Author Archives: Andrea

In front of the tv again at midnight with the munchies?

If you’re a slave to the nightly hand to mouth rhythm, keep bags of spinach and salad on hand and eat the greens one leaf at a time. Get thru the night by looking forward to a yummy healthy breakfast. Food always tastes best to me if I’m hungry. I like being a little bit empty. I was 50 when I decided it was time to start eating healthy and get into the gym. Working out as soon as I wake up works best for me. When I don’t do that, it’s too easy to get busy with work and blow it off. Like I’ve done all month. I don’t beat myself up for it, though. I do yoga every day and I eat healthy foods. I just feel better when I’m working out 3-4 times a week. And when I get lazy and the midnight munchies hit, I’ve always got a bag of spinach or kale on hand to get me thru the night

I love being inspired to art by friends’ happy pics

I get inspiration for art every time I see something that expresses joy to me. This week, I was inspired by my friend Eileen A. Jacobs’ profile pic. In it, she radiates such joy that, even though I was in the midst of another painting project, I wanted to stop and create a happy muse of my own. Here it is in progress. I I edited out half her hair to show more ocean, and may edit out more to make room for a jumping dolphin and maybe a sea turtle in the water. (I did.) I’m not good with hands, so it takes me awhile to get them down to size and shape. They all start out as mitts, then get whittled down to man hands, then painted down to final fingers. On the left is the arm and hand as originally drawn, and on the right I’ve begun defining the finger joints and resizing the arm. I’ll go find a tutorial on painting the ocean since I’ve never done that. Right now, though, I’m going to thin her hair down a little more to make room for that dolphin and sea turtle. The final version is shown here on the right. I realize now why I had to stick the turtle in there. The series of paintings I am doing have to do with the moon’s energy, even though the sun appears in this one. Turtle as a totem has special medicine. They carry the Moon’s cycles on their back: 28 sections for the 28 days and 13 plates for the 13 moons.

Nothing brings me back to center like a physical workout

I mowed the lawn and sneaked in a little yard work this morning before it got hot and humid. It’s so satisfying when I haven’t weeded in months to see the tall pile of pulled weeds. It included about a hundred loquat seedlings and miles of wedelia. I’ve let the north entrance to the firepit in the west woods grow over during spring and summer, so it will be fun hacking the new trail. I usually do that the first cool day of fall. I did the gym yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Ugh, I can never wait that long again, no matter HOW busy I think I am or pretend to be. The elliptical machine crumbles me, that tells me I need to keep doing it since I’m working muscles that need it. I’m so sore I could… whimper. What a lightweight I am.

When you’re connected, $$ flow in from all over

I love it when the man and I are just idly chatting and he comes up with $$ making ideas for stuff we’re already doing for fun. That’s a product of being connected to Source. Who’s the man? He’s the man!

Social Security: Yay, unless you worked off the books. SS Can Garnish your Student Loan

Some friends and I reached 62 this year and are comparing notes on Social Security. I worked for employers for 22 years, so I’ve paid in my share. Friends who’ve made income off the books for much of their life won’t receive much benefit. A galpal reached 62 and worked for employers for 30 years with good income but can’t collect because she’s got student loans. Another can’t collect because she co-signed a student loan for a grandson who she has no idea where he even is anymore. Yowza.

Don’t take score too soon. How often do I depend on feedback to stay motivated?

Some things I am being reminded of as painting, like: don’t take score too soon. I always do an underpainting and then paint up in layers. When I do that, it goes through some pretty scary stages, sometimes where I think I should scrap the whole project. I take a photo at every stage so I can see my progress. This also lets me see if I did a better version before and if I’ve goofed it up, I can use the better version as a reference to fix it. I’m currently working on something that is a little small, so I am waiting for some art pens to arrive so I can do the face and fine details like the fingernails. I usually do the eyes first on a painting so that I can have somebody to look at and talk to me as I’m doing it. It’s a little disconcerting to just have a blank face staring back at me giving me no feedback as I paint. It makes me wonder how often do I depend on feedback to stay motivated?

Forging your own way inspires those around you to do the same

A friend asked “Why are people so regular, so boring?” In my experience, people allow themselves to fall into the unimaginative mundane because they don’t take the time to self motivate. Staying stuck in the banal is the path of least resistance. Forging your own way inspires those around you to do the same. But if they don’t begin to do it also, they will be left behind in the dust of law of attraction. You’ll attract a more vividly satisfying experience than they will, and you’ll naturally attract more motivated people into your life.

Introducing Janelle, with open hands to take your pain away

Hands open to take your pain from you

The faces for this series I’m doing of paintings as a shamanic soul retrieval project come to me before the symbolism comes. In common they have hands open in offering and a moon or moonstone. Inspired by a friend’s cat eye, I call this one Janelle and as I began painting, her story unfolded for me. Moonstone is an expression of the yin, the soothing energy of the moon. A stone for “new beginnings,” moonstone is a stone of inner growth and strength, soothing emotional instability and stress. When she revealed herself as a remover of pain, I painted her reaching her hands out to receive. On her forehead is an ancient symbol of healing: the spiral depicts the natural rhythm of life, and the healing power that is constantly radiated from the cosmos around us. I’ve painted shakti sparks outside the aura encircling her hands, showing they are energized and powerful. Continue reading →

Introducing Rosa of the Aqua Eye

I notice I’ve been making the eyes blue and green on each face in this series I’m doing of paintings as a shamanic soul retrieval project. This is Rosa. I meditated on the colors and Edgar Cayce came to mind. In his Color Meanings Of Auras, blue is considered the color of the spirit, prayer and contemplation. It signifies having found one’s work and being heavily immersed in it. Green is the color of health, vitality and healing. A green with blue in it signifies truthfulness and trustworthyness Wearing and viewing these colors imparts that quality, so I use the blue and green of the eyes I paint to raise the level of healing vibration. I work the color until I can feel it. At this point in the piece to the left, I’ve just added her hand. Each of the paintings in this series will be handing me something. Which is ironic because I’ve never been good at drawing or painting hands; most were just suggestions or maybe a paw or lobster claw. I found myself studying online tutorials to get a grasp of the hand. Also ironic because it was a car accident in 2000 that knocked my own hands out of commission and halted my painting for several years. Continue reading →

Introducing Moon Gal with Raven and Moonstone

I’ve been doing a series of paintings as a form of shamanic soul retrieval. As I paint, I meditate on the images that come to mind, which I take to depict a part of me. I’m then taken on a journey, via inner imagery and creative visualization, to the astral realm where I connect with the individual messengers and power totems that will be included in each piece. This one I call Moon Gal with Raven and Moonstone. Raven activates the energy of magic and links it to our will and intention. The raven shows us how to go into the dark of our inner self and bring out the light of our true self, resolving inner conflicts which have long been buried. Moon Gal has an extra long neck representing giraffe energy. Giraffes see from the higher perspective and are able to reach things most can’t. They like to stick their neck out and they remain high above the fray. The neck is the bridge between the worlds, so I often elongate it, signifying being on that journey. Continue reading →

Andrea de Michaelis – Creating my own reality, one thought at a time

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