Category: A Life of Art Blog

August 13, 2015

The Paintings I Carry

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

I’ll start at the beginning.

A Wedding Vow After 12 Years (c) Marika Reinke Sept 2014

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.

Daire’s Dragon (c) Marika Reinke 2015

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 (c) Marika Reinke 2015

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 (c) Marika Reinke 2015

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 (c) Marika Reinke 2015

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.

August 7, 2015

The Art of Moving

Countdown to Costa Rica

Purging and simplifying a family and home of over a dozen years is a daunting task. Sifting through the massive pile of stuff hidden in the secret pockets of this old house has been both an adventure into timeless memories and a horror story. Old letters and photographs aside, we have just plain accumulated a lot of used and useless stuff. Until last week, this pile of forgotten things was one of the remaining obstacles separating us from the impending adventure to Costa Rica.

And then we sold or gave half of our stuff away at a massive family Moving Sale of epic proportions. I felt a shudder of relief as it left our house never to return.

Ironically, our house does not feel empty. Sure, the unused are gone; open most cabinets and closets and they are almost bare. But daily items still litter our dining room, coffee table and studio in a comfortable clutter.

Now that the stuffed psychic burden has lifted, I can turn to the box of framed original paintings that have flummoxed me. I will take some, I will store some. But the truth is, I’d much rather leave them in your loving hands and sell them to you.

The Art of Moving Sale

Small Paintings $100 and under
Silk Scarves for $35 (usually $65)

Pregnancy and Creation Series Under $200 each

Large Paintings under $300

Garden on Fire (c) Marika Reinke

Here’s the Deal:

I’m discounting original paintings and scarves at great deals! I’ll pay for shipping for the originals (without frame). If you live in the Seattle area, I’ll deliver to you with the frame. Payment plans and bulk discounts are available.

All paintings come with a certificate of authenticity and a story card

Contact me at [email protected] to purchase a painting or scarf or schedule a studio visit to check out everything available including prints and pendants.

Deal ends August 21st, 2015.

July 31, 2015

Mantas: A Love Story

Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015

There is no hope in understanding a marriage. It is bound by love and faith, not analysis. There is love in one another and more importantly love in what they create together. This home, this family, this feeling, this conversation, this intimacy, this strength, the gift giving, forgiveness and courage they form together and this friendship only exists in this marriage. It is incomprehensible… and a wondrous fact.

Watercolor 28″ x 27″

More of the Manta Story: A Story of Color and Life

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July 17, 2015

Working with Color & Life

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.

I could work on this forever.

She might have to tell me when to stop.

July 13, 2015

The Uprootable Family

Three years ago on the beach in Honolulu, my husband and I promised each other that 2015 was our year to change our lives, a year to do something crazy, a year to invite adventure and play out a little dream just to see how it goes. We have been quietly setting up our lives to do it, saving money, making plans, discussing it and coming to an agreement.

It is 2015 and everything is moving in one direction. On August 21st, we are all hopping on a plane and moving to Costa Rica for a year or two or so. Just to see how it goes. Details have been firming up since our recognizance trip this April.

My life right now is balancing the commitments I have left here which include a couple of commissions and stocking inventory for a gift shop consignment deal, cleaning up, packing and purging the house, connecting at least one more time with special friends and neighbors and a lot of daydreaming about what life will be like in less than 6 weeks.

I have been painting but I have not been blogging about it. I'll get better, I promise. I will be painting in Costa Rica, no doubt about it.

You can follow this new adventure more closely at the blog dedicated to it here:

https://uprootable.wordpress.com/

We are the Uprootable Family.

Much love and excitement to all of you.

Posted with Blogsy

June 26, 2015

There is so much about this whole being human thing that I can find wanting. My imagination paints the ideal picture and nothing will measure up. It is after all, my imagination. And my perfectionism. And my idealism. Which are flip sides of criticism. It is easy to criticize. And sometimes criticism is good. It can make us better.

I’ve finally got this watercolor paper prepped to my standards, (my perfectionism) for my next commission.

The beginning, a blank sheet.

This next commission is not a perfect story. It is a completely wanting story and one that breaks my heart. Because we are human. Because we are mortal. Because in the end, we may not get everything we want out of this life. It doesn’t really all lay in our hands, there is fate and forces completely out of control. There is death.

And the most not perfect thing of all is love. There is Love. Love is not wanting. It just is. The act of appreciating Love in the face of nothing perfect is what this commission is about.

The trust placed in me in enormous.

It is teaching me to balance my perfectionism with pure and loving appreciation.

June 24, 2015

Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke

Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke 2015

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.

Watercolor 21″ x 30″

BUY HERE

Buy Unusual Weather Here

The Original Unusual Weather is available for sale: $800
21″ x 30″ Limited Edition Prints: $95
5″ x 7″ Cards are available to order. Pack of 10: $35.

Contact me directly for smaller prints and I can quote them for you.

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June 15, 2015

How to Make Magic: A Primer in 6 Steps (Part 3 of 3)

Don’t worry, I did not forget about Magic. Never. I’ve said it before, magic takes time, patience, investment and belief. I’ve been working on all these things myself. I hope you have to.

If you did forget, here are posts 1 and 2. They are critical prerequisites to reading Part 3.

Now that you have been working on a strategy and guiding your belief. You are ready for the last and most challenging steps for creating magic. Steps 4 – 6.

Step 4. Act and Learn

This is the critical hard and easy part. NOW you must do what you say!

No one is going to give this idea to you. You will have to give this idea to the world. Do this as if your life depended on it. Because it does.

All ingredients to our potion are critical. Add Share and Act. You must.

I know this is scary. People will laugh. You will be rejected. You will not believe. Definitely, not everyone is going to agree. Your family will not think it is possible. Some people will make you really, really angry.

That is okay. You can survive these things. None of them are lethal.

Your greatest teachers are Rejection and Fear. They will lead you to your goals. They will teach you to appreciate your successes and fine tune your idea.

Here is a secret…

Having an Idea is like being a parent or gardener. An idea is born, you raise, nourish, teach and mentor this little being, from infant to adult.

Then you must let it go.

You can no longer protect it. It must go into the Sea of Big Ideas.

The Sea of Big Ideas is what defines the world. It is a swirling with ideas and people, just like you! And some of those ideas are really big, really old, really scary. Some of those people are too. But there are also really friendly, creative, delightful ideas here and there are really wonderful, amazing people here too.

This Big Sea of Ideas creates forces. Forces are made because an idea has power.

When you put your idea into the Sea, these forces will push and pull on your idea.

You must be flexible! Stay true to your idea and watch these forces. Determine if they are useful or corrupt. Be thoughtful and patient as you test your idea. Observe. These forces are complex and surprising. They can help you as much as they can hurt you. Learn from them.

You are an apprentice so be prepared. The first time in the Sea of Big Ideas unexpected things will happen, some good and some not-so-good. These forces are unpredictable and much bigger than you.

But always, remember your vision. Pay attention to this and learn. What needs to change? What can you improve?

Step 5: Create community

You will begin to notice these forces pushing and pulling, accepting and rejecting your idea, providing feedback and influencing you are just collections of people who believe in ideas.

Remember: It is people who give ideas power.

That is all. That big scarey idea called capitalism – its’ success is determined by the multiptude of people that believe in it. Powerful ideas are empowered by a collection of people.

Your idea needs people. It needs community.

You must recruit people that believe in your idea. The more people you recruit, the more your idea will grow and the closer you will come to magic.

Remember: there are many forces, ideas and people. Some of them don’t want new ideas. Some people have ideas that make it impossible for your idea to happen. Some people will be grateful for your idea. Other people will need to hear your idea a few times and a few different ways. Other people will hate it… always. They will always hate it.

It is nothing personal.

Identify the people and forces that make your idea stronger and the ones that make it weaker. Focus your energy on those that will grow you and your idea. Enlist them, love them, nourish them.

Community and learning will feed your idea.

Step 6. Persevere & Persist

You have a timeline in your plan. Remember those forces pressing on your idea? They have different plans than you and there is nothing you can do about it. Your plan may speed up or slow down because of them. But that does not mean that your idea is not possible.

You need steps 1-5 to create momentum, your need this final step to tend to your momentum. Momentum is invisible. Believe that momentum happens as strongly as you believe in your idea. As long as you persevere and carry out your plan, you are creating momentum.

Momentum leads to magic.

Keep your Idea in the Sea. Keep talking about it. Keep asking people to nourish it. Keep asking for help. Keep rewriting it, repackaging it, redesigning and re-communicating it. Keep learning.

Keep your potion brewing. It is working.

Time is your ally. Your idea will collect people. It may become larger than you. It may completely change, just like you.

Keep going back through the steps 1 -6, this is a circular and iterative process. There is no such thing as a straight line in a magical world.

Remember, this is magic. This is going to test your belief. And if you don’t believe me, go back to Step 1. You Must Believe.

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June 15, 2015

Join & Enter to Win $100 Gift Certificate

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been feeling so thankful, I want to thank you. Seriously. I’ve had over 100 sales and reached some incredible sales goals in just 8 months. I’m grateful for a network that has supported me through a huge life transition. I’d love to give all of you something, but unfortunately I haven’t hit it that big yet. But I am going to hold a drawing and the grand prize is a $100 gift certificate for any of my stores.

To participate all you have to do is Join my Email List.

I send an email about twice a week with new work, posts, events, services and special deals for email list subscribers.

Win a grand prize $100 Gift Certificate redeemable for any prints, cards, original watercolors, scarves, pendants, stickers, t-shirts, bags, pillows, clothing and more:

Second and third place winners will receive a surprise in-stock treat!

Join Marika’s email list and enter to win before July 10th, 2015 to participate in this drawing. Drawing will take place on July 10th, 2015. The gift certificate must be redeemed by August 15th, 2015.

A huge thank you to a wonderful network. I’ve reached over 100 sales! It can only be believable!

I will not share you personal information with others and this information will remain private.

Join My E-Mail List! Be Inspired!

June 9, 2015

A Beautiful Mind

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 2015

Three 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.

These lessons are gifts as beautiful as his mind.

BUY HERE

Buy A Beautiful Mind here.

The Original A 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.

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REading List

Following is a list of books I’ve read and that provided the much of the background, research and facts expressed in this post.

Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level by Sally Shaywitz

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Eide, Brokck & Ferentte

The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can’t Read… and How they Can Learn by Ronald D Davis