Lean In: Hidden Tales in Trees
Lean In: Hidden Tales in Trees - Originally Posted February 20, 2018
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. ~ Anatole France
Tomorrow my art show, Lean In: Hidden Tales in Trees, opens at the Hillsborough Arts Council Gallery. I’m breathing a big sigh as I’ve finished all the preparations for this show, its hung, and ready to go. I knew way back in 2016 that I would be here, now. Yet, somehow, I was still working up to the last minute, literally the last painting was on my easel until Saturday! Every piece in this show is new; they have never hung in any other gallery or even my home. They are also ALL trees, uniquely themselves, but trees nonetheless. Each paintings is a little part of me, and showing them and offering them for sale always feels personal, but this show goes a little deeper than usual.
Your creative work will tell your story ~ Pamela Slim
Here is the story of how it all started – I wrote this for the brochure for the show:
I can’t imagine living without the beauty of trees. Out the windows of my house you will see trees all about. They are amazing, each one unique, even amongst the same species. Sometimes they twist and bend other times they lean into one another.
My love of trees is not the reason for the paintings, though clearly they were an influence. I’m an intuitive artist. For me, this means rather than picking a subject and painting it I begin with layer upon layer of paint – colors and textures all kinds of juicy fun. I listen to my intuition – that messenger of my soul. It’s similar to watching for images in clouds in the sky. The images present themselves to me. I don’t necessarily paint realistically; I paint the way I am led. When working in my studio I usually have several canvases in progress at once. I alternate between them as the messenger speaks. Artists in all mediums are influenced by the times they are living in, their personal experiences, or observations of other people’s experiences. So what was the influence, the experience that brought all these trees to canvas?
I’ve been having fun researching my ancestors. Like many Americans, my ancestors came here from other countries. I’ve been wondering what they were like as individuals, why they came, what was it like in their homeland at the time that they decided to leave? Recently a book, Ancestral Impressions Exploring Your Ancestry Through Creativity, Imagery, and Intuition by Audrey F. Chowdhury, was recommended to me by a friend. It’s an interesting read with a lot of fantastic suggested activities. I came to a chapter discussing family trees in which the author compares our ancestral family tree to an actual tree. I enjoyed the guided meditation she provides in which you are led to and search through a forest of sorts for the tree that represents your family tree. That experience put me on this path of tree painting, they just kept popping up on my canvases. None of the trees in this show are actually my family tree, although some could represent parts of my ancestral family tree or times in my family history, but that experience of searching is how LEAN IN Hidden Tales in Trees organically developed.
As these trees came forward, and evolved into being, my mind was open and listening for each tree’s story. Once the shape of the trunk and branches was intuitively created on the canvas the trees began to take on character, that’s when I started hearing their stories, the stories that these trees were bringing to me – stories that were reminders or bits of advice on life…from trees! I hope you enjoy reading these stories and viewing the trees. Maybe you will see a different story in a tree, or even your own family ancestral tree in here somewhere. Maybe you will be left wanting to imagine and create what your family tree would look like; the one you were born into, or the one you created with a partner, or perhaps the one you constructed from the people you choose to spend your life with. Enjoy, Explore, Imagine. Lean In: Hidden Tales in Trees.
The above will be accompanied in the brochure by the stories of each painting
Become a documentarian of what you do. ~ Austin Kleon
I sat down to type the stories I heard from each tree so they could be posted next to the paintings. That was definitely a growth process, synthesizing it all. I see now some of the trees have archetypal stories, some are sad stories (well they made me cry while painting and hearing them), and some are shorter than others. During the writing process I decided to write an “I Am One Who…” statement to go with each story. Writing those statements allowed me to look even more closely at the images I had created. If you are familiar SoulCollage® (a really awesome creative process!) you know what that is. For those not familiar it is a process where you speak from an image, as if you were the image, then reflect and see a connection for yourself on a deep (or soul) level. SoulCollage® is a part of my spiritual practice, but normally its done with cards that I create in a collage process. Using this process with the paintings I became more aware of why these particular images and stories had been shared with me. This took place just this last week ya’ll, and it was real, and it was powerful for me. It gave me pause about sharing these stories in my art show. I would be baring my soul in written form, for those who choose to see it, rather than just sharing a part of myself through my paintings. Each one of these stories carries a message for me, from some time in my 53 years on this planet; and they are there for all to see. After reflecting I realized that sharing my authentic self, the real me warts and all, is part of my practice as a creative entrepreneur. Its why I write this blog (I know, its been a while!), its why I share my art with the public, its why I share the process of SoulCollage® with others, its why I write my children’s books and visit classrooms, its really embedded in every part of my creative practice. So here I am baring it all in a new way, and its kind of exciting, and liberating. I’m wondering where it will lead me – I mean nothing really happens by mistake – its all part of something bigger than us. This roller coaster of my life just got more interesting.
By choosing to be our most authentic and loving self, we leave a trail of magic everywhere we go. ~ Emmanuel
Light, love, laughter,
Shannon
