Week 7 ~ Sacred relationships in motion

What if boundaries aren't solid, but living, responsive agreements we have with our soul?

Writing Practice

Writing yourself a letter from your painting can be a powerful way to receive its message. Begin writing stream of consciousness (without editing or needing to pre-formulate thoughts), allowing your hand to become the conduit for your heart and spirit. Like being in a sharing circle, there is no need to think about what you are going to say before it is time to say it. Just allow your hand to write quickly to keep up with the sometimes random and surprising things coming through it. At first it might feel like your mind is the one writing it, but keep keep going and notice when the feeling of your writing shifts and becomes the voice of your heart.

Feedback & Course Love

If you are willing, I would love to include some of your feedback on my website, and in the promotion of the online version of this course that is soon to launch. I will only use your first name unless otherwise specified, so you will remain largely anonymous. Lots of gratitude to you for taking the time to share, and helping to invite other women into this important personal work. xo

Setting Yourself up as a spiritual artist

Using high quality materials can sometimes be the difference between feeling uninspired and WOWed by your creative journey. That said, if your options are to go with cheaper options or not making art, go to the dollar store and hook yourself up! I often mix and match cheap and more pricey paints that I find special. If you are thinking of setting yourself up with a home studio kit, here are some of the supplies that we use in class...

Easels - Optional. I often paint on the floor either kneeling or sitting on a cushion. Sometimes I've even covered a chair with a dropcloth as a makeshift easle and sat in a chair across from it. Otherwise, aluminium, lightweight, easy to store easels are a great lower cost option. There are also lovely wood ones if you have a more permanent space you can set up.

Painting surface - In terms of painting on canvas, I prefer to use heavy texture, pre-stretched/pre-primed canvas. At Michaels, these are the highest quality (green label) canvases they carry. Other fun painting surfaces include watercolour paper, wood, reclaimed second-hand store art (a coat of primer and you are set!) Another favourite and super low cost option is to go to the hardware store and pick up a 4x8' sheet of wall panel. This runs about $12 a sheet. They will also cut the sheet down for you so you have several panels to play on. I've cut a panel down to 12 smaller pieces, which means each one is only $1!!! This is a great way to take the pressure off if you are hung up on painting on an expensive canvas. These panels can be framed and hung just as beautifully. Always prime these before you dive in. If you are painting on paper, choose the 140lb mixed media papers so they don't bubble from the paint.

Paint - In terms of brands, I prefer Golden Fluid Acrylics, Golden Heavy Body Acrylics, or Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics. Keep in mind the fluid paints are great for semi-transparent layering, drippy bits, and liner work. Heavy bodies are awesome for thick vibrant accents later on in your painting, creating texture, or for the greatest coverage. And of course, basic craft paint is great too in its own way.... there are definitely more colour choices if you go cheaper.

Brushes - Its fun to experiment with brushes in your painting practice. Different shapes give you a variety of thicknesses and feelings to your painting. Try square, round, long, short, fluffy, and stiff brushes. Hog hair brushes are great for dry-brushing techniques, and they are cheap so they are low-risk when you are scrubbing them hard on the canvas. Synthetic brushes in a variety of sizes are useful for outlining, drawing, and details. Both hog hair and synthetic brush sets can be found locally at Michael's or the painted turtle.

Palette - There are lots of different palette options. My favourite is to have a piece of glass, or small old window to use as a palette. Both can be found at the restore or probably in your shed. A large piece of glass could cover your entire painting table, or a small window could be held or placed nearby. I prefer this type of palette as I never have to wash the paint down the drain. At the end of a painting session I just let any smeared paint leftover dry on the glass. The next time I go to paint I spray the glass with my spray bottle, let sit 1 min, and scrape paint off with a window scraper and toss into the garbage. Its the most eco-friendly solution I've found thus far. Other options include, plates, baby wipe container (travel variety), art palette (wood or plastic).

Other Tools - Spray bottle for dripping and/or thinning paint, rag, charcoal for sketching on canvas (optional), apron, floor protection, foamy brushes, found objects that make interesting marks (lids in all sizes, bubble wrap, pinecones, sponges, old pencils or pokey things to make dots, stencils, straws,etc.)

** I try to by as much as possible locally, but some things are way more expensive here or simple aren't available so I've had to look elsewhere.... I've linked some options below for you.

Happy painting!

Additional Resources

Kara's Amazing Brownies

As far as brownie recipes go, it can be hard to know what is really THE BEST BROWNIE. I went on a hunt for THE brownie back in February...after all, there are many recipes on the net to claim to be THE BEST... and being a slight chocoholic and mother of an infant, I deserve THE BEST BROWNIE RECIPE.

So whether you consider yourself a brownie snob ( I think I've fallen into this category.............), or you just enjoy a well rounded brownie-think crunchy outside, fudgy inside, perfect sweetness, density, chocolate....sorry you lost me, haha- this is the recipe for you! (I make this more than I make the cookies.

The recipe I'm about to share is for a single batch of brownies. I have found that I enjoy making it a double batch and putting it in the same size pan. Sooo good.

THE brownie recipe:

8x8 or 9x9 pan...I use a 9x9 myself for the double batch although it probably doesn't matter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda (this is what creates that amazing crunchy crust)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 all purpose flour (I'm sure you can use flour alternatives although I personally haven't tried it :) )
1/4 tsp salt (omit salt if using salted butter )
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ( I use semi sweet bakers chocolate, about half a package broken up using a rolling pin or meat tenderizer for a double batch)
1/4 cup or guesstimate of anything else you like i.e walnuts, flax, coconut, almond, salted caramel chips etc.

Melt butter and combine with sugar. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add vanilla and egg to sugar and butter. Gradually add dry ingredients. Once combined, add chocolate chips and other additives then put into pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (please note, if you're making a double batch, it'll bake for 40-55 min depending on your oven)

Allow to cool before cutting