In a still moment,
a blind hand reaches into the river
to retrieve its sweet vision.
Watercolor 16” x 12”
$150
-SOLD
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A Story:
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.
Watercolor 24″ x 18″
Original $400
Prints will be available soon.
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Description
This Wise Little Sloth has taught me to follow my path, play in the soulful, pay attention to signs, have faith in my craft and always stay true to myself. This moment is almost always joyful. Leave space for joy, there is no use forcing it, it will come.
Watercolor 12″ x 12″
Original is Sold (Commission)
Prints are available as low as $17 on Marika’s Fine Art America Page Here.
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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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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.
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.
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.
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″
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Plus you will get access to exclusive content, sales and promotions.
I offer special deals and offers to my Facebook fans. Come join us here Marika’s Art Studio
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
Plus you will get access to exclusive content, sales and promotions.
I offer special deals and offers to my Facebook fans. Come join us here Marika’s Art Studio
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
I did it again. Art in the Park! The second time was nothing of the feat that I accomplished the first time. It was soooo much easier my husband and I wondered what the big deal was the first time around.
1. I improved my work flow. I quit talking about it and I actually did this. I now have a list of everything I must complete when I finish a painting, receive prints or create pendants. This include logging inventory, creating certificates of authenticity and marketing notes. It isn’t a long list but it isn’t painting and I generally don’t want to do it. I really dislike doing it in bulk leading up to an art fair more.
2. I changed my work spaces. My laptop lives in the dining room now. My paints live in the studio. I finish the grunt work then enter the creative space guilt free and glowing with freedom. This has made me so much more effective.
3. I’m packed up. I have labeled boxes of supplies. A box of fabrics, a box for stands, a box for prints and signs, a box for scarves, a box for hanging supplies, a box for originals in frames. I have a file system for certificates, storycards, display mapping and change. I have an improved display for pendants that I can literally take off the wall and take anywhere.
4. I’m stocked up. I have a ready stock of bags, boxes, storycards and marketing materials. Now all I have to do is order them when I run out.
5. I have a sturdy setup. It is windy by the lake. And it was windier the second time. The first time, I had to take down my scarf display when the wind wrecked it. This time, I watched a centerpiece painting face plant on the gravel when the wind hit it. Ouch. Another wall of prints collapsed in a gust. Jewelry displays flew across the path or crumbled.
My canopy shook (a lot) but nothing fell. I didn’t have to change anything thanks to sturdy walls built by my husband and a 4 x 4 we used to anchor the display on the wall-less side. Plus, don’t forget the canopy weights and have duct tape around just in case. I didn’t use it but I would always bring it.
I sold some originals between fairs which meant I had to rearrange the configuration of paintings on my walls. I also reconfigured tables and displays. Because we didn’t have time to practice beforehand, this slowed down setup. We are going to add more hooks to the top of the panels so that reconfiguration isn’t problematic and bring lots of hanging wire. Even without sales, I’ll have some new paintings to display and that will cause another reconfiguration.
My daughter learned how to use iMovie at school. This inspired me to make this little one minute movie of the adventure that is prepping and setting up for an art fair. Please enjoy. Take a look at those awesome walls by my husband and improved pendant display.
The best way to contact me directly is at [email protected]
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? That is what this mailing list is all about. Some food for thought packaged with color, soul and humor.
Plus you will get access to exclusive content, sales and promotions.
I offer special deals and offers to my Facebook fans. Come join us here Marika’s Art Studio
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