DESIGN
Creating the World
“Creating the World ”  © Jamila Tazewell 2016 – Available on Starwater Yoga

“Cross the frontal area of the grey matter so that you can see the huge multiple universe we call love… Love is the basic grit with which you can combat death, negativity, attack, it’s a vibratory effect. I want you to experience it.”  Yogi Bhajan

“In collage we take images that can never possibly co-exist, and arrange them in the same frame. Thus we train ourselves to expand our sense of what is possible.” Andre Breton

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

This collage was created over the course of a few hours last friday night. The sewing lady called out to me and then the rest of the images just formed themselves around her. Sometimes you just enter the flow state and it’s the best feeling ever. I feel like creating a collage is an alchemical process that transforms me. Then sometimes the piece is doorway for the viewers psyche to enter that same space.  Imagery and symbols, like sound, send the mind automatically in a direction. I think that is the idea of all sacred art. It sends the mind into a good direction.  I think it is all so fun, but it is useful too!

DESIGN
The Creative Process
“Magical Buck” Digital Collage by Jamila Tazewell – Available in many forms on 11:11

Artists don’t have a monopoly on creativity! Everyone is creative every single day by virtue of being a human on the earth.We have co-created everything we are and everything we see, touch, taste, feel and think. It is a creative universe and we are a part of it! Each unit of the hologram contains the whole hologram. We are all creative beings whether we know it or not. Being an artist involves one thing – deciding to be an artist. ANYONE can be an artist. If you need proof of this just google Jeff Koons or Richard Prince. Creativity is a mindset.. making art work is a decision. Plus no one said it has to be good. I think it is more important to be having fun with it than to be making a living or being recognized. In fact, those 2 things can be deadly for the creative spark unless you are clever and fierce in your desire to keep it real. What is real is your flow state. You, being in your game.. losing track of time as you bang away at whatever it is you do. This applies to all mediums. The flow state is better than any drug.. you are the drug. The art is all you need to elevate your whole perspective. It is a means and an end. You just have to do it.

HOW TO TAP IN?

  1. Meditate. This can be any practice that gets you in the zone. I obviously think Kundalini yoga is the most potent and effective form available today. It is a technology to open the energy of your Soul through the body. It is something to experience, instead of just read about or “believe in”. For great online Kundalini Yoga check out RA MA TV.
  2. Start something. Just pick something and start it. You don’t need to know what it is going to be. You don’t need to know how it is going to turn out. You do need to just start. Start today.
  3. Do it everyday. And then just.. keep going. Really thats it. The work will unfold itself through you. But you have to show up. If the inspiration just stays inside your head.. you will never really understand what it could become. You will be fulfilled in direct proportion to the effort you put in. And if you don’t feel inspired anymore.. go back to step one.

Thats all there is to it. The world needs what you are carrying inside you and now is the time.

GO FOR IT !!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.
Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.”

Steven Pressfield The War of Art

 

DESIGN
Creative Blocks + Solutions
“Magical Zebra” © Digital Collage by Jamila Tazewell – Available on 11:11

It is ironic that my favorite thing to do in the whole world — create stuff — is also something I avoid quite expertly. The resistance to jumping in to the creative flow is real! I have successfully avoided writing this blog post for over a month two months and have been thinking about it all day before finally making myself sit here as the summer light fades through the window. Sure it is writers block – but I also experience this same dance with everything I make. I love collaging so much that I have made an 11 year career out of it, yet I still feel like hiding out before almost every creative session. There is a fear that if I sit down this time, nothing will come, the magic won’t happen. The creative flow is something I can summon but not control. Real creativity is always a co-creation with the universe. When I am “in the flow” I am tapped into something greater than myself that is literally flowing through me. It is a sensitive, very meditative process. It is you showing up for You! A spark really happens when we just show up. So thats why you just have to start.

Just starting sounds easy enough. Deadlines are great for this but sometimes you don’t have that luxury. So what then? Here are some of the ways I go about opening up the inspiration flow. The first two suggestions are universal and the last three may be the most relevant to visual artists and specifically collage art.

1. Create the space

Depending on your location and resources, this can mean many things. But most important and first – turn off social media, email and your cell phone, and don’t turn them back on until you have logged some time with your art. Then figure out where your ‘power spot’ is in your studio, home or wherever you are. This is as simple as just realizing that you really like a certain chair next to a certain window – that you feel good there. Then figure out what you need to feel really solid and ready. If it is too dark where you are, get some more light. If its too messy, clean it up (within reason! Don’t delay your art making to chase after perfection!) This is about creating a space that supports your creativity, and it is not about being rigid.  So figure it out to the best of your ability and do it fast! You have art to make and there is always room for more improvements later!

2. Sound

We have explored here how sound is a physical force that moves energy. Well it can also move you into the “zone” ! I have always been a lover of all kinds of music, but it is in the last 8 or so years that I have really started to understand how different music creates different energy states in the body and mind. This is a fun area to experiment in. Let what you are trying to express dictate what kind of music you play. For me it’s all about the mantra music these days. I love the pure high vibration of mantra – I feel like the intelligence that is carried in that sound current really opens up the flow in the most beautiful way. Just go with what works for you- what excites you – what music makes you feel alive? Play that.

3. List making

Ok so you have a space and you have some music. Now you have a lot of thoughts in your head to face. My solution is to make lists. I make a list of topics that inspire me and I also have my work / errands lists close by too. I write down the work related stuff as it comes in to my head, to be dealt with later. I love writing lists of what inspires me because I get to remind myself of all the elements I can then put in to my work.

4. Image gathering

Once I have my lists, I then go on imagery hunts. I look for old and obscure images as these are usually copyright free and I love them the most, so win win. My favorite places to look for imagery are thrift stores – old encyclopedias are the best – and the picture file sections of public libraries. Online I like to look at Wikipedia and The Commons section of Flickr. I like to search with words that are even remotely related to my topics of interest. I find that I get pulled down many rabbit holes but as long as I am finding images that excite me, it is worth the time. I save all the images in a folder I usually name for the season and year it is. Thats the best way I’ve found to remember where to find it later but if someone has a better way to organize imagery archives, please let me know!

5. Letting colors lead

Once I have a good amount of raw materials to work with I like to look at all of my inspiration in the folders at once. I then open those files that I am most excited about, and I start putting images and elements together that speak to each other. For me this means that the colors go well together and sometimes the meanings of the images do too. I very much let the colors lead me, especially in the beginning of creating a collage. At this point I am usually in the zone and the ideas are popping like popcorn. I love this part so much! I hate even stopping to eat when I am in the flow like this and I really love to eat …

 

So there you have it. I hope these suggestions help you to just. do. it. already. I am convinced that starting is the hardest part. So just go jump in, you’ll be so glad you did. HAVE FUN. Let me know how it goes.

“Magical Elephant 2” © Jamila Tazewell – Available on 11:11
DESIGN
An inspired interview with painter Jodi Fuchs
Blessed B(e) 76″ x 138″ mixed media on canvas 2011 © Jodi Fuchs

Jodi Fuchs is my favorite painter alive today. The energy and scale of her work (she paints BIG), the living colors, and the inspired motifs and patterns all resonate with me so much. Her work has a vibration that changes the room it’s in. Some day I will have a Jodi Fuchs original on my wall but until then I’m super stoked to have her work featured on my blog!

Jodi is also a super fun, down to earth, beautiful human being that I’m so lucky to call a friend. We got to know each other over the years in Harijiwan’s living room when he used to teach out of his home in those pre RAMA days of yore.  Then maybe 4 years ago we teamed up and produced a holiday art/craft show at her pop up gallery in Santa Monica. It was so fun working with her and my cousin Ashley Wade (of Action Cookies fame!) on the event and we learned a lot .. but never again!  Amiright ladies!? So much work you would not believe.. But anyhow, all that to say is we got to know each other pretty well through the experience and I just love her to bits! I’m super excited to share this interview I did with her recently. Hopefully you’ll be inspired by her work and words as much as I am.

jodi fuchs painting

Fierce 31″ x 62″ mixed media on canvas 2011

.__________________________________________.

Artist Jodi Fuchs in her studio

1. There is so  much I love about your work its hard to know where to begin! I guess I’ll start by asking about how you first got in to painting? Did you always want to be an artist?

Thanks so much for having me and for your kind words! I’ve always had a creative impulse even though I didn’t study art in school.  My education was a never ending series of strange creative jobs– working for photographer’s hand-tinting photographs, as a production assistant on several tv shows, assisting graphic designers on rock star’s tour books, etc. I took some evening classes at Otis Parsons for graphic design but felt like the surface areas were too small for me. I like BIG.  I then moved onto classes for faux finishing after working as a set painter on movies and got some great painting gigs. The first was working with a team of artists that marbleized an entire shopping mall in Vegas. That skill set lead to working on high end homes where I learned all about the decorative arts and enjoyed creating environments. The house was the canvas. Then after 20 years of physically challenging work, climbing ladders and painting ceilings, I decided to focus more fully on making my own paintings.

2. Did you go to art school and how did going/not going influence you as an artist?

No, I didn’t go to art school and in a way I’m glad. I learned all about color  and color mixing while doing decorative painting and painting sets. I read tons of artist’s biographies and really resonated with the abstract expressionists in NY during the 40’s and 50’s. Sometimes I wish I had more formal training but I also think not going has freed me up to play the art “game” in a different way. I was always interested in the healing arts and studied massage, energy healing, feng shui and kundalini yoga. I think as an artist, “school” can be anything that captures your imagination.

3. I love how your work is so infused by your energy and inspired by your love of meditation and travel. Can you talk a little bit about what your process is when you are creating?

Ah, the great mystery of creating. I tend to follow my intuition and stay out of over conceptualizing my approach. Basically, when I’m faced with a blank canvas, I start with color, anything to get the white out. I’m into mark making and gestures and letting the energy of where I am that day lead the way. Traveling informs color choices and sometimes content as does the meditation. I’m often drawn to sacred imagery but really it comes down to energy. I just want to be a conduit for the creative energy force of the Universe. I think it’s infinite, always available and it’s really about how clear a channel I can be to let that come through me.  I don’t paint if I’m in a bad or weird mood. I just do admin stuff instead. lol                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Jodi Fuchs painting4. You were recently in Hawaii and Bali for a while. Can you tell about some of the inspiration and insights you gained while there and how that has effected your work?

The feminine energy of both Hawaii and Bali were so healing to be in and as a painter, I think it’s really important to be in that feminine receptive state of mind. I swam a LOT, many times with wild dolphins which is my passion, and as a result, the work I did in Hawaii was very watery and fluid. I didn’t intend for that to happen but it did and that’s what I love about painting and traveling. It’s a new way to see the world and as an artist I’m creating new little worlds on the canvas so it’s really a perfect marriage.

5. Your prayer paintings are so powerful and fun — can you tell us about them and some of the experiences you have had creating them for yourself and others?!

One day I started making a painting by writing down my heart’s desires on the canvas. Then I filled in the loops of the letters and the negative spaces with color, pretty much obliterating what I’d scribbled, but I loved the result. Even though the words were indecipherable, I knew the energy was still there. I showed the piece to my art publisher and she went to press with it! The Secret Language of Prayers was the name of the piece. I loved that my prayers were now being broadcast to thousands! Talk about getting the word out! I decided to offer this service of creating custom prayer pieces for people and it’s been so rewarding. I’ve done memorial pieces, house blessings, health prayers and lots of marriage paintings where I weave the vows of the bride and groom together. I was even a live painter at a wedding once and wrote the vows on the canvas as the couple recited them. AND it was on a boat.

Jodi Fuchs prayer painting

6. I love that you are doing design consultations for living and working environments now — canyou tell us about it and all the modalities you are weaving into the practice?

Well I’ve studied feng shui with several different teachers as well as Space Clearing techniques in Bali. I love color and I understand energy flow so it just felt like a great melding of all the skills I have to help people create supportive environments in their home or office. I’m offering color consultations, decorative painting, staging, feng shui cures and space clearing to begin with. Even rearranging pieces that you already have can be effective in “upping” the wattage of your space, as well as balancing the 5 elements with objects and color.

 7. If you could paint on any surface in any location in any size – on the whole planet – where would you and why?!

I’d love to paint an elephant. Have you seen the decorated elephants of India? Amazing! I’ve ridden elephants a few times in Bali and I just adore them. Talk about a large canvas! It’s also pretty cool that elephants make paintings. I saw demonstrations of this at the park in Bali. The elephants were given paintbrushes loaded with paint and they used their trunks to create a piece. Mesmerizing. And pretty good abstract pieces!

8.What’s cooking for 2014? Let us know about upcoming shows/ travels/ projects ..

2014 for me is about creating a solid body of work as well expanding into products. I’d like to keep creating images for my 2 art publishers and also get my work into more galleries. I’m also applying for some  grants so  I can continue to travel and paint as well as looking into international artist residencies.  San Miguel de Allende is on my radar. It’s a wonderful art town in Mexico and I’ve wanted to go there forever. I  have my annual open studio at the Santa Monica Airport art walk coming up on Saturday March 15, 2014. I’m also looking into creating a line of tshirts and contemplating some products I can co-produce with some Balinese artisans. So, just a few things. I also started an art blog, finally, and am excited to write and share my work this way. I’d like to eventually create a book to inspire people to create!

Thank you so much Jodi! 

Check out more of Jodi Fuchs’ work online  at www.jodifuchs.com

Buy prints and original pieces on her etsy shop

Connect with Jodi Fuchs on  twitter +  facebook and her new blog The Painters POV

jodi fuchs painting

Heart Chambers 18″ x 18″ mixed media on panel

//////////////////////////////////////

above un captioned images from the top:

Jodi Fuchs in her Santa Monica studio

Living the Dream 12″ x 12″ mixed media 

Prayer Painting : Kelly and Chad wedding ring inscriptions 48″ x 36″

 

Copyright Brand Exponents 2014. All Rights Reserved