Today I rise! – the making of a painting

On August 11th, I sold my first big painting. The friend who bought it, and many others who connected with it, felt that this Goddess brought a very special energy to their Soul, they knew that this painting would bring them to step fully into their feminine and heart-centred self-expression.

When people met her (the Goddess) a common sound was … Wow! A common word used to comment was … ‘Striking!’

I started this painting last June, my intent and, as I generally do, my intent and prayer was written on the canvas. Many words written, many feelings expressed … and the essence of the prayer was to balance the masculine and feminine energy in myself and to give up my over thinking and being too much into my mind rather than into my heart where life is embodied fully.

I generally tend to blend colours; I don’t like too much contrast. A spiritual guide challenged me to play with strong colours side by side, to use contrast as the different types of energies reflecting the masculine and feminine I wanted to work with.

Colours…

that is what I started playing with.

No idea of where I was going.

Then the masculine, the angel arm of protection wearing his feather cloak came, then the black squares connecting to the glued tie-and-dye patches. Those for me became the stars leading a new way and then I started to work on the yellow and it became clear that a goddess wanted to be portrayed so then orange became her cloak.

In another session, her hair became the map of Zimbabwe that at the moment is going through political unrest where people are really tired of the leadership as the country is on its knees, and yet people are very clear that they want peace 🙂

This painting works for me at a personal level and at the country level too. The lesson is that for our inner feminine to flourish (especially for those of us whose life brought them to be more masculine) needs to be supported by our inner masculine, that is the balance, that is the dance that I am starting to dance and all this is starting to reflect in my personal relationships too.

I am so happy that my friend who chose this painting got all of this at an instinctual level. This painting will evidently bring more of these energies in her life and her space.

Before I let her go I basked into her energy, I felt a rebirth, that’s why the painting is called ‘Today I Rise’. Then I remembered the poem that follows, by Maya Angelou, ‘Still I rise’. This time while reading it, it feels like I have made the choice to rise from my negativity, from my inner critic whose wish is to put myself down so that I won’t take any risks and bold decision.

Today I Rise, mixed media, 4’x5′ or 100x127cm, Original High Res. Photograph (at the top) courtesy of David Brazier

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

I would love for you to leave a comment below. You could tell us how your relationship between your masculine and your feminine play? Do you have any tip to share for us to live more into our heart? Have a wonderful day! 🙂

One <3