marika Reinke
Achingly so.
It is a world of exploding visual imagery. It is a space of diffuse connections, creative problem solving, intuition, enhanced awareness and rapid analysis. But it is a wordless, though not silent, world. A dyslexic does not reason verbally. Words come later on, after the unfolding imagery has revealed sometimes astounding insight.
A Trapped Word
A Trapped Word (c) Marika Reinke 2015
It is difficult for a dyslexic to access the right word while speaking. The clutter of visual imagery, the diffuse connections stall the verbal processing and the neural connection just isn’t as tight as the images, sounds, emotions, patterns that are dancing in their thoughts. A word is trapped. It can not come loose. But don’t mistake this for a still mind, this mind is dancing in the jittery shadows, clutching its fluid jail bars and searching for a pattern to un-rip and let loose the word.
A Word Unraveling
A Word Unraveling (c) Marika Reinke 2015
This brain will always process words differently. Because a dyslexic’s strength is diffuse connections, every word is layered with an explosion of meaning. Not just synonyms, but pictures, experiences, sounds, patterns, physical feelings and emotions. The word unravels into an explosion of possibility and meanings. A mind capable of turning over so many possibilities means a deeper understanding of a single word. The trade off for a deeper understanding is speed, reading will often be slower, but comprehension is so much richer.
An Intuitive Leap
An Intuitive Leap (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Because the gift of dyslexia includes a rich internal visual reasoning capacity, a dyslexic will often come to amazing intuitive conclusions that reveal a rich and complete understanding as well as astounding creativity. These insight can appear like flukes, because to us this mind can’t seem to properly verbalize or read a simple word like “it”. But they are not flukes. They are the result of complex and rapid processing undefinable by words. They are the result of a thinking system unrestrained by the limits of symbolic and analytical language.
My Son and I
My son continues to inspire me. I’m so thankful to have identified this early. More importantly, I’m grateful for what he teaches me about the brain, creativity, intuition, problem solving and teaching. And Love.
The OriginalA Beautiful Mind is available for sale as a triptych (all three): $350 Prints of All Three: $75 A Single Print of one of the three: $35 5″ x 7″ Cards are available to order. Pack of 10: $35. Please specify if you want the triptych or a single image.
Are you looking for inspiration? A little down to earth reflection and renewal? Want to stay current on what’s new and what to expect from Marika? My emails are food for thought packaged with color, soul and humor.
When I painted this, I based it off a picture of a galaxy I have pinned on my “Color Schemes” Pinterest board. I wanted pinks, rich purples, blues and some white blasts of light but not a literal translation of the photo. The final doesn’t look like the galaxy, it was never my intent to end there, only to start there.
As I worked on it, I added the white gouache to the wet colors and watched the white expand and speckle the painting. It was amazing. It looked almost exactly like the galaxy, but I didn’t do it, the water did it (I swear it!).
There is mystery everywhere but also order. I love chaos theory.
This necklace is a reminder that living in that mystery, accepting the chaotic order and creativity of the universe and being inspired and engaged there is a worthy life purpose.
This one has been sold. But I’ve listed a couple others left over from my Art in the Park debut on my Etsy shop for $40 plus free shipping.
CONTACT ME
I will collaborate with you to make a personalized custom pendant for $50. They are a great gift with a special message. I also personally make pendants from any of my paintings for $40. Send me a message for details.
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