Art & Clairvoyance

Many thanks, and a new blog

2010-06-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've been here, that I nearly forgot about my original faithful old blog. My Google profile reminded me of old business here, incomplete. I still get visitors to this blog, and still have some links out there. If this is you, please accept my deepest thanks for your visits, for reading, and for your comments.

But, all things eventually come to an end, and I've moved on. For over a year now, I've been posting to my latest blog, Psychic Everyday. Please come visit me there. Let me know what you think.

Thanks!
Sincerely, Kris

I've Moved My Blog!!

2008-02-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hello! Please come on over to my new Blog at WordPress. Same great paintings, same great writing, new location.

Please change your bookmarks and links to me too. Thanks, see you soon!

http://kriscahill.wordpress.com/

Happy Valentine's Day! & New Address

2008-02-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to you! May this day be filled with love, peace, and (really good) chocolate for you and your loved ones.

I have finally done it and moved my blog over to Wordpress. Hooray! I'm still working out a few bugs, but you can visit and tell me what you think.

Here's my new address: http://kriscahill.wordpress.com/

I will be posting there from now on, so if you just found me, come on over. Thank you!

"My Funny Valentine" 2007 40"x32" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

You're My Best Green Mwah Meme

2008-02-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

It was a busy day out here in Blogland. I received 2 awards and a meme. Plus Obama won big yesterday, hooray! The thing I love is HOW MANY people went out and voted. That was cool.

This painting is one of my very favorite abstracts I have painted. It's called "You're Green Baby, Oh So Green". The title is a direct quote from 'Free Henry Goodbar, Telepath', which was written by my good friend James. I went to see the play several times, (Noel was in it), and loved that line so much I named a painting after it. I am feeling quite abstract these days, and will be flinging the paint at the vinyl in an abstract manner tomorrow. Wildly.

Then I won this award today. I was one of four featured artists in January at Designer's Depot. There was a Battle of the Artists at the end of the month, and I got the most votes! Thank you to everyone who voted for me. Designer's Depot is a wonderful site, with interesting artists featured and great design information. Check it out here.

THEN I got this from Diane Clancy, the Mwah award, which is a big red kiss. The award is described thusly:

"It's a big kiss of the chaste platonic kind, from me to you with the underlying 'thanks' message implied. I really do appreciate your support and your friendship, and yes, your comments."

Thank you Diane! And here's a great big Mwah! right back at you.

I am passing this award on to: Shoshana Rose, John, (hahahaha!), Sweet Irene, Heather, and Andrea. Mwah!!

Okelly dokelly, now onto the moment you've all been waiting for, neighbors. My Book Meme!! John at Typos.Daylight.Fate tagged me for this meme that I was watching going around, knowing I would catch it eventually. He has earned himself a permanent place on my list of people.who.must.be.tagged. :))

Here's the deal: Pick up the nearest book. Find page 123. Find the first 5 sentences, and post the next 3. Tag somebody or several somebodies.

My book: 'Riches Within Your Reach' by Robert Collier, 1947

"Like attracts like. Praise and appreciation bring back greater praise and appreciation to you. If you want health, happiness, in your life, if you are seeking riches and success, attune your thoughts to these."

I tag: Noel at It's Okay, and Brian at Who Got the Gravy?. More if I feel like it later!

"You're Green Baby, Oh So Green" 2006 32"x30"
at kriscahill.com

Abstract Passion and Losing Touch With Reality

2008-02-12T16:50:00.001-08:00

What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.
~Epictetus

Ah, reality. What of it? Whose reality, is what I always ask, but then again I am a known troublemaker. I can't let well enough alone. Somebody hands me a "truth" and I tend to poke holes in it. With a sharp stick dipped in honey.

"Reality" can just be a picture of what is real. The more people who agree with the picture, the more real it becomes.

I am not advocating for anyone to lose touch with reality. I will be one of the first people to tell you grounding can be a good thing. It's the false realities that have to go.

I don't mean theatre and pretending and dressing up have to go. I mean those things everyone thinks are real when maybe they're not. I mean agreements over what's true. Think back to your childhood. What things were you absolutely certain were The Truth then that you know better about now? Maybe "everyone" believed something, so you didn't question it. It's hard to swim upstream.

Artists have a lot of lies to step over. They are not unlike other humans in this regard. The big untruths I am working on now have to do with being seen in the Art World, and making a living as an artist. There is a certain "wisdom" that says that only so many artists, a tiny percentage actually, will ever do this. I remember being in art school and hearing the conventional wisdom going around about how to actually make a living as an artist. Most agreed it was impossible. One needs a real job, or a sugar mama/daddy, or tons of luck. Marketing was not a concept taught at my art school. Seems odd now, as that is the way things are, for artists, dealers, galleries, and just about anyone else with something to sell.

I don't see this topic as just about marketing or selling one's art. Reality is a broad concept. There are as many different realities as there are people. Each of us is unique, and has an individual way of looking at life. When looking for yourself, it may be easier to see clearly. The lens fogs up when looking through someone else's glasses.

Do you have a discarded "Truth" you'd like to share? Please post if you do. Thank you!

"Abstract Passion" 2006 32"x30" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
at kriscahill.com

Knowledge Tree, Music, and Surprise

2008-02-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit with a few friends; it was fun to catch up with them, hang out and just talk about stuff. I have a friend who plays the electric bass in a band, and yesterday she and I found out we both loved and listened to many of the same bands when we were younger. We share a fondness for dark and noisy punk music. We bonded over this, and made a date to watch a DVD of an old favorite band of ours, The Stranglers.

I love music, and cannot imagine a life without it. Music fills my days, helps me find my muse, cheers me, lifts me up, makes me laugh, brings tears to my eyes. Music is emotional and healing. Lately I have been listening to piano music, especially in the mornings. Modern, simple, ethereal, beautiful...piano. Solo piano. One of my favorite cd's is called 'Solo Piano', by an artist named Gonzalez.

I listen to music while driving. Rarely do I listen to talk radio or news, it's gotta be music. I have lots of cd's in my car, and choose for the mood of the day. Gentle if I'm tired or overwrought, rocking if I'm perky, lounge much of the time. Wild electronica when I feel like something more challenging.

When I am painting, I will often put my iPod on shuffle. I want to be surprised. If I am anticipating the next note or song, I am bored. "Shuffle" often surprises me with really appropriate songs for my mood, and helps me remember to be surprised while painting. I love surprises in my paintings, and always learn from them. Perhaps improvisation is the word I am looking for, it's still a fun creative surprise.

The element of surprise is an often underrated thing. Understandably, nobody welcomes unpleasant surprises. Years ago, I wanted more surprises to come my way, and consciously tried to manifest them. A few days later I amended this to "fun surprises"! It's good to be specific. :))

However, surprise as an energy can be quite lovely. Of course, it requires letting go of the need to control everything. How many times have you heard somebody say they don't like surprises? They may be afraid of letting go of control, or perhaps even of receiving. The funny thing is that people are surprised all the time, both positively and the reverse. If you are unsure of what it is you want in life, you are more likely to receive surprises, some of which you may not remember asking for.

One of the hardest things for some people to do is to ask for what they want. They will say they don't know. It looks to me like they have what everyone else wants for them and from them in their space. Or they are invalidated by even imagining the thing they want in their heart of hearts. Somehow they have come to believe they cannot have what they want. "I'm too old, it's too late, everyone's already doing it..." If this sounds like you, why not surprise yourself? Try something new.

My husband planned a surprise birthday party for me many years ago. We had planned to have a quiet celebration, dinner and a show, something simple. We arrived home after our evening out, and as I walked through the still dark house, I had no clue that 30 of our friends were busy being very quiet. So I had the shock of my life when I turned on the light and they jumped out yelling "Happy Birthday!" Noel was so pleased that I was truly surprised, which was obvious by how high I jumped when they did this. It was a really fun party. In this case, I liked being surprised.

Do you like surprises? What's the best surprise anyone ever gave you, or that you planned for another?

"Knowledge Tree" 2008 15"x15" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
$200. at kriscahill.com

Energy of the Sea, Spirit, Art and a Hello

2008-02-10T10:06:00.001-08:00

Today started off quite nicely, with a comment from Shoshana on Friday's post, telling me she had written about our meeting Friday. I thought, "how nice", and when I went to her blog, I was floored! She wrote a beautiful piece about coming to my loft and meeting with me regarding the project she is doing. I will be her first featured artist for the upcoming Artist Video Portraits she will be submitting to a producer who is interested in her and her work. I am truly honored to have been written about in such a loving and thoughtful way. Here is the link to today's The Artist in You Museletter. Today's post is titled "Love Song Colors and Trees". Thank you, Shoshana! You have truly brightened my day today with your wonderful words and way of making me look at myself and my effect on others. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to work with you too.

I am inspired by the topic of Art and Spirit. I think about these two together quite often. Spirit is my guiding force as an artist. At least it is when I allow it to be, rather than allowing something else like worry or invalidation to jump in there. I love looking at energy, at spirit, and to make art that expresses this. In my abstract paintings, I am painting the energy of what I see. This is where the Energy Series came from. As I have changed and grown, so has my work. I expect that to continue, since I intend to continue to change and grow. I see my work as one way I say hello.

When I was training to become a clairvoyant, I learned the value of a hello. There is a wonderful communication that can happen when someone receives that hello. Have you ever walked into a shop or restaurant where you were ignored? Where nobody acknowledged your existence? How did you feel? You may have walked right out of that place, never to return. I know that I do. And then there's the places that welcome you, the people who say hello and you feel like you are being seen, and valued. I've given readings to many people who have not received a hello for most of their lives! My reading has been the first hello somebody may have gotten in a long time. A kind and compassionate hello can change someone's life. They of course will do the changing, a hello can trigger the change.

The quality of the hello is important. I remember being told that the energy of my hello is, "hello, wanna play?". I was complimented by this!

So hello to all of you who take the time to visit and read. Thank you! And thanks to those of you who leave your comments. They are all appreciated.

"Energy of the Sea" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Blue To Red

2008-02-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Another one from my archives, "Blue to Red" was painted using a technique I read about in an artist's manual years ago. I apply the paint to newspaper first, then use the paper to put the paint on the vinyl. In reverse. This is my messiest technique, which adds to its allure for me. I need to make more messes, the painty kind. I love the texture and marks that result from this method of applying the paint in layers. My hands get coated with paint while doing this. I am usually quite careful, since it's pigments we're talking about here. I coat my hands with a barrier cream before painting, which does nothing to protect my manicure should I be foolish enough to think it will last.

I like how challenging it is to control the paint this way. I get blurry soft edges, and an unfocused look. I also like the "accidents" that happen. I'm working on a new flower series now, and one of the things I am playing with is focus, and object/background relationship. Often, while painting objects, I separate them from the background. I want to start mixing that up, softening some of the edges, playing with perspective.

Shoshana visited me today! I'll write more about that in a later post, but let me say right now that it was fabulous to meet her. I am excited about the new collaboration we are beginning this month. Thank you for coming to my studio, Shoshana!

"Blue To Red" 2004 30"x28" acrylic on vinyl in reverse SOLD

Orchid Valley, Lists, and Yet ANOTHER Award!

2008-02-07T20:40:00.001-08:00

Wowie Gazowie! I have been awarded yet again, this time by Kim over at Laketrees. This award is for "exuding sunshine and serenity wherever I go". Wow, thank you Kim! Coming from you, who I always think of as being a positive force out here in Blogland, this is lovely. I will display it proudly.

I suppose this award is well timed, since my post for today begins like this:

Ten Things To Do Instead Of Worrying:

1. Laugh out loud foolishly. Even if you don't really mean it. At least you might accidentally get some fresh air this way.
2. Make up silly riddles. (Do vegetarians wear fishnets?)
3. Eat ridiculously overpriced and amazing chocolate.
4. Read the comics before the news.
5. Read the obituaries. Notice how everyone died in alphabetical order again. Smile because your name isn't there.
6. Turn OFF the TV.
7. Breathe.
8. Try on hats.
9. Write country songs. (My newest one is called "Take the chains off my heart, it's not a snow tire."
(Dedicated to everyone living in Chicago, where 18 inches of snow fell today.)
10. Sit still for 5 minutes. When you begin to fidget after the first 20 seconds, really get into it. Fidget loudly and like you mean it.

I write lists just for fun sometimes. Often they are lists of goals, of what I want, of clothes I want to sew, improvements I want to make. Making lists helps me get organized. Lists also help me figure out what I want, which is no small feat. I can probably find 3 lists around me right now without looking too hard. Sometimes they are shopping lists, or lists of what I want to get done today. Lists help me ground my day, help me get to what I am trying to accomplish. And of course, I have permission to scratch things off the list, ignore them, or just fuggedaboudit if I don't want to do that thing at all.

Because of the many demands on my space each and every day, making lists helps me to stay focussed. When one is self employed, this is key to actually getting goals accomplished. Especially when one works mainly out of one's own home, with all its many distractions of laundry, errands, chores. Even cleaning out the refrigerator looks good to me on a day I am procrastinating. So I have to look at my list. Nope, don't see 'cleaning the refrigerator' on it today. Funny, come to think of it, I never see that on any of my lists!

This blog has lists on it: my links list, links to favorite places I visit, a list of the paintings on this blog. And here's a list of lists I found today:

Timothy McSweeney Tips Out His Muse: Poetic, silly and fun list of lists.
Ta-Da Lists.
To Do List.

Here's a list by one of my favorite authors:

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?

Well she did. and that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one and calls out, "Yoo-hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves'
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff.
One Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff.
And one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed.
And one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed.
And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt
And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate...
But she didn't do it. And now it's too late.

"Too Many Daves" by Dr. Seuss

I'm adding "read Dr. Seuss" to my list of Things to do rather than worry!

Do you make lists? What do your lists look like?

"Orchid Valley" 2006 26"x20" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Green on Purple & Creative Blogger Award

2008-02-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

Last night I had so much fun, giving readings at the last Psychic Night we will be doing at Burgundy Blue, a shop owned by a friend of mine. She has sold the shop so she can concentrate on designing. We had a full house, and I even sold 4 of my small heart paintings. I watched my friend sell my work so easily, absolutely no effort at all on her part, and with such grace and charm. I told her that if she ever decided to become an art dealer, I would happily give her 50% to represent me. Selling is such an art, and I tend to freeze up sometimes when trying to sell my own work. I do so enjoy watching excellence in this art form. I aspire to improve in this area. And I truly appreciate those who do it well, especially on my behalf. Lucky me.

One thing my friend has while selling my work that I don't, is neutrality. She sees my work as having great value. There is no judgment on her part, no question of worth. She is a businesswoman, and knows how to communicate to someone who is interested in buying. Did I already say that the ability to do this blows me away? I can do this for others, but have a much harder time doing it for me. I love to talk to people interested in my work, that is not the problem. And I market quite a bit, online and by email. It is the Value question that I am grappling with. Though I know my work has value, I get shy when presenting my art to someone in person. Especially gallery owners. I am working on overcoming this weakness on my part, and I see that neutrality is the key. Not taking any of it personally, not the praise or the rejections. It's all a part of it. And hey, I have the nerve to create it and put it out there.

Some books I've read that I find helpful with these issues include:

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orloff

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

And, on this note, allow me to brag about my latest award, another one sent to me by the lovely Sweet Irene, from Sweet Wood Talking. Thank you again, Irene! I am honored that people visit, comment, and get something out of reading my blog. And I am having so much fun writing it! Hey, there's that non effort thingy again. Hmmm.....

"Green on Purple" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Deep Night, Change & Excellent Blogger Award

2008-02-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

What an interesting day this promises to be! The eyes of the world will be on the U.S., as Super Tuesday is under way. I expect much fun today. Change is in the air. And, out here in the merry old land of LA (sung to the tune of "Merry Old Land of Oz), a record voter turnout is expected. Today is sunny, yes, and warmer. Should be an awesome day.

When I planned my Psychic Reading Night in Sherman Oaks for tonight, I quite forgot that it was also Super Tuesday. My predictions for today: change, games, tomfoolery, schtick, amusement, merriment, and theatre. I look forward to being among lots of people and reading the energy. This plus the impending end of the Writer's Guild Strike, (perhaps by the weekend?), will reset the energy here in the middle of the Winter of 2008. Sometimes it feels like it's a Deep Night indeed. Change is coming, that is certain. I say hooray!

What is it about change that makes it so damn scary? And exciting, exhilarating, anticipated, feared, resisted, welcomed, ignored, hated, loved? Here's a quote I found for today:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change.
~ Charles Robert Darwin

People want their politicians to remain solid on the issues. They want their friends and family to be consistent. They want their favorite bands to continue playing the same kind of music. They want things to stay the same. Change is inconvenient. Even if I don't like what's happening now, I don't have a clue as to what's coming so this is better. Change is a pain in the ass. If everything else changes, I might also have to. Waaahhhh!!

I wince when I hear people my age bemoan "kids these days" blah blah blah. I love seeing what kids these days are up to. They are changing, most of them aren't set in their ways yet. They have to figure out what it means to create their own lives. The division between generations exists mainly because each generation has its own reasons for being here. I think that's as it should be. Each brings in changes. Teenagers don't really care all that much about the music I listened to back in 1980. They have their own music. And hair, clothes, ideas, challenges, wishes, goals. The politician who sees this power clearly for what it is and can inspire younger people, some of who aren't even eligible to vote yet, will win big.

Meanwhile, the changes keep a coming. I like to take stock frequently, and look as clearly as I can in the moment, to decide what changes I want to make. Here's a few that are coming: a new website, maybe two. Letting go of the need to make sense so that I can create magic in my life. I am working on big changes in my art making, especially in my attitude toward it and preconceived ideas about what is possible there. I no longer want to keep playing my "greatest hits"! Some of them are becoming "oldies".

Irene over at Sweet Wood Talking, has passed this wonderful award on to me. This is a lovely award given to bloggers whose blog is deemed Excellent in quality. Thank you, Irene! When I began blogging more consistently last October, I didn't know yet of the many wonderful things I would find from becoming a blogger. I just knew I suddenly really wanted to do it. Besides writing daily now, practicing talking about my ideas and art to others, the best part has been other bloggers. The communication, exchange of ideas, and just plain fun with artists and writers from all over the world has been so enjoyable. I look forward to much more. Thank you all for playing in this fun game with me!

The rules of this award state that I must pass it on to 10 others. I don't want to cause more work for anyone, so no pressure to do anything other than accept this Excellent Award from me!

I am giving this Excellent Award to the following: Jimmydumps/sunnyjimmy; Celestine Musings; The Artful Eye; Bad Kitty Art Studio; The Artist in You; Designer's Depot; Beth Kephart Books; Laketrees; Online Arts Marketing. There are so many more who are excellent!! I am not posting on anyone's site, so please know that when you visit and read this, you can pick up your award. Thank you.

"Deep Night" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Peacock, Self Image, Reality

2008-02-02T22:04:00.001-08:00

Peacock Energy: colorful, flashy, being seen.
Self-Image: not a problem.
Such a simple drama.
The peacock is the star.

Reality, here where I stand.
Reality, also over by you.
A different reality, each one is true.
One is not enough.

Aah, Superbowl Sunday.
Reality to many.
Halftime Petty.
Shall we tailgate?

Tomorrow's Post: Excellent Blog Award!

"Peacock" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
Available at kriscahill.com

Something in the Wind, Validation, Vote For Me!

2008-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

January began easily enough, picked up steam about halfway through, and ended on a wild and busy note. I couldn't even get online to post yesterday, the energy was so much. Which in hindsight is very good, but was a little frustrating at the time. However, I did manage to finally shoot photos of some new work, as well as pieces I've never had good photos of. This is a brand new tree painting, completed last week: "Something in the Wind". You can see it on my website here. Yes, it is for sale, through my website, or contact me.

And so February is here now. I know many of you who read my blog are also participating in the 2008 Creative Everyday Challenge. Leah's post today listed her January creative acts. Check it out, very inspirational. And it made me want to list mine, for myself if nobody else. This is where the Validation part of today's post comes in.

I have had the bad habit in my past of treating myself like a workhorse. My body and spirit won't put up with that kind of BS anymore, thankfully. As one of my favorite teachers in my life put it so well: "tell people you respond better to the carrot than the stick". I finally realized I also needed to use the carrot on myself. My carrot = new shoes, a nap, a fun day, time to just play. My point here is: with all these enormous goals piled up, I also need to take the time to validate what has already come to pass. What I have created. Take stock, before forging blindly ahead. Bwahahahaha!!

January saw more connections coming my way in my clairvoyant business. I began making plans for the first classes I will be teaching in Los Angeles. These will begin sometime in March. More details as I have them. I began expanding my visibility in Pacific Palisades, even getting some press there. There will be an article coming out in the Palisades Post soon, on top of the Events announcement that helped my first reading event there be completely booked up!

I also began expanding my online presence. I joined more blogger communities, and saw the readership of my blog rise. I've met countless amazing and talented people through blogging, and have begun making plans with at least one of them to create something amazing. Shoshana Rose has BIG plans involving a fancy new video camera and artists who inspire her. I can't wait!

I was the featured artist last week on Designer's Depot, which I posted about here. There is a contest for the best artist featured in January. (There were four.) You can vote for me by clicking on this link: Battle of the Artists. This is the first Battle of the Artists at Designers Depot. Please check it out! Thank you!! In January I was also a featured artist at Online Arts Marketing.

I found new inspiration in January for my painting process and my work. I can't wait to begin the new series I am planning, and then to share it here. Coming soon.

What works for me: kindness to myself. Present time. Amusement. Being in a happy relationship. Seeing clearly. Grounding. Good dark chocolate. Music. Color.

What works for you?

A bit of business: All of my Heart Paintings are marked 25% off through February 28, both on my website and Etsy shop.

"Something in the Wind" 2008 32"x30" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Evening Heart

2008-01-30T20:48:00.001-08:00

I've had a relaxing day today, after a week of intense activity. I'm needing space to just BE. After days of much communication, parties, events, people... the best I could do today was to spend several hours on the couch in the afternoon sun reading "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", which is a whole bundle of fun. The building I live in has a recycling area, with several bookcases next to it, filled with books people have read and are passing on to whoever wants them. When I brought my recycling down today, I went "shopping" for books, and found the Ya-Ya Sisterhood there. It was the right book to begin reading today, a fun fast read.

Last night's event went very well. After an intense energy event like that one, I need to take really good care of myself. One thing I've learned is that the major part of my work as a psychic happens when I am alone, just getting my space. That's the most important time, and without that, I am no good doing the rest. It's more than just preparing for this or that event. Taking care of myself is how I heal every day, how I have energy to create, how I feel well, how I attract great things to myself. It takes energy to create one's life, and creating my life is what I'm all about.

I've also learned that the relaxing days are as important as the painting, posting, and promoting days. My goal is to effortlessly and happily take more days to relax. This relaxation has to also happen on the inside, in all of me. Today, lying in the sun coming in the window, reading something light and fun, it was easy to stop trying to solve problems. Most of which I can't solve anyway, since I didn't create them. What a relief to let that pressure go.

Handling the daily demands that come with living one's life is part of the territory. I used to think all I had to do was dive in, headfirst, and I'd solve it, fix it, do it, make it work. I am learning a bit about grace and finesse, even subtlety. There is an art to living, and I believe one's life can be art. I'm creating a colorful abstract!

"Evening Heart" 2007 14'x13" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Autumn Afternoon

2008-01-29T12:14:00.001-08:00

"Autumn Afternoon" is one of the small abstracts I created for my Etsy shop, where you will find it now. A short post today. Tonight is a big event for me, giving readings in Pacific Palisades, and I am fully booked. In order to prepare myself, I am resting, eating well, and of course, blogging.

Yesterday I actually finally added my greeting cards to my Etsy shop. Geez Louise, it took me long enough. There is an unending amount of things to do in terms of promotion, and as February approaches, I am making my February lists. I am beginning with my goals for the month, always with an eye to much bigger goals. The bigger picture, broken down into the present moment, is much easier to handle and manifest. Today I can do thus and such...and so on.

I find this a valuable way to keep sight of the bigger picture, and not overwhelm myself in the present. This also keeps my focus on what I am doing, instead of comparing myself with others.

How do you work with your goals as an artist, creative, human?

"Autumn Afternoon" 2007 10"x10" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available on ETSY

Sunspot and Sunshine

2008-01-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

"Sunspot" was inspired by the energy of the sun itself. I saw some fantastic photos of the surface of the sun at the Griffith Park Observatory last spring, and my Energy Series was born. I was intrigued by the textures, variations in color and depth, and movement on the surface of the sun. This piece was created from my memories of the photos and a few simple line sketches. When I sketch quickly to remember something I see, I make notes: five shades of yellow from lemon to cadmium yellow dark, turquoise, alizarin, cad red lt, and so on. I sketch my little pictures and color notes in my small black wirebound sketchbook which is always with me.

When I began painting in earnest and was learning to mix color, I found it important to write down my recipes for the colors I was mixing. I make notes in my color mixing sketchbooks, which are just for that purpose and live on my work table next to my brushes. A swatch of the color, with quick notes of which pigments from which brands has saved me enormous amounts of time and trouble, especially when I am commissioned to paint something similar to what I've done. I often see the complete palette of the painting I want to make, and a quick referral to my color books helps me get started immediately. I also have several color mixing books for artists, and sometimes use the recipes in there to practice mixing colors I don't often use. Last year, I decided to make friends with green, with great results. I had been afraid of green, kinda, and needed to get more comfortable with it. Now I have pages of notes on green.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling a bit blocked or stuck, I refer to my color sketchbooks for inspiration. Just looking at pages and pages of delicious colors can get me kick started when resistance has taken hold. And it's all about color! Color is my chosen method of expression. What I paint always begins with an idea of color. A red abstract, a blue heart, a green sky, a gold flower. Color talks, shouts, sings and skips. It dances, meditates, flows, heals, emotes. I am highly distracted by bright colorful objects.

On an energy level, color is one way that clairvoyants see. Energy itself can be seen as color, and color can be used to create healing.

Currently, I am enamored of magenta, red, orange, bright olive green, and rich purple. What colors do you find yourself attracted to?

"Sunspot" 2007 26"x20" acrylic on vinyl in reverse available at kriscahill.com

Mystical Harvest and Rainy Sunday

2008-01-27T11:18:00.001-08:00

"Mystical Harvest" is a recent painting from my abstract landscapes series. I love the energy of the mystic, the mystery. One definition of mysticism has to do with mysteries, and the pursuit of conscious awareness of Spirit.

I understand now that I can use being an artist to answer some questions for myself. Many of my paintings, especially the more recent abstract ones, are to that end, though not always intentionally in the moment. I try to hold onto the picture I have of what I want to create. I paint because I want to see in front of me on a canvas some of what I already "see" on another, inner canvas. I am excited now to begin some new work along the lines of what has been moving and shaking for me recently.

I see movement and stillness in this piece. The energy is moving through the landscape. There is an almost ethereal quality of quiet and calm with it. When I had finished this piece and looked at, only then did I see that quality. Sometimes it awes me, wow! I did that? Then I have to own it and say, Yes, I did. How fortunate am I that I have this opportunity!

Today is rainy. I like it. It brings a calm before the storm that will be a houseful of people at my home in about 4 hours. Noel has gone out with our house guest, kindly leaving me some room to get my space before our Thank You Party we are having for all the people who have helped with Bikini Movie Review, his website. I will use it wisely, finding my own stillness and movement.

"Mystical Harvest" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

First and Last

2008-01-26T20:35:00.001-08:00

"Red Front" 2005 30"x32" Acrylic on vinyl in reverse SOLD

"The Sea Has Secrets" 2007 30"x32" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

These two pieces are from a series I began in 2005 and feel I have now completed. I sold "Red Front" first and then was commissioned to make 2 others like it. "The Sea Has Secrets" came later, because I loved working with these colors. It is true that every painting has its moment. Every moment is unique. When I try to recreate one because I loved it, it can be very disappointing if I think I'm making the same painting. This will never happen.

For me, the hardest painting to make is a commission. Though I love and welcome them, and have done many, they take me longer as a rule. I tend to second guess myself more. It is also very hard to recreate one of my own pieces. First of all, it will never be exactly like the first one. That goes without saying. I've got to be in the zone to do this. Plus have a good attitude!

How do you handle the energy of creating a commission? What works for you in this process?

Another Dawn, Dreams and a Mon.key

2008-01-25T20:03:00.001-08:00

I was a night owl when I was younger. I loved the mystery and quiet of the night time. I loved to see how late I could stay awake. It was peaceful, everyone was asleep, and I was free to imagine all kinds of things for myself. I'd enjoy the peace and imagine what I'd do when I grew up. I'd read massive quantities of books, or draw, or sew. One summer when I was a teenager, two other girls on my block and I would stay up all night long, until it was light outside. We hung out at one of their houses, and would talk and watch TV, and sometimes play ping pong. I don't know how we were able to get away with this, but we did. I'd go home at 6AM or so, and sleep as long as I was able to with a houseful of other people who had all had a good night's sleep. We didn't do this very often, just a few times, but it was really fun.

I continued in this vein for a number of years. There was something about the deepest part of night that always grabbed me in the deepest part of my chest. It was better when I was by myself, more profound. When I began to drive, one of my favorite things to do was to drive late at night in the very early spring, the first night it was actually warm enough to open the car windows. Which in Chicago is about 50 degrees.

Note: When 50 degrees F hits Chicago after a Long Winter, people actively cheer! and proceed to put on shorts, t shirts, and sandals. When it gets down to 50 degrees F in Los Angeles, people put on winter coats, scarves, and complain that it's cold. It's all a matter of perspective. And a source of unending amusement for me.

Back to the night time. Driving alone, accompanied only by the radio on those early spring nights, was something special. The air smelled tantalizingly like Spring. That smell brought up emotions, memories, longings I couldn't express. I didn't understand where they came from. I couldn't wait to begin living my life!

All through college, I did my best work late at night. I see now that I was able to get some space at night, that the cares of the day were behind me and I could relax. Then I began to really like the day time. Part of it was the W word, Work. As in job. Getting up early and such like. Needing enough sleep meant going to bed earlier.

I also began to like my dreams, and will often have a better dreaming night if I am in bed earlier, relaxed. For years I scrupulously kept dream journals, which I still have. I love remembering my dreams and still write them down. I have a few from the last two nights to record, some fun, some disturbing. I learn from them. They alert me to energies I need to be aware of. I love how dreams do not make sense.

Speaking of not making sense, I have been awarded the very coveted Mon.key Award by John Mora from Typos.Daylight.Fate. The criteria for this award is a combination of whim and grace, mostly whim. But I suspect the real reason I am receiving it because I recently included a link for Monkey Mail and John has become addicted to it. I have posted my excellently designed award in the right hand column, just under My Blog Log. John promises to hand more of these out, so if you want one, visit him and let him know you're in the running. Check out his blog and awesome art if you've never been. Thank you John! You Make My Day!

"Another Dawn" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Purple Heart on Blue and Featured Artist

2008-01-24T20:47:00.001-08:00

If days had grades, I'd give today an A+. Lovely and good things came forth today. Stuff I'd put out there and worked toward, came back in a positive way. It's so nice when that happens. Often, as most of us know, you just put it out there because that's what you do. And you keep doing it, for the love of it. There is a great joy in breaking through, in being seen, in reaping some harvest. Time to stomp the grapes, woohoo!! Let me take my shoes off!

First, I am the featured artist this week on a blog called Designer's Depot. Here's the link: Designer's Depot. You will see when you visit that you can also apply to be featured artist. This is what I did, and I am happy with the presentation of me and my work. Noel, the writer of this beautiful blog, sent me a list of questions. I sent my answers, my photo, and some jpgs of my work. Thank you, Noel! You did a beautiful job. (Note: This is NOT my husband Noel. Different guy.)

I've been working on increasing my visibility as a psychic here in SoCal. One place I have been expanding my business is Pacific Palisades, where I have been fortunate to have found a space to work part time out of. So that people can meet me and see what I do, I participate in events once a month at which I give free mini readings. Next Tuesday will be the first event in the Palisades, and it was written about in today's Pacific Palisades Post! I had nobody signed up, and now people have been calling all evening, reserving a spot for themselves. There will also be an article coming out about me and the woman whose Healing Center I work out of there. I'll keep you posted with that link when I have it.

Recently I have been featured on another blog I told you about, the wonderful Online Arts Marketing. I was just awarded the You Make My Day award, which was doubly fun in that I got to pass it on to others who inspire me. I will begin working with Shoshana Rose from The Artist in You Museletter in February. She is creating a featured artist video blog and I am her first artist. I have been fortunate to attract to myself opportunities that are delightful and also fun! Another reason to be grateful:

My husband Noel booked his first high profile commercial job since moving out here. It was one he never thought he'd get. He will be playing Abraham Lincoln in a two spot package for Civilization:Revolution, a video game. After being sent out by his agent on over 100 auditions last year, he booked one. He's had several paying acting gigs already, but this one is better. The happy dance has been danced all day.

The scenario: I am in Whole Foods, buying things Trader Joe's doesn't carry, (we had just left there). He is out in the car, parking lot is crazy at the WF in West Hollywood. All of a sudden, he is standing behind me, acting oddly, (which isn't really unusual of him) (actors!) asking me in a strange voice to take him to the White House because he is the president. Behind him, a man who has overheard is looking at us seriously alarmed. Perhaps wondering if he should rescue me from this madman. I am preoccupied with thoughts of Earl Grey and Roasted Tomatoes and where the hell are they? He keeps carrying on, saying he is the 16th President of the United States. "Wait, who was the 16th president?" I ask. "Abraham Lincoln!" is the answer, and I finally get it. Now we are laughing out loud, slapping high fives, and the guy thinks we are both nuts. So be it.

The heart featured in this blog was one of my favorite paintings at the time I made it. There are very few of my paintings I won't sell. This was one; for years it hung in our home. Then one day I was hanging a show and decided it was time to let it go, so I hung it in the show. It sold soon after. Around that time my work began to sell more, and I knew something had cleared up for me. I see now it was in the letting go. The present time looks like that to me too. I have much gratitude for this time in my life.

"Purple Heart on Blue" 2000 32"x30" SOLD

It Never Rains in Southern California

2008-01-23T21:50:00.001-08:00

But girl, don't they warn ya? It pours....man it pours! Rainy season is here, hooray! It's very wet and kinda chilly. After a bone dry year with the worst fires ever here in SoCal, this is a relief. I was able to stay home all day, working in my studio, cleaning, meditating, listening to the rain. It's rained a few days already this season, but today is the day I decided the Rainy Season had officially begun. Rain is very likely to continue every day, through the weekend, and most likely into next week. I am so happy; the air will be cleaner, spring will be greener, and I don't have to wash my car now!

Yesterday I was hired to do a house healing, for a woman I know whose home has been uncomfortable energy-wise for her to live in. This is the second time I've been to her home, and both times I've met her cat. He and I hit it off very well, he's a psychic cat. Yesterday he was very happy to see me, kept rubbing against me and saying hello. When the time came to read the energy and I sat down at the kitchen table, he jumped up on the table and got right in my face. "Look", I said to him, "I like you very much too, but I need some space so I can give a reading." He understood, immediately jumped down from the table and went somewhere to lie down for the duration of the reading. I was totally impressed with him. The reading went well, and my client was happy and more relaxed.

On the way home, I thought about space. Not outer space, or even inner space, but having space. Cats know about having space, and that cat instinctively knew what I was asking for. He was able to respond in a positive way without taking it personally. Which is more than people are able to do sometimes. Growing up in a large family, in a neighborhood full of large families, space wasn't exactly something people talked about having. One of my brothers moved into a long closet when he was a teenager. He had a twin mattress on the floor, his record player, and whatever else he could squeeze in there. The closet even had a tiny window. He was happy; he had his own room. The rest of us were also happy because he was easier to live with now. That tiny little closet became his sanctuary and gave him some space.

One of the reasons I first began meditating was because I wanted to have more of myself present, to have my space. I really can't imagine living well without taking time each day to do this. It is a creative act, also requiring patience and the ability to let go of needing to be perfect. Sometimes people think they are not ready to meditate because they get all squirmy and filled with silly thoughts. Meditation is seen as a serious, almost studious act. One must be kind of perfectly in a zone or something.

Here's the secret to meditation: it's never perfect. It's funny and messy and calming and also the opposite. Every time it's different. What I find works the best for me is amusement and forgiveness. Who do I forgive? First of all, myself. Next, whoever. The most important thing is that I am taking time off from busy-ness to work on my relationship with myself. That is the most important relationship I have. If that one is working well, I will be able to create my life as I see it.

"Winds of Change" 2006 33"x31" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Sunny Land and You Make My Day

2008-01-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

I have been honored with my very first award from another blogger. Sue O'Kieffe, from Sacred Circle Mandalas has kindly bestowed upon me the 'You Make My Day' award.

I met Sue very early on in my blogging career. She commented on my blog, said hello to me in a friendly way, telling me she liked my attitude. I went to her blog and was impressed and awestruck by the beauty of her work, her commitment to doing it, and her giving spirit in how she teaches others. Thank you, Sue! You Make My Day!

I would like to pass this award on to a few folks who make my day. I think it's important to let people know one is grateful for them. Since I became a blogger, I have met so many helpful, interesting, and fabulous artists. So here are the rules: “Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Beware! You may get the award several times!”

I recently met Shoshana Rose through the blogosphere when she visited my blog in a lovely flurry of kindness, validation, and enthusiasm. I am struck by her complete joy of life, her decision to live and create a beautiful life after going through some very difficult times, and her mission to tell the world about it. Shoshana has healed herself through dance, and tells others they can too. Shoshana writes some of the most wonderful things to me about how inspiring I have been to her. Right back at you Shoshana, You Make My Day!

I know she was just awarded this, and I don't want to put any more pressure on her, so Diane Clancy, you can just consider it a double award. Diane found me early here also, and has graced my blog with her thoughtful insights and kind comments ever since. She may not know this, but when I was in Chicago last month for the holidays, she was one of the few people who continued to visit and comment every day, though I was so busy with family and friends I barely posted while there. That meant a lot to me, as well as the generous sharing of information to be found on Diane's blog. She is fabulous at marketing, and shares what she learns. Diane, You Make My Day!

Ever since I found her blog, or she found mine, I feel as if she and I are kindred spirits. We share a similar love of red, lipstick, beauty, and fashion. Whenever I visit her blog, I am in awe of her latest creation, which she makes in an apparently effortless way. She has been through much in her life, and has compassion and grace. Neda Doany, You Make My Day!

Though I don't always comment when I visit, I read her beautiful words and appreciate them. She wrote one of my favorite books I read last year, "Undercover", a story about a teenage girl coming of age and discovering it is possible to achieve her dreams. When you visit her blog, you are greeted with her kindness, compassion, intelligence and grace, as well as her gorgeous photos. She talks about the writer's life, what it's like to be a writer, how she gets inside a character to flesh her or him out. I picture her taking a flat line drawing of the character and blowing it up like a beach ball, then writing what she sees! Beth Kephart, You Make My Day!

I learn something new every time I visit her blog. The first time I went was just at the new year, when she had published her amazing list "Top 101 Artists Blogs". Wow, what a labor of love! And she was still accepting submissions and adding them to a new list. Since finding Kim, I have met a lot of other artists who blog, learned about a fantastic free way to get stats on visitors to my sites, and been introduced to "Wordless Chicken Tuesday", among numerous other bits of fun and helpful information. (You'll have to visit her to get the scoop on WCT.) Kim at laketrees, You Make My Day!

He is a thoughtful, intelligent, and friendly guy. Chris O'Byrne from Online Arts Marketing writes about exactly that, marketing online for artists. Make sure you check his blog out. It is written in an informative, clear and sharp way. He is concise in his words, and the information he presents is grounded and no nonsense. Unlike some other blogs that exist solely for this purpose, his is also interesting to look at. And he features a different artist every Friday. Chris, You Make My Day!

I love her work, her playfulness, and her ability to get loads of artists to commit to being Creative Everyday. Though this is her second time being awarded in the past two days, I can't help it. Every time I visit her blog, I am struck by her joy and positive attitude about life. Her ability to find the creative in simply living is catching for others. She is presenting a way to live life to its fullest, so I present to Leah Piken Kolidas this award: You Make My Day!

I just found her blog recently, actually both her blogs, and I am blown away. Though we don't know each other yet, I have been to visit a number of times, and intend to continue doing so. From the photos and statements on her banners, to her incredible artwork, to her humor, I feel a kinship for the writer of both The Artful Eye and The Way I See It. You Make My Day!

I find his visits and comments most unusual and fun, and I like that! His words are poetic and colorful, his monkey typing style is like choreography. I am happy he found my blog and began to visit, he always leaves me with something deep to ponder, or an excellent and funny phrase to laugh out loud at. His art is textured and also deep; I enjoy seeing what world he has created next. One of the many treasures I have found as a blogger, John Mora, You Make My Day!

I may be going over my allotted number here, but rules can be stretched and I don't want to leave this beautiful woman out of the mix. Not only are her mandalas gorgeous, her writing is a delight to read. Even while going through some health issues that would challenge any of us greatly, she manages to post to her blog every day. Her posts are friendly and open about her life. It's like visiting a friend for tea. Sweet Irene, You Make My Day!

Thank you as well, kind reader. I appreciate you taking the time to simply visit and read my blog. You, too, make my day.

"Sunny Day" 2006 32"x30" SOLD

Fire Sky and the Courage to Create

2008-01-21T20:22:00.001-08:00

This is an excerpt from The Courage To Create, Rollo May, 1975:
"This courage will not be the opposite of despair. We shall often be faced with despair, as indeed every sensitive person has been during the last several decades in this country. Hence Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Camus and Sartre have proclaimed that courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair."

I started art school in September of 1976, at the tender age of 17, and when I read this book the first time, I did not get it. I read it because it was assigned by one of my freshman year teachers. I'm sure I slid through my first reading of it half consciously at best.

I picked it up again, later in my 20's as I was beginning to look for some answers for myself. And again. I woke up today thinking of this book, and not finding it on my bookshelf, I ordered a copy. I want to read it again.

What stands out for me now as I read these words is the part 'every sensitive person'. Rollo May wrote this in the early 1970's, during and just after a time of great social upheaval. Everything was changing, more quickly ever day, as we all know now. He was referring to the courage it takes, in spite of the tumult going on all around, to create a new world. I see it as being more than a painter, or writer, or filmmaker, or musician. It is really about one becoming the artist of one's own life, and in doing so, creating a new reality.

In order for someone to create, to become an artist, it may be necessary to open up, to become even more sensitive. What a challenge now! In fact, I can't think of a time in history when it wouldn't have been a challenge to be sensitive. It's often seen as a negative, as in "oh, don't be so sensitive!" As I've gotten older, I've become much more so, to my delight. There is a deeper and wider range to draw upon. I've had to pull down a few walls to do this. In order to pull those down, I had to get safer, make new rules for my life, stop taking everyone's pain on as my personal crusade. Many people are reluctant to open themselves up, wisely so. Once someone has been hurt, that person understandably becomes a bit gun shy about letting that happen again. But that is also how we grow, evolve, learn. Not that one needs to seek out challenging experiences. They tend to show up. :-)
(Read About How Joshua Trees Grow Here.)

There is a hilarious but painful scene in Art School Confidential. John Malkovich plays a bitter art teacher, leading a life drawing class. As his class is drawing away at their easels, he is lecturing them; "And remember, only one in one hundred of you will ever make a living as an artist".

One thing I have learned while becoming an artist is that if I wanted to make real work, I had to be able to Get More Real. This doesn't mean I have to paint realistically! It means I have to Be more realistic, ie, more like myself. That means less like you, or her, or him. But wait, I used to wonder, what does that mean? Who am I? Aye, there's the rub! To be me, or not to be me?

What does courage mean to you? Where are you most courageous in your life?

"Fire Sky" 2005 34"x32" SOLD

Sky Blue Heart, Greeting Cards, & Value

2008-01-19T18:45:00.001-08:00

Continuing with the Heart Theme is "Sky Blue Heart". I sold this painting a while ago, but it is still available as a greeting card. In 2006, I licensed 12 of my original images to Arbutus Images, a wholesale greeting card company. They license work from artists all over the world. Go to their website to check them out here.

They are a wholesale company, as I said, so if you want to buy individual pieces, it's best to buy them directly from the artists. Like me, for example! Here's the link to my shop page on my website, where you can see all 12 card images: Buy Cards. I have 6 different heart images for sale, as well as 6 other images.

I am creating more spaces online to market my work, and the cards are one item I haven't promoted very well, until now. Sure, they've been on my website, now it's time to show them in other places too.

In getting so busy with other things I am building and creating, I forgot to value these creations as well as I might. However, today I sold a bunch of them through my website, along with "Blue Chord", the painting featured in yesterday's Online Arts Marketing post. Hooray! The funny thing is, and I do it often enough that it's not really funny but I have to laugh anyway, is that I forget how beautiful some of these things are. I have done them, and moved my energy onto the next 12 things. Then someone buys them, and I'm all "huh? I'd better value those!!" D'oh!

This is what blogging everyday is doing for me: helping me be more conscious and aware of the value of my work. Not just because I get praise and validation for it, heck, who doesn't want that? But more because I get a kind of neutral distance from it. I am becoming more clear about what I need to do, what I want to do, what is working. I write down my work goals for the week and each day. And when I am writing my blog I get to explore some of the spiritual issues I work on as a human being and an artist. Value is a big one.

I was given this lesson years ago in one of my first shows ever, Around the Coyote in Chicago, which is a huge group show and studio art walk each September. I was stuck in a basement gallery space with a guy whose art glowed in the dark. He would turn off the lights when people walked into our space. That didn't last long, as I can be quite fierce when need be. :-) Anyway, Mr. Glow-Art and I had our fair share of visitors, as off the beaten track as we were. I even sold some pieces from that show, including one painting to two of Mr. Glow-Art's friends, which for some reason seemed to irritate him. I also had several more shows as a result of this one.

Two men came in, looked at my work, and liked it. They looked to me like people who loved and bought art. But as they were leaving, one turned to me and said, "Your prices are too low! Nobody's going to value your work until you do." He was actually angry! I thanked him; I was speechless, which takes some doing.

He was right, and I had to begin doing some work on myself about this thing called "value". For artists, value can be such a strange thing. There are all kinds of incidentals that go into pricing work. One of the hardest things I've ever done as an artist is to raise my prices. But it's easier to do so when I look back at the pieces I sold for too little, and realize I value them much more highly now.

I have often told other artists their prices were too low also. I have been amazed at what people were willing to let their work go for. It all comes down to value, and more often it's about the individual being able to value him/herself.

This is where it gets all squirmy and dicey. (Love those words!) Self image, do I really have to work on that one to get a fair price for my work? How about even to SELL my work!

How about you, what do you have to say about this topic?

"Sky Blue Heart" 2005 30"x27" SOLD
Greeting Cards available at kriscahill.com

Sunset Heart

2008-01-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

Exciting news today! I am the featured artist at Online Arts Marketing. You can read the article about me here. If you haven't been to this blog yet, and you are an artist wanting to market your work, check it out. Chris O'Byrne has created a well thought out and well written blog, with some very helpful grounded information. I am honored to be his Friday featured artist. Thank you, Chris! You are inspiring me to paint more colorful abstracts.

Today's post will be short and sweet. Here is another heart painting from my Etsy shop. I particularly like this one for its colors. Orange and purple is one of my favorite color combinations, and the title 'Sunset Heart' seems perfect to me.

"Sunset Heart" 2007 14"x13" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Blue But Happy Heart

2008-01-17T20:36:00.001-08:00

When and why did I begin painting hearts? I remember I was in total judgment of doing so when I began. Jim Dine notwithstanding, I had a hard time with this image at first. Why? I thought 'serious artists' didn't paint hearts. I painted them before I was very aware of Jim Dine. I wanted to paint them. He just gave me permission to do so. Actually, I gave me permission to do so after seeing his.

Though I have made probably 200? hearts since, I don't get tired of this symbol. My heart paintings have ranged in size from 8"x8" to 36"x36". The larger ones are much more textured and detailed, and sometimes darker too. They become more than just a pretty picture of a heart. There is a lot of detail in each heart painting, no matter what size.

The symbol of a heart goes way back. Seeing as how we are heading into Heart Season, I thought I'd do some research. Aristotle considered the heart the seat of thought, reason, or emotion, more so than the brain. Many others throughout history thought of the heart as the seat of human emotions. Phrases and sayings are significant: a good heart, wearing your heart on your sleeve, cold hearted, black hearted, without heart, it's got heart, deep in my heart, my heart longs for you...and many more. Simply put, we use the symbol of a heart to represent not only love, but feeling, depth, kindness, integrity.

The organ of the heart is associated with the 4th chakra, in the human energy system. This chakra is, appropriately enough, located in the center of the chest. It has to do with affinity, self love, love for others, love for what one is creating. Also, self image. As a psychic, when I look at someone who has a very active 4th chakra, it can mean that person is quite a healer.

Years ago, I had a fascination with reading the obituaries every morning. Right after the comics. (My father used to say, "everyone died in alphabetical order again today!) I read the obituaries to see several things: how old the person was when they died, and what they did for a living. I just wanted to know, and later when I began training as a psychic, I realized why. I was "reading" the obits while reading them. For instance, I noticed how many physicians died of heart attacks. Healers all, their 4th chakras were probably full of everyone's pain.

I learned a fascinating idea in my training: heal the spirit and the spirit heals the body. Wow! How mind blowing that was. I tried it, and it began to work. Once I began on this spiritual path, I wasn't going to turn back. I learned that my true work here on this earth may be a bit different than what I once thought it was. I used to think it was my job to fix and heal anyone and everyone. I tried, my body was in lots of pain. As I changed that to making it my job to heal myself, wouldn't you know it? My body began to heal. It's pretty happy now, and I'm much happier with it.

Many of the readings I give are to people who are trying to heal on some level. Perhaps they are deep in the process, maybe they are still trying to heal the world around them first. The miracles of healing I have seen over the years are really astounding. Here's a thought: when you heal yourself, you create healing around you. Just by being well.

"Blue Heart on Violet" 2007 14"x14" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Amusement, Again

2008-01-16T21:27:00.001-08:00

I write about amusement a lot. It is one of my favorite energies. And it'll do in a pinch if you run out of other things, like patience, or money, or clean underwear. Amusement is a very high spiritual vibration. It is healing to have. I have a lot of it; I am fortunate to be wealthy in amusement. Sometimes I am just full of it!! (That was a joke.)

Today was one of those days that had bunches of amusement, or at least I did so things were funny. From songs on the radio:
"He made his home in
that fish's ab-do-men..."
(Heard on KCRW this morning, "It Ain't Necessarily So")

After hearing this, I began laughing, and for some odd reason began thinking about Julie Andrews singing "A Spoonful Of Sugar" when I was a kid. Which led to the next thought, as I'm now driving along singing this out loud and laughing, which was about the comedians who do political satire. Some of them, like Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, and Bill Maher, understand the value of using amusement to communicate serious ideas. Their messages can be heard more easily this way.

People look to comics, clowns, fools and jesters during difficult and serious times. The Marx Brothers misbehaving in society, making huge messes, being fools and owning it. Monty Python not making sense, being completely silly, or blundering (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition...). The class clown. Many comics have made a name being inappropriate and offensive, treading on perfect pictures: perfect family, perfect bride, perfect life. The roasting of perfection is a healing because it is simply not possible to live one's life that way.

I am my parent's firstborn child. My mother was, understandably, protective of her new baby, and having had just enough nurse's training to become dangerous, sterilized everything in my nursery, constantly. When people came over to say hello, she made them wash their hands and wear a mask when they held me. I have often joked that I don't tan because my mother bleached me as a baby. Everything was all perfect for a while. Then one day, out of the blue, the boiler in the basement blew up. Everything in the house was covered with soot and ash, including me, my nursery, and all that perfectness. By the time my youngest brother was born, 5 children later, and kids from the neighborhood would come over to see the new baby, my mother said, "just don't drop him."

My sister Betty has an Etsy shop called snappyshop, and I model for her. My alter ego is Katrina. It all started very innocently, she asked me last year if I'd help her out by modeling her aprons so it was easier to sell them. She had been trying to shoot them while wearing them herself and if you've ever tried that, you know it's much easier to have another body there. Since they are unique handmade aprons, we shot them in her kitchen. We thought we'd use kitchen props. Here is my favorite. Yes, that's me with the butcher knife. Props are good. After laughing through our whole photo shoot, we go out to lunch and then go shopping.

Here's a few fun links for your amusement:
Happy Tree Friends Cute, cuddly, and sweet, until things go horribly horribly wrong.
Strindberg and Helium
Monk-e-Mail Send a talking monkey to your friends.

Have fun!

"New Year's Heart" 2008 12"x12" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Butter Heart and Self Promotion

2008-01-15T12:13:00.001-08:00

I've been all about marketing and self promotion lately. Increasing my visibility is one goal I have for 2008. I have a number of tools I use to let people know about me and what I do. This blog, my website, Etsy, Trunkt, Myspace, youtube, Boundless Gallery...not to mention all the blog social networking sites. I've been getting plugged into more of them, and creating relationships with people I meet this way. For me, a huge plus in expanding my networks is that I get to meet so many new people. I learn a lot from other artists while making it possible for opportunities to find their way to me.

One of my favorite ways to inform people about what I am doing now and what's new, is my monthly newsletter, 'Art & Clairvoyance'. I usually send it out the first week of the month, but because of the New Year and the holidays, I waited until yesterday to send it out. I use Constant Contact, which is a service you can buy that makes it easy to send out mass marketing emails that are also very pretty. I have collected email addresses for years, and began using this service about 2 years ago. I send my newsletter out to nearly 500 people each month. My email list continues to grow. I collect addresses from people I read at events and parties, people I meet at art shows, people I just meet who might be interested in what I do. Constant Contact is intolerant of spam, so it is important to ask people if you can put them on your email list.

People pass my mailing on to their friends and colleagues, so many more people receive it than the number I sent out. All this for $20.00 a month! I always get more business as a result. Plus it's a fun way to communicate with someone you haven't seen in a while. I got an email today from an old school friend I haven't heard from in years, responding to my newsletter. A nice New Year's hello!

Here are a few blogs I read that have interesting tips on marketing art online:
Online Arts Marketing This is a sample from yesterday's post:

"This question has been asked of me more times than I can count: How can I survive as an artist?

It is the dream of many artists to spend their day creating and not think at all about the business. I’m not sure if anyone is blessed in such a way and if they are, they must be extremely rare. Even the person who has an agent or a manager cannot just let the business side go completely, there are too many decisions to make."

Diane Clancy's blog is another I go to for tips and information: Diane Clancy
Diane writes a lot about social networking, plus her art is so colorful and beautiful that it's a lovely treat every time you visit her blog.

If you are planning to be seen, it is helpful to be visible! I think so many of us have gone through times of wanting to be invisible. We may have felt very sensitive, needed to be safe, or we were going through something and just didn't want to handle any attention. That's why I recommend you check these guys out. I'm sure they are sensitive and all, but they manage to put on a brave face! They are not afraid of a little attention: Mixed Species
Found them yesterday and I have been laughing ever since.

Speaking of all this promotion and being seen, I will be present and giving free mini readings at 2 events in the Los Angeles area in the next month.

January 29, 5:00-8:00PM in Pacific Palisades at the Cellular Recall Healing Center.
February 5, 6:00-9:00PM in Sherman Oaks at Burgundy Blue.

If you will be in the area and want to receive a reading, please contact me by commenting or email and let me know. I am signing up people in advance, so be sure to reserve your time. Read more here about my readings.
If you'd like to sign up for my email newsletter, send me an email and tell me.

"Butter Heart" 2008 9"x9" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at ETSY

Beautiful Sunday

2008-01-13T21:00:00.001-08:00

Today was a fabulous day. Los Angeles was graced with temperatures in the upper 70's, which I know many of you don't even want to know about. Sorry. And, here's the kicker, it was also CLEAR. Meaning I can see forever.

Noel and I went for a long hike in Griffith Park, all the way to the top, which is called Dante's Peak. Many of the hiking trails were closed for months after the huge fire in the park last May. Most have reopened, and we were able to revisit a few today. It felt so good to be out in the sun, walking up a steep hill. We could see the snow covered San Gabriel Mountains in one direction, the ocean in another, and lots of blackened trees along our path. It's unusual to see so clearly all the way to the ocean, no fog, no smog blocking the view. I felt wealthy being able to enjoy so many different elements at one time. It's rained a lot here recently, and we could see the bright green new growth all over the burnt out areas. A gift of a day!

As a new week begins, today was a wonderful separation from last week. A time to stop thinking about time, a time to renew. I want this kind of day more, and love it when I have it. I notice that while hiking, other people are very friendly, more so than I bet they are while sitting in endless freeway traffic, or being in the middle of big city madness. Hiking in these hills, it is easy to forget one lives in the middle of a big mad city. It's silent up there, except for other people's voices, and birds, and wind. People hike in the hills to get space in this sometimes crazy place.
How about you, what do you do to renew, to get some space?

"Green Meadow" 2006 32"x36" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Reality

2008-01-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Reality, as in, get real! - comes in many flavors. I am reminded of this often because I have a great job: I get to give psychic readings to many people and see what version of reality they are living. I say this without judgment. After all, my reality isn't yours. We all see things differently. I am so happy we do - how boring it would be if every band sounded like the Beatles or Nirvana. Hooray for variety. Remember the potato famine!

Yes, variety is the spice of life. As a child, I was endlessly curious about other people and ways of doing things, still am. I couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't be. I was an artist and weird, and didn't fit in well. The neighborhood I grew up in underwent upheavals as a result of clinging stubbornly to its sameness. I was in judgment of the people there who were afraid of anyone who didn't look, talk, or think like they did. I know more now, and can allow them their provincial ways, for even my old neighborhood has broadened its scope. Seems new generations and technology come along and so does...CHANGE!

So in writing about reality, what I am asking is, whose reality are you talking about? Yours, mine, your friend's? So many people are sitting in something that's not even theirs. My favorite examples include the nightly news. What is being sold tonight as "reality"? What are you supposed to feel, think, buy, have, as a result? How does your body feel while watching the news? Frightened, depressed, asleep, interested? Try this: next time you watch the news, notice in particular how your body feels. You can even ask it. Hmmmm....

So again, what are you being sold as reality? This is where creating for oneself comes in handy. It's fun to blog and see what people all over the planet are doing to create something new, a new world, their own realities. If you are creating your life for you, you aren't matching to what others are creating. You aren't buying it unconsciously. Clairvoyance comes in handy here. What do I see for myself?

In my meanderings around the blogosphere today, I found something interesting. A group of Czech artists created a video last summer that got them in a whole heap of trouble. They made a video that looked like a nuclear explosion going off in the Czech countryside. Here's the link to the news report on Art Threat. And here's the group's Myspace page: Ztohoven. What these artists are trying to do is scare people awake. It's an interesting way to show one's art, to say the least. What do you think of their tactics? If Orson Wells were alive today and pulling his 'War of the Worlds' stunt, would he be facing possibly 3 years in prison too?

So again, what are you buying? What did you buy today? We have been trained well to consume. I'm fantastic at it, and intend to become a bigger consumer of shoes as soon as my budget agrees! However, what we each consume can be changed, and instead of being force fed some version of reality that isn't validating, why not create your own?

"Orange Sky" 2006 34"x32" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

A Present Moment in Time

2008-01-11T20:24:00.001-08:00

There's no time like the present! This moment too, shall pass. The times they are a changin'.

If there's one thing we humans tend to do, it's try and hold on to stuff. Many times it's easy to forget and hard to remember the present is a new place. Especially in the last century as change has happened more quickly.

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time. - Leonardo da Vinci

I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer.
Colette (1873 - 1954), The Last of Cheri, 1926

Passion kept one fully in the present, so that time became a series of mutually exclusive 'nows.'
Sue Halpern, O Magazine, September 2003

Living in such a fast paced time, with many demands on one's attention, it is easy to get caught up in any place but now. As I mentioned yesterday, I meditate daily, and this is a great big reason why: I want to find myself in present time. I want to bring my attention and my energy back to me. I want to let go of the past. I want to heal those parts of me that are out of whack.

Many people, and I was one once, are so busy that they are running all day long. There is never time for sitting, being, reflecting. Especially in the United States, something about a Work Ethic? People think they are being lazy if they take time to reflect, sit, be. Hell, nobody's supposed to just BE anymore! How many people do you see just sitting on a park bench, not doing anything else? Not plugged in, reading, talking on a cell phone, listening to music, or glued to a computer screen?

One reason I love to travel is that I can shake off the everyday demands to be anywhere but here, any time but now. While traveling, I have the opportunity and the space to see something new. Not just landscapes, but people. I can more easily be in the present, because that's where I am.

What are the activities that help you be in the present? Do you like to be here?

"A Moment in Time" 2006 32"x29" acrylic on vinyl in reverse SOLD

Shine You Shining Star

2008-01-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

More Monty Python goodness for you:
How Not To Be Seen

This is what many people unconsciously think will happen to them if they are seen, famous, visible. As much as people say they want to be successful, often the level of success each can have is dependent on how safe he/she feels. This is something to consider while creating one's business plan! How much attention can you really handle? Are you safe enough to truly succeed the way you want to? How do you create a safe space for yourself?

I had a fun dream last week. I was being chased by something angry and mean, and as I was trying to get away, Jennifer Aniston showed up and whisked me off to a hidden cafe/bar, kind of a sanctuary. She didn't say a word, and was very neutral the whole time. We sat at a small table together in this sanctuary, and I realized this was a place she'd escape to when the attention got too much to deal with sanely. She was showing me a safe place to go to when I needed one. I was very grateful.

Many readings I give come down to this. Here's a link to a previous post about this same topic. The energy of safety is a big deal. A good word to use is grounding. Everything starts from grounding. One great way to find grounding is to be aware of your body. Have you been ignoring it, impatient with it, angry because it's in pain? Have you been pushing your body to be all it can be, meanwhile ignoring its pitiful cries of "stop!"?

One thing I have learned to do over the years is listen to my body. It is giving me all the information I need about being safe. If my body is happy, things are good. I am safe, I can create. If my body is angry, I have to stop and listen. I've learned in some not very fun ways that I needed to listen. One way I listen is meditation, which I practice daily. Learning to communicate with yourself is the benefit of this practice. I can't imagine living without it, not well anyway.

I'd already decided yesterday that today's post would be on being seen, and then I was featured on another art blogger's blog today! Leah from Creative Everyday has written something very nice about me and included a link to one of my youtube videos. Check out her blog, she is featuring a Creative Everyday Challenge for 2008.

And here's a link to a lovely idea, the Thank You Project.

"Night Tree" 2005 32"x27" acrylic on vinyl in reverse SOLD

And Now For Something Completely Different...

2008-01-09T21:44:00.001-08:00

I am amused by the idea of flowers sullenly hanging around on the corner, smoking and sneering at you as you pass. Must be the punky teenager still inside of me, anyway I am amused at actual teenagers who do this too. Though I am careful to act scared...

Like my trees, my flowers have personalities. They are the closest I have gotten so far to painting people. (Except when I used to paint in a more cartoony style years ago and I may share those with you one day...) I wouldn't by any means call it "figure painting", but they are figures and I paint them...?

These flowers are checking you out. They are looking for your weakness. They also think they look so tough but actually they're just cute and need watering. Storm clouds are gathering, soon they will get their wish. That's a different painting, but in that one they look more wet than threatening.

Amusement is the energy I am working on now, and if it takes being silly, so be it. One of my favorite genius shows in my life was Monty Python's Flying Circus. Here's a few very silly links for you:

The Lumberjack Song
The Spam Sketch

I used to watch this show every week with my family. We would laugh and laugh, and my formative years were enriched by these very silly men who helped me make sense of things by NOT making sense. I am eternally grateful to all of them!

Watch and enjoy these healers in action.

"Stormy Daisy Day" 2006 26"x18" SOLD

The Return of Magic and RSS Hugger

2008-01-08T19:58:00.001-08:00

Did you know that clairvoyance is impolite? Well, it is. This is something I've learned over the years. As I turned mine on and began using it, I had to become conscious of the energy not wanting me to see, or speak about what I was seeing. Much of the energy was telling me how rude I was for even looking! It is a powerful thing to see clearly and speak truthfully with compassion.

"To see clearly is poetry, philosophy, and religion all in one."
~ Eudora Welty

In my experience, there is a real return of magic when someone is able to see truth for herself or himself. Then a true choice can be made as to what to do next. It is when we are unconsciously swimming in lies that we get stuck. And that's OK too, it's where one may need to be for a time. However, discover your truth and energy has a way of moving FAST!

It gets more interesting. In order to see truth, ya gotta wanna. A roomful of the world's most talented psychics won't see squat if they don't want to. True! And as a psychic, if I can say hello to the beauty and truth of the person sitting in front of me, I am doing my job. It isn't up to me to judge whether someone is doing it "right" or not, so I don't. Believe me, each of us is already better at being in judgment of ourselves than anyone else could ever be! Who needs more? Besides, my truth is different from yours. How dare I impose mine on you?

One of my Life Goals is to be magic. How I do this is to be working from my Truth.

On another topic, I just learned about RSS Hugger, a new way to promote your blog. It's an RSS feed site that also promotes blogs in a unique way. Each person who joins has their own address. Mine is:
http://www.rsshugger.com/kriscahill.com

I visited the site to check it out and was impressed with how it's set up, and how it works. So I signed up, and finally got myself into the 21st century with rss feed. RssHugger works by featuring random blogs regularly, and changing its Top 100 blogs monthly, so there is always a chance to be featured. There are many ways to promote blogs, and I found this site to be user friendly. I like the attitude of the creator of RSS Hugger, Collin LaHay. He wants to promote other blogs while also creating success for himself, a win-win situation. For readers, it's a great way to find new blogs to read. Everything is organized to make it easy to find blogs in topics you are interested in. Check it out!

"The Return of Magic" 2007 32"x40" acrylic on vinyl in reverse
available at kriscahill.com

Happy Thoughts For Mondays

2008-01-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

I woke up today with a very happy thought: there are still two more Harry Potter movies to come! A fun thing to wake up thinking about, as I have loved Harry Potter from the first book. I even went as the boy wizard for Halloween about 7 years ago, wig, glasses, scar, and all. I wish I had a Hogwarts to go to when I was a kid. I would have fit in there much better than I did at St. Barnabas.

Color is something else I wake up thinking about frequently. Not always consciously, it's so much a part of who I am and how I see things. I am in love with color. As an artist, clairvoyant, human. Seeing color is one thing I am most grateful for. I think it takes having a human body to see color as we do. After being told as a child that dogs don't see color like people do, I remember thinking, how do scientists know that? Did they actually ask a dog? How did that conversation go exactly? I went so far as to hold different colored objects up in front of my dog, who seemed indifferent mostly.

Working and playing with color is one of the joys in my life. Right now I am attracted to reds, magentas, and pinks. I want to wear these colors, paint with them, and buy new lipstick to match. I recently bought some hot pink wool to make a skirt, with a pink lining. I already know what I'll wear with it: black boots and my black jacket with the red embroidery. Plus I have an amazing sparkly magenta necklace that will be perfect. An outfit like this heals me!

Today I began my first tree paintings in over a year. The trees are deep magenta tones, with reds, pinks, and purples. Though I just have the first layer of color down, I picture the entire piece. Painting in reverse is so funny because the objects in the foreground must be painted first. In this case, trees first, then earth, signature, sky. I picture this piece having an intense sky filled with movement. It remains to be seen, and hopefully posted on this blog by the end of the week.

I am so excited to begin a new tree. After working on these tree paintings in my head and my dreams, now I'm actually doing them. (For some reason, I couldn't paint trees in 2007.) Many of my earliest paintings on vinyl were trees and leaves. My trees are usually solo, mostly bare, dancing in the atmosphere, sometimes kept company by stars, often alone and contemplative. I have often seen them as my self portraits, though not on purpose. It's only after I paint them that I see this, and then I wonder how I missed something so obvious.

Trees are grounded deep into the earth. They stretch way up high, into the sky, reaching for the stars. Some trees bloom with fantastic flowers, others with lovely leaves create cooling shade on the hottest of days. Trees clear the air, they detoxify the air we breathe. One of my favorite books about trees is called The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. When I moved to Los Angeles I was awestruck by the blooming of the jacaranda trees in the spring. You better believe I will be painting some of those this year.

All this talk of trees, and my painting of the day is pink flowers? Yup, flowers are next. Hey, what's your favorite tree?

"Three Pink Ones" 2005 32"x28" Sold

It's a Wonderful Day

2008-01-06T22:16:00.001-08:00

I finished, photographed, and added 10 new original paintings to my Etsy shop tonight. Please check them out. I will be adding more soon. My 2008 business plan includes making full use of the resources I already have available to me, as well as developing more. More news will come as I bring my online galleries and communication into present time.

I paint smaller pieces specifically for Etsy. This is another from my abstract landscape series, "Wonderful Day", 10"x10". I'm painting a lot of smaller hearts too, in anticipation of Valentine's Day. I am ready to paint large again, and have planned some pieces I will begin this week. I made a few sketches during the holidays, and lots of notes as well. As hectic as that time of year can be, I find it refreshing in that I can take a step back from what I've been immersed in, and see it with fresh eyes. This is necessary if I am to allow myself to create from the new place I am in now. I've got to give myself space in order to continue.

One way I've added space into my day is by changing the way I do things. My husband Noel and I have a fairly new morning ritual; days we have enough time to do so, we have coffee and tea in bed. Whoever wakes up first gets up and makes it. This also inspires us to wake up earlier so we have time for our ritual. We read some of the blogs we write and/or find, out loud to each other, while having our coffee (him) and tea (me) in bed. We used to get up and go off to do our own things, and this daily ritual helps us start our day in a really nice way together.

Another place I am looking to give myself some space is in my studio. What helps here is to take the pressure off the demands on myself to produce. I realized last year I just needed time to play, and I was getting caught up in having to create in a certain way. No space, no fun!

Last summer I went through a "crisis" during which I wondered if I even wanted to be a painter anymore. This was the key question, one I hadn't even been able to consider before. Now I was asking myself seriously if I wanted to continue doing something I'd put so much energy into for many years. I even imagined myself giving away and selling my supplies and tools. After about a month of being in this funk, during which time I painted nothing but sewed a few great dresses I love to wear, I began to lighten up. I also gave a lot of readings, and it was at this time that my Clairvoyant Reading business picked up quite a bit. I felt as if I were watching myself go through this, and knew I would be fine. I just needed to know I had the freedom to change, and I had to update my agreement with myself, as the artist. I had to give myself space.

Why create if it's not fun? As the actor's joke goes, "what's my motivation?". I want to sell my work and make a living from it, but that's never been enough of a motivation. If it was, I would have picked a much higher paying field and stayed in it. My work has always suffered when I'm bored, when my spirit wants to be elsewhere. I don't think I'm the only one here!

What makes original art so appealing is the original part. Each of us is unique, therefore it makes sense that what we each create will be original if we are being true to our own unique vision. I will write more on this in future posts, and would love your feedback about how you experience this yourself.

"Wonderful Day" 2008 10"x10" acrylic on vinyl in reverse - Available at Etsy

A Very Sweet Sale

2008-01-05T10:43:00.001-08:00

I'm listening to one of my favorite musicians, Federico Aubele, as I post this. I've been listening to him often since a good friend in Chicago gifted us with his music last year. Last night we saw a film one of his songs is in, "The Namesake", and it reminded me that I've been wanting to write about seeing him live last October.

Federico had a show October 30, at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. I bought tickets, and was very excited to see the show, which was advertised as being him with a full band. Noel and I couldn't wait.

There was an awesome DJ first, Mexican Dubweiser. Finally, Federico came out onto the stage, with Natalia, a wonderful musician and singer. He said hello to a packed house, and then told us all we were in for a beautiful treat, a very special evening lay in store. It would be an intimate evening, kind of like Valentine's Day, because we were to have a special private show with just him and Natalia playing for us.

There would be no percussion, because 2 hours before the show, his drummer received a call about an emergency back home and immediately left to fly there. So he stripped down the 5 piece band to the 2 of them. And sold it to us in this incredible way. I was awestruck at his ability to do this. To let go of the fact that his show, advertised for months as being with a full band, was destroyed 2 hours before he was to go on. And then, cool as can be, he owned it. I applauded him just for this. No freak outs, no negativity, no apologies. The show was beautiful, very special indeed. And so is Federico's music. I urge you to check it out.

I have been tagged by Neda from Papiers Colles, asking me to share 5 fun or weird facts about myself. I just answered one of these tags recently, but apparently left out some of the weirder facts about me so now I have to 'fess up.

1. I was very skinny as a child and teenager. My nickname was 'Twiggy' and I even had her short haircut, so one Halloween I went as Twiggy and really looked the part.

2. I have an FBI file from when I was working in anti-war coalitions and leftist groups in my 20's. I haven't seen it yet, don't really need to. I know I have one because my name appeared on a list published after the FBI was caught spying on some of these groups in the early 80's.

3. In art school, I sported an Eddie Munster haircut for a while, though mine was more feminine and longer. My bangs were pointy though. I liked this because of the added bonus that it irritated my mother.

4. I love puppies and dogs, and am a total sucker for any cute puppy walking down the street.

5. I originally went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to become a fashion designer, which I'd wanted to be since I was a child. Once there, I was less than enamored of that world, and after one semester in fashion class, studied other things, including textile design. Upon graduating, I designed and made clothing under 3 of my own labels: Bourgeois Rags, Konfettikids, and Lemmingwear. I had a sales rep for Lemmingwear and sold my designs coast to coast. In 1990, I gave up being a fashion designer to become an artist.

I am not going to tag anyone, as I already have done that recently. If you'd like to tag yourself, please do so and post a comment to let me know.
THE RULES: 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

"Blues full of Orange" 2005 32"x28" acrylic on vinyl in reverse, Sold

My First Abstract Painting

2008-01-04T08:50:00.001-08:00

As I promised in yesterday's post, here is the first abstract painting I ever made. I used the "test card" method, modeled after all the interesting test cards one sees near all the colored markers, pastels, and colored pencil displays in all the bookstores and art supply stores on the planet. At least I hope they all have test cards. When I go to the art store, even if I am not buying colored pencils, I have to test them anyway. Just to touch and play with color. And to add to the art piece being created by so many strangers. Because it's fun. A day without color is dull indeed.

My version of the test card method is to hang a clean sheet of vinyl on my painting wall, near whatever other paintings I am working on. As I finish using a tool - brush, palette knife, fork, old credit card, finger - I swipe what paint remains on it onto my test vinyl. No over thinking here! Also, no judgment, please. (This is me talking to myself.) (Sometimes I even listen.)

That's how I began to have permission to paint abstract paintings. I had to fool myself, kind of trick myself into doing so. They weren't "serious" enough, much too frivolous indeed. I had so much negativity toward being able to do this, meanwhile I'd go look at other's abstract expressionist works and be filled with emotion, filled with awe, and with an unnamed longing that even as I write this I feel deep in my chest.

I had to deprogram art school right out of me. If I hadn't gone to art school, I might not have been able to begin my work so early. As much as I loved art school, it is after all the place where I got the weirdest haircuts of my life! - I also had to learn for myself that I am already unique, and can paint pretty much whatever I want. I had to learn about my own spirit. Other people's ideas and information do not work for me. I can't count the number of times I heard someone, a teacher or artist say: "you can't be an abstract artist until you learn and master being a realist." I always rejected this. I do not want to be a realist. I know I have done that, in other lifetimes. And this knowing spirit is what has helped me find the nerve to create and continue to create.

Years ago, I had a friendly relationship with a successful and well known Chicago gallery owner. I made fun vinyl objects she bought frequently for her gallery. She also represented more "serious" artists, and when I began to work in my now trademark technique, I summoned up the nerve to show her my fledgling pieces. Which was either a very big mistake on my part or brilliant. I'm leaning toward brilliant, because what happened in our meeting helped me on my path toward what I did next. Anyway, she hated my work. She didn't have a bored attitude, it was all out hate. At the time I couldn't see this was also a success, and that she was actually doing me a favor. She did tell me, "I wouldn't touch these with a ten foot pole." Yikes! I was pretty destroyed for a while.

But here's the thing. I never stopped making them! And I continued, making over 800 paintings since, selling most of them. I am still overcoming my own insecurities about my work, and what I have learned is to have more neutrality with it, not to mother it. That was a big thing to learn, that I am not my work. I am, and my work is, and there will be lots more of it. But only if I don't cling to it and have to protect it from the big bad world.

"Abstract For Noel" 2004 29"x26" acrylic on vinyl in reverse; Artist's private collection

Center of the Storm

2008-01-03T16:36:00.001-08:00

This is the painting from my second youtube video, "Center of the Storm". Like the first, this was shot in one day, approximately 4-5 hours. The video is 2 minutes long.

I plan to do at least one more of these this year, perhaps more. It's a lot of fun to do, very improvisational. There is a bit of a time crunch, seeing as how our entire home is turned upside down while filming, so we want to finish. So I just don't have time to get an artist's block, I have to move ahead. What is cut out of the video: me standing in front of the painting scratching my head. Also, many scenes with a hair dryer aimed at the paint. Some swearing.

I paint my paintings flat on a wall. Every time Noel and I have moved into a new home, he's built me a new painting wall. Because I pin my vinyl to the wall to paint on it, I can really destroy a wall, stat. So we put drywall over the existing wall, and remove it when we move. I don't even own an easel anymore, I never used the one I had except to display paintings.

I am mentioning this because today is the day I've filled in the little holes and repainted my wall. So exciting I know, but I just couldn't paint new work on the old bumpy wall. I tried, but all the old energy from last year was too much. It's beautiful now, my painting wall. Ready for me to mark it with measurements, outlines, notes, and finally, paint. I always love how it looks after being worked on for a while, all the colorful edges.

Years ago I worked in a college bookstore near Loyola University on the North side of Chicago. I was an art student at the time, and collected all kinds of objects and just plain crap. I fell in love with the white file cards near the colored marker display. People would test out the markers on those cards, and they would turn into little beautiful abstract paintings. I collected them up and saved them for years. I got rid of them in some New Year's purge years ago, I'm sure. But I know they influenced me when I became an abstract artist. My very first abstract painting was made like this. I hung a sheet of vinyl, and while I was working on other paintings, I used the colors I was already working with on this piece. Very randomly, playfully, no pre thought out ideas. I just wanted to see what would happen. I'll show that painting tomorrow.

"Center of the Storm" 2007 30"x40" acrylic on vinyl available at kriscahill.com

Mystery

2008-01-02T13:33:00.001-08:00

This piece, "Mystery", was painted for my first youtube video, which you can watch here. I painted it in about 4 hours, while being filmed by my husband, Noel, with my sister Betty assisting. The video is 2 minutes long, and fun to watch.

In going back over 2007, I want to validate a few highlights, including my youtube channel with 2 videos on it, receiving over 3700 views so far.

2007 was my first full year living in Los Angeles. I went back to Chicago 4 times, including a trip to InVision, the school I taught at for 6 years. InVision moved to an amazing new space with a gallery, which they christened the 'Kris Cahill Art Walk'. I went there in August for the grand opening celebration, and to present my paintings in the first art show there.

I showed my work from coast to coast in 2007, with shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn.

I became a blogger on January 2, 2007, so today is my one year anniversary! I blogged somewhat erratically until October, and have posted every day since, missing only twice.

My clairvoyant reading business increased quite a bit in 2007. Besides giving numerous private readings, I read at many parties and events. I was also quoted in the Los Angeles Times, in a story about the Writer's Guild strike, called 'Helping Their Fellow Writers'. You can read the article here.

I opened my Etsy shop, and created a new line of smaller works for it, along with plans to soon open a Cafe Press shop. I increased my web presence in 2007.

I became healthier in 2007. I began hiking in the hills here, weekly whenever possible. Daily stretching and strengthening exercises help.

I made more paintings in 2007 than I have yet made in one year, 105. I sold many of them, and donated about 10 to various causes this year.

I also began working on my husband's project, Bikini Movie Review. I am a co-producer and the writer of the Bikini Clairvoyant.

Quite a year. Today I am clearing out my studio, which I haven't been able to do until now. It feels good, creating space to begin new work. I can't wait to update the website, create the new one, paint the new paintings. Time to get to work!

"Mystery" 2007 30"x40" acrylic on vinyl available at kriscahill.com

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T14:45:00.001-08:00

Welcome to 2008, and a very Happy New Year to you! I'm spending New Year's Day my usual way: obsessively bringing things into present time. My contacts, calendars, home, music, etc... have all been going through this update for weeks now as I have been preparing to create in 2008.

Noel and I began a New Year's Day tradition early in our relationship. Every year we write out our lists of what we want in the new year. First, we build a fire, read the old lists, laugh, groan, validate... then we burn them up, saying goodbye and thank you to the year gone by. We let it go completely. I've sat on a lawnchair in the snow in my backyard in Chicago, burning lists over the firepit. Quite fun, especially the part about scaring the neighbors. Now we have a fireplace indoors in which to burn our lists.

Next we write our new lists, spending as much time as we need to write our goals for the new year. Many are carried over from previous years, some are brand new. Some are things we want together. And each of us has lists to do with art, career, money, health, spiritual growth, and so on.

To keep our magical lists safe and sound, we built a special container. We painted and decorated a wooden box which once held a bottle of champagne. It also has some pretty details inside, fun objects, scrolls containing ongoing lifelong goals like "love", and is a work of art unto itself. After we toast our new year's lists, we fold them and put them into the box for next year. This box lives in our home and looks like a piece of funky sculpture. Whenever we've moved, it's one of the first things we make sure to pack safely.

Having this tradition has made New Year's Day more fun and important to me than New Year's Eve. It's practically a holy day, and can help set the tone for the year. Of course, this isn't the only day I write my goals. Before I ever hit the paper on January 1, I've been working these goals, clearing the way for what I want to attract, create, have. I've been searching myself, looking for what I am ready to leave behind, what I am letting go of, another way to lighten my load. It's an ongoing process not left to just one day a year. I do love a good ritual though, it makes it more real and special.

Do you have any rituals you've created that you want to share?

"Sherbet Sea" 2006 32"x30" at kriscahill.com

My Beautiful Red Planet

2007-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

I've made a lot of paintings of earths and planets. I called this one 'My Beautiful Red Planet'. I imagined that it was my own personal planet, one that I created. Of course it would be beautiful, and here it is surrounded by gold.

As I have repeatedly mentioned in recent posts, I am getting ready for the next paintings, the 2008 paintings. I made 105 paintings in 2007, created some new ways of doing so, showed many of them, sold a bunch.

What do I want to create in 2008? Here are a few of my art goals.

1. More trees. I love my trees, and have not painted one since moving to LA. I love the trees here, especially the silk floss trees, and the jacarandas in bloom.

2. More flowers, especially the quirky ones. They are magical to me.

3. More abstracts like this one. Love the colors, movement, lines. The freedom I experience while making one of these is why I do it.

4. Drawing For Fun. I enjoy visiting all the bloggers who sketch and draw, and I find myself drawn to this activity, no pun intended!!

5. Lots of hearts. I plan to market them in a big way for Valentine's Day, and find a place to show them regularly. Also I want to open a Cafe Press shop and feature the hearts, as well as in my Etsy store.

6. A new website. Two, actually. One for my clairvoyance, one for the art, linked. It has become increasingly obvious to me that I need a better way of communicating about both. A little bit everyday.

7. To continue to blog everyday. Writing everyday is a great exercise, and I am learning a lot doing this. I am also inspired by the many people I meet this way.

8. Apply for lots more art shows. I showed work in LA, Chicago, and Brooklyn in 2007. I want to do a lot more of this in 2008, get my work out there. I was rejected more than accepted, and am learning to accept this as a part of the game and not take it so personally.

The main goal I have is to have fun while living my life. If I am having fun, things are working and I am attracting to myself what I want. The energy of fun is very attractive!

How would you like to have more fun in 2008?

"My Beautiful Red Planet" 2005 32"x32" acrylic on vinyl

Red Mountain

2007-12-30T17:03:00.001-08:00

Another from my archives, "Red Mountain" is a place to feel the earth beneath your feet and allow the healing properties of red to saturate your being.

I love working with red. The color of passion, fire, love, blood, earth, sunsets, flowers. I love to wear red - lipstick, nails, dresses, shoes. Tomato, Chinese, cadmium, wine, scarlet, and burgundy reds. One of my favorite pigments is alizarin red. I also love red wine, tomatoes, apples, cherries, berries.

Such a life affirming color. I once painted a huge room in my house deep red. A brave choice, how wonderful it was to sit in that room. It was a body friendly color to live with. I have always been partial to warmer tones, probably for this reason: my body likes them. I also look better in warm tones than cool. My hair is red, my personality fiery, I move quickly. I am impatient.

Patience is another virtue I have been courting, sometimes unwillingly. As I continue to clear out the old, I am releasing my impatience. Not all of it, some of it works just fine for me. I am simply not a turtle, sometimes to my detriment, often enough to my benefit to make it worthwhile the few times I get myself in a jam.

The impatience I am working on letting go of is with myself, and with my body. I have been learning to be much kinder to my body, since it dawned on me a few years back that I won't get very far without it. I want to be on friendly terms here. I went through years where I tended to ignore what it was trying to tell me. Many times when I am giving a reading, this very issue comes up. People expect huge things from their bodies without giving much in return. What works for me is to be kind to my body, say nice things to it, feed it well, wear validating clothes, get enough sleep.

As an artist, impatience doesn't work either. At least not while I am painting. This is one place where I get to slow down and lose track of time, which is the biggest healing as I am a notorious time freak, meaning I must be on time.

Funny Time Freak Story: My maternal grandfather was a time freak too. We would go to my grandparents' home for many holidays and family parties. Even though my mother tried her best, stressing all the way, it was a big challenge to get 6 children, herself, and my father ready in time. We were often late, though I'm sure by no more than 15-30 minutes. My grandfather would be standing outside of his home, pointing at his watch as we pulled up in the station wagon. And he wasn't amused, in fact he was often angry. We called it "being German" since he was. The Irish side of the family was a lot more relaxed about such things. I laughed at him then, still do now, but I see the same tendencies in myself. I no longer wear a watch as it kept falling off my wrist - my body rejected it! This can only be a good thing.

How about you, what is your relationship with time? Are you comfortable, do you stress, are you always late? What activities help you have more space and not worry about time?

"Red Mountain" 2005 32"x36"

Moon Stories

2007-12-29T11:00:00.001-08:00

I have been tagged by Sue O'Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas. Here are the "Rules".

THE RULES:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Fun Fabulous and also Weird Facts About Me:

~Beginning when I was 5 years old, I was obsessed with making paper dolls. I discovered that if I held the paper doll I'd made up to the window, it was easier to draw the clothes to fit perfectly. I used to sell the paper dolls I made to the other kids in my neighborhood for a nickel.

~In my next life, I want to be the female lead singer of a wildly successful band.

~I often laugh out loud at "inappropriate" moments because I am amused by the energy. One of the times I do this is at movies, which sometimes embarrasses my husband.

~I love dark chocolate, the darker the better.

~Besides being an artist, I am a professional psychic, a clairvoyant. I have given readings to literally hundreds and hundreds of people over the last 8 years.

I am tagging:
Shoshana Rose
Diane Clancy
James Moeller
Deanna
Caterina

I am continuing with my end of the year wrap up, and my theme for this week is Letting Go and Getting Rid of Stuff.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I moved into a loft from a big home. What I didn't say is that so did my art studio, office, and my husband's office, musical equipment and film equipment. We have regular shoots in this loft, I paint, we both office here, and also live, eat, sleep, bathe...here. It's wild, and I never imagined it could work as well as it does. It helps that we have a fireplace, skylight, and nice neighbors, as well as a hot tub and pool outside.

I love living in a loft, and in fact had wanted to do so for years. Part of uprooting and moving 2000 miles west was so that we could create a Brand New way of living, one more true to each of us. I like living downtown, like the bustle and activity, and love living in Los Angeles.

One of the first things I noticed upon moving here was that nobody knew me and therefore I could be anything I wanted. There were no expectations from others. How freeing! Another thing I liberated myself from: people's expectations. It has gotten easier the longer I've been here, because as I create the new me, I have more space now in which to do so. Sometimes the hardest thing to encounter while trying to change one's life is everyone's demands that you Do Not Change.

My business is change. Most of the readings I give are to people going through changes, or stuck and trying to, or wondering why things aren't changing. I have noticed that the more someone holds onto the past, the harder change will be. As a person who used to try to hold onto things around me, I see now how much easier it is to simply let go. Change will happen, guaranteed, with or without my blessing or yours.

What would you like to let go of? Please comment and let me know!

"So the Moon Told Another Story" 2007 26"x20" at kriscahill.com

The Listeners

2007-12-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

Though it doesn't look it, the sky is still and silent, as if it were holding its breath. In the next moment it will exhale and all hell will break loose, the storm will rule the day until its nighttime. These listeners are waiting for it, almost religiously. They have no control over the events here, and want none. They are witnessing, they can hear what is coming, they are the audience, the observers. Knowing they have no responsibility, they are released from wanting any, therefore free. This is different from being out of control, this is liberation.

A liberation I have been experiencing is the freedom from stuff. Noel and I once owned a 2 story, 3 bedroom house with a full basement and 2 car garage in Chicago. It was full of stuff. We sold that house in September 2006 and moved to Los Angeles into a 1500 square foot loft. 1500 square feet Period. Where did all our stuff go?

We sold some, gave lots away. People came and took our plants, fish, big furniture we didn't want to move. On moving day, our 16' Penske was jammed tightly by the two very talented movers we hired to pack it. They tried as hard as they could, but we still had a lawn full of Stuff. Hilarious. In a panic, and having to be out of the house before the new owners showed up, we called my sister whose husband came over in a huge van, filling it with furniture and more Stuff we couldn't squeeze into our Penske.

At the other end, here in the loft in LA, it was a good thing we didn't have a bigger truck. No way would all that stuff have fit into this place and still leave room for us.

I have since learned to live with less stuff. Anything brought into my home will need to be put someplace, and there is no basement or extra closet in which to throw it. It's hard to hide anything here. Liberating! Kind of like a reformed smoker, I wax poetically about not having so much stuff lying around. I go through what I do have regularly, and since it's hard to hide much of it away, I get rid of more. This is easier than it used to be, and is working for me on all kinds of levels.

I have a good friend who lived in San Francisco at the time of the last big earthquake there in 1989. She used to have all her good crystal and china in a cabinet, never using it much. Until the quake, when she realized she could have lost it all, and began using what survived that quake everyday. She learned to enjoy what she had, and that what was lost was really, after all, just Stuff.

"The Listeners" 2005 32"x40"

Magical Fire Sea

2007-12-27T20:25:00.001-08:00

How wonderful to take this little breather. I wanted a bit of time to play at the end of the year, and I've been having it.

Beginning with six days in Chicago, where I learned I can still handle 15 degree weather with 60 mile per hour winds. Walking in such weather, I mean. Into the wind. No, my face didn't freeze off. I was a little scared I might have gone a bit soft here in SoCal, but it isn't so!

Then I hiked in my beloved Griffith Park yesterday for an hour, straight up to Dante's Peak, the highest point. The trails I used to hike were closed for a while after the big fire in the park last May. I was in Chicago for my grandmother's funeral, already in mourning, and then I see my beautiful park burning up on TV. Thankfully it's fine, most trails are open, and it is still beautiful even though there are lots of blackened trees and ground.

Today Noel and I went ice skating in Pershing Square, in downtown LA. We were finally allowed onto the ice in badly fitting rental skates with about 200 other people, most of them children. I spent my 20 or so minutes on the ice just trying to remain vertical, mostly successfully.

The thing I noticed the most today was the huge smiles on the faces of the children skating. Most of them fell a lot, but they were having so much fun! Faces filled with sheer joy. Part of it was just being there and doing this thing NOW. I overheard one little girl as she tried to skate past me while keeping a death grip on the railing, "I'm not good at this!". She looked like a very serious 7 year old, and she was having fun. It was all that mattered to her.

Ever since I was a child, I noticed the disparity between children and adults. It looked to me like many adults in my world were not having much fun. I couldn't identify with them. I often wished they would decide to lighten up already. I learned to have fun without them. And I never once believed any of them when they would tell me how hard it was to grow up and become an adult.

I couldn't wait to do that. It looked like freedom to me: I could travel by myself, go places I wanted, create what I liked, and go out all night. I could have my own apartment and decorate it any way I liked. I could sleep late, read books all day, and leave a big mess to clean up later when I felt like it. Didn't grown-ups know how good they had it? I cherished and loved being around the ones who still understood the secret to having fun.

How about you, do you have fun? What is fun for you, and how would you like to enjoy yourself in 2008?

"Magical Fire Sea" 2006 40"x32" at kriscahill.com

Bronze Heart

2007-12-26T21:43:00.001-08:00

With the Holidays nearly over, and as far as I'm concerned, 2007 completely over, I feel a sense of liberation. I have done with this year of 2007, and it's time to clean it up and get rid of things. And have fun, like ice skating in downtown LA tomorrow with palm trees in the background. I want to experience this interesting combination. We drove past the ice rink, which is only open until January 6 because it gets too warm after that. Some people were wearing shorts while ice skating, and they are not in the Ice Capades. Although being LA, you never know.

One of my fondest memories of ice skating was when I was 9 and living in Chicago, which has lots of ice skating and no palm trees. My brothers and I went to the ice skating rink at Ridge Park, which was a good mile or so from our house. It was a very cold day. So cold that my ice skate laces froze up and nobody, not even the few adults present, could untie them when I wanted to put my boots on to walk home. I walked home in my ice skates, mostly on people's lawns because it had snowed a lot recently. I felt very silly, and attracted some attention from people noticing the weird kid walking along on their lawns in her ice skates. C'est la vie.

But back to purging. Many things must go: clothes, books, cd's, and stuff. I like letting go of my stuff. On all kinds of levels. I am at a place in my life where I would rather have less of what I really like than a lot of what I don't. Plus I am an iPod user, and never play cd's anymore. When my car window was smashed a few months ago and a lot of cd's were stolen, I realized I didn't need to buy them anymore. ITunes!

I look forward to freeing up my energy, and creating some space in my home and studio simply by getting rid of stuff. I am less squeamish than I used to be. Questions I ask myself while going through my wardrobe are: how do I feel when I wear this? Is it validating? Do I make excuses when I put it on? This all takes about 3 seconds, but it works. And the same goes for other energies I may be wearing: does this invalidation make me look bad?

"Bronze Heart" 1998 30"x25"

Flaming Green Heart

2007-12-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

Today will be our last day here in Chicago to celebrate with family and friends. We have had a rich and full visit, with so many more people to see today, my family. Which is large and getting larger all the time.

For Christmas this year, I want to have a light and happy heart, filled with peace, love, and joy. I wish you the same, along with whatever else it is you desire.

Here's a special heart for the season: 'Flaming Green Heart'.

"Flaming Green Heart" 2004 30"x26"

Landscape in Green

2007-12-23T09:51:00.001-08:00

The end of the year wrap up continues with this piece, 'Landscape in Green'. It always reminds me of being in a place where the energy is moving along, just moving through. I kind of feel like that now, here visiting my hometown. There is nothing to do except Be Here. Oh yes, and wear way more clothing than I normally do. Today it is 15 degrees outside, wind chill still unexperienced as I haven't left the hotel yet. Soon hunger pangs will drive me to do so.

Noel and I have had a whirlwind visit, filled with people we've known for so long. I also like to see who I will just run into, the unplanned visits. I expect to see a few familiar faces today, nobody in particular, since that seems to be the energy.

This city I lived in for so long is familiar, and also distinctly new to me. I love to come back and see with my new eyes, unaccustomed as they are to the everyday here. So even though I miss my flip flops, I am embracing bundling up again. We came in very late last night, about 2AM, after going to see a friend's band play at a club. It was warm, upper 40's, and raining like hell. Loved it!

I feel happy and grateful to be where I am today, more secure and with much more perspective about where I am going. I had to leave this place to find my new place in this world, and I don't mean Los Angeles!

"Landscape in Green" 2005 32"x40"

Beautiful Valley

2007-12-21T14:32:00.001-08:00

Happy Winter Solstice to you!

Yesterday, Noel and I walked down Michigan Avenue, and up it again. Though cold, it being December in Chicago, it was warmer than it's been, mid 30's. I am used to warmer, and it felt good to be out walking in the cold crisp CLEAN air.

We went to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the Jasper Johns show, 'Gray', which runs through January 6. It is a great show! See it if you are able. Very inspiring, it had me sketching some new ideas afterward over a mocha. New paintings in 2008! I am done painting for 2007.

Lots of people still to see, and communication to have. I am not blogging my usual way while here, as I am running off to the next party/dinner/meeting. More tomorrow, and I hope all your holiday plans are going great!

"Beautiful Valley" 2004 32"x30"

Crayon Heart

2007-12-20T08:44:00.001-08:00

I'm in Chicago for the holidays. First impressions: it's not as cold as it could be. And there is snow, which I don't get to see much. It's even above freezing today. Great, because I am going downtown to see some art and walk around on beautiful Michigan Avenue.

It's nice to get away from LA for a few days. It looks to me like I am so done with 2007, and my main task is to simply be with what I've had this year, and visit with family and friends.

Here's another from the archives: 'Crayon Heart'.

"Crayon Heart" 2001 32"x28"

End of Days

2007-12-19T07:18:00.001-08:00

Another piece from the archives. "End of Days" is from a series of landscapes that began getting more abstract and spiritual.

I am on my way to Chicago today, to celebrate the holidays and see family and friends. Excitement and fun! Probably a few surprises. And yes, I have my drawing materials packed already. I'll write more from the Midwest.

"End of Days" 2005 36"x32"

A Place of Healing

2007-12-18T13:32:00.001-08:00

I recently completed this commission piece for a woman who is a healer. It hangs in her healing center in Pacific Palisades. It's large, 30"x60", a bit bigger than what I usually paint. Often when I create larger works, they are for commissions.

Because of my reverse technique, I often don't plan pieces that are wider than my own "wing span", which is about 60". I need to be able to hold the piece up to my mirror to see what's happening as I work, and wider is harder. Even 60" is kind of difficult, but I work it out by getting someone to help me. It's important to be able to see what's happening immediately, before the first layer of paint dries. Once acrylic dries on vinyl, fuggedaboudit! It can't be removed without scratching the vinyl, which then ruins the piece. I have learned to accept the pieces that happen on the way to the one I end up finishing, as my sketches. Create and Destroy!

I would like to give myself the freedom to do a lot more of this: sketching, experimenting, creating new forms without judgment or fear. To let go of the need to create a perfect finished thing, a "success", because my studio time is so precious. I am certain other artists experience this dilemma from time to time. I know it is coming up for me now because I'm planning to create something new, and also to break some old patterns and habits.

I talked about success last night with some friends. What does it take, what must one be willing to give, and what does success mean anyway? What is it worth? Someone else's definition of success may have defined yours, and so you madly pursue a goal, only to find it doesn't make you happy. Is that still success when you get there?

At this time in history, people all over this amazing planet we live on are redefining success for themselves. To me it looks like many people searching for what is true for them. That is a place of healing. Beautiful!

"A Place Of Healing" 2007 30"x60" Commission

The Man Abstract

2007-12-17T12:55:00.001-08:00

This is one of my early abstract paintings, from the beginning of 2006. I didn't realize it had a man and an Eiffel Tower until I had nearly finished it. I love the light, color, and movement in it, and I can see my playfulness at the time with this new-to-me form. I called this piece 'The Man Abstract' because it reminded me of my husband, who lived in Paris for 5 years. We have gone there together several times, and I fell in love with that city too.

In continuing this revisiting of my older works, I realize I am collecting up quite a lot of my energy from the past. I have been obsessively organizing everything: all of my records and files, even my closet... because I can see that next year is going to be quite something. And I want to be ready for it. I don't remember ever being so certain I needed to prepare for the next thing.

I feel as if I have come to a turning point in my life, a positive one filled with possibilities and the ability to learn from what I have experienced until now. Add to that the desire for many more new and delightful experiences, and being able to validate myself and my work, and wow! I am having some of what I have wanted for a long time. I have had a lot of help along the way, for which I am grateful.

As I learned early in my psychic education, all healing is self healing. In order to heal, you have to want to. Otherwise all the greatest healers on the planet won't be able to do a thing to help you. It starts with you.

What would you like to heal in yourself?

"The Man Abstract" 2006 30"x28"

A Place of Being

2007-12-16T20:16:00.001-08:00

In this place, there is space for you to simply be. No action is required, only your presence. As the saying on the invitation goes, your presence is presents enough.

How about that thought? The idea that simply by being present, you might be giving someone else a gift. I didn't used to get this, but I do now. No activity will ever replace having space.

"A Place of Being" 2005 31"x31"

Flowers in December

2007-12-15T20:33:00.001-08:00

I always want to collect up my energy at the end of a year. I don't want to leave any of it behind me, as I will need it going forward. 2008 looks like it is going to rock and I will need every speck of myself with me, every molecule, every teeny weeny bit. All the big bits too.

In my zeal to get myself into present time, I'm revisiting a lot from my past. This painting, 'Sunflower', is from about 7 years ago. I am feeling nostalgic for my flower paintings, which I used to make a lot of. At the time I was making a lot of flower paintings, I was also growing a lot of flowers. I lived in Chicago, which as you may already know, has a Very Short growing season. Not Long Enough, as I recall. And full of Surprises, which can wipe out one's entire garden in one May frost overnight.

Still, I am nostalgic for it, because it was so sweet, after the long Midwestern winter, to welcome spring. And what a lovely segue into my point: I feel as if I am about to begin my Spring. I am finally leaving a kind of Winter I have been in for a long time. It is hard to describe or explain. I just know I am about to start on the next part of this wonderful adventure that is my life.

So I may be a bit nostalgic for the past. As I collect myself back from it, and have a lot of gratitude for what I have gone through, the people who helped me, and who I have become, I can see more clearly a new beginning.

I am visualizing new flower paintings. And new trees. Blooming with the first buds of Spring.

"Sunflower" 2001 32"x26"

Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Yourself!

2007-12-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season, my thoughts have been directed toward Peace and also War. I have spent much of my life horrified by what humans are capable of doing to each other. I grew up watching the first televised war. It was surreal to watch the news before dinner and see the daily death count in the Vietnam War. So far away, and yet there were all those red stars on the front doors in my neighborhood.

I grew up hearing about and being fascinated by World War II, how could such things exist? I had very strong feelings about it, and recoiled when I first learned about the Nazis. It was painful, even more than 30 years later. So much hate and viciousness!

One thing I have become increasingly aware of over the past 10 years is a war closer to home: the war inside each of us. I see people at war within themselves, and it is no wonder to me that war ends up reflected in the outside world.

When someone decides to heal that rift within, through forgiveness, or self love, or making art they love! - everything changes around them and in their world. Peace can exist, and I do believe it is up to each one of us to start.

Goodwill toward yourself might be a great way to begin. The worst that can happen is you might feel really good about yourself. And that good energy has a way of spreading, it's catching. Way more fun than its opposite!

In the spirit of the season, I wish you Peace within.

"Clown Flower" 2000 32"x25"

Summer of New Dreams

2007-12-13T23:39:00.001-08:00

Another from this year's Energy Series, 'Summer of New Dreams' refers to this past summer, the oddest one I've had in a long time. Odd only in that nothing was normal or usual for me. Everything was still kind of new, it being my first summer in my new home, Los Angeles.

Actually, I finally figured out what I wanted to wear by summer. From the time we moved here over a year ago until sometime this past May? June? I still had no idea. Nothing seemed to fit, not literally, but stylishly. I didn't know what I wanted to look like.

I was reminded of that this evening while giving a reading to a young woman who just moved here 3 months ago. I saw the same picture for her, and she said, "Yes! I thought I lost my style." It's kind of a big deal, especially out here. Not that one has to go around looking like a fashion perfect picture, it's more about image.

'Summer of New Dreams' refers to that time when I finally began coming up with my answers of what could be next. To dream some more new dreams. Once that time came for me, it seemed to get easier. I began to feel more at home here, no longer an outsider. It took as long as it took to get to this point, and looking back I can see it was all necessary.

"Summer of New Dreams" 2007 14"x14" kriscahill.com

Energy of Magic

2007-12-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

It is no secret to those who know me that I love the Harry Potter books. The story of the boy wizard who didn't know he was magical for the first eleven years of his life, who didn't fit into his Muggle neighborhood, who was constantly being punished for being different, spoke to me from the first page of the first book.

When I became a Psychic Meditation teacher, I'd often have students ask what books they could read to help them with their studies. "Harry Potter", I'd answer. Some of them liked that, others wanted me to prescribe serious spiritual tomes, which I did not read. Harry Potter! And InStyle Magazine! Don't forget the Onion! These are some of my most important textbooks. Some people expect their spiritual teachers to read more "relevant" works. OK, how about ummmmmm....Dr. Seuss? "Harold and the Purple Crayon"?

Harold, like Harry, performed magic. Harry had a wand, Harold a purple crayon. He would draw and his world would appear. Very clairvoyant of him.

Harry had to study hard to learn how to use his abilities. I liked that, it rang true. Nothing came easy to him, and yet he was Magic. He still had to decide to grow, had to become stronger, suffered great losses. Even though he was a powerful wizard, he was also still so human.

To me the Energy of Magic is all this, and more. Just living can be a magical act. If one decides to have the energy of magic, how different a day can be. I notice that I have this energy more when I am present and aware of what's happening around me. Then I attract magical things to myself. It's fun. (I count smiles from strangers among the magical things.)

"Energy of Magic" 2007 14"x14" at kriscahill.com

The Greatest Gift

2007-12-11T11:23:00.001-08:00

While looking ahead at the coming year, I'm aware of much of my energy taken up, caught up, stuck in, holding onto an old way of being. This way included but was not limited to: being hurt, invalidated, talked about unkindly, and competed with fiercely. Waaahhh!

So I am planning to give a great gift to myself this season. The greatest gift I can think of. It won't cost me a dime, and will help me reclaim much of my energy, healing myself in the process. It'll also clear out a lot of the cobwebs that have been collecting in my space.

As I give this gift to myself, I will also be giving it to others. Killing two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. Some of them may never know I am giving them a gift, because shhh, it's really for me! Selfish?

What is this valuable gift, this amazing substance? Forgiveness. Forgiving myself first, for everything, for not being perfect, for being a sometimes ornery stubborn impatient cranky insecure thoughtless HUMAN. Jeez Louise, am I ever wrong sometimes! (Who's Louise, and why does her name often begin with 'Jeez'?)

Then forgiving others: my mean 3rd grade teacher, ex's, (none of mine live in Texas), people who have decided I am so nasty wrong and evil, George Bush, (yes, even him), anyone who ever lied to me... the list could be endless. but I am deciding to end it, because I want to move on from holding onto all this crap.

I saw an amazing documentary a year ago, 'Forgiving Dr. Mengele'. It is the story of a Jewish woman who was sent, as a child, with her twin sister, to Auschwitz. Dr. Josef Mengele was the Nazi doctor who performed cruel experiments on twins in that camp. This documentary is the story of how she decided many years later to forgive the Nazis, including Dr. Mengele. And she clearly states that she did it for herself. She goes on to say that the pain in her body went away, and she healed her life in a big way. The most interesting thing she experienced from doing this is the wrath of some other survivors. Some of them were just angry, how dare she forgive the Nazis?? She has gone on speaking tours, and held forgiveness rallies at Auschwitz and other camps. She is inspiring, and I highly recommend seeing this film. If one woman who experienced unbelievable cruelty at the hands of vicious humans can forgive, why not each of us?

I'll leave you with a song:

Miracle Cure
©Luka Bloom

When all the fighting is done
Forgiveness
When all the blood has run
Forgiveness
The opening fist
Brings forgiveness
A wounded hand to kiss
Forgiveness

It's the wonderdrug
It's the miracle cure
It could change our world
Make our lives secure
I take my chance at each abyss
And reach for my forgiveness

The moment the words cut in
Forgiveness
The moment anger begins
Forgiveness
In the light of a new day
Forgiveness
I hope you'll have your say
Forgiveness

Together we grow
Together we know
No losers, no winners
In forgiveness
Together we're free
Together we see
No right or no wrong
In forgiveness

It's the wonderdrug
It's the miracle cure
It could change our world
Make our lives secure
I take my chance at each abyss
And reach for my forgiveness

"Heart of Gold" 1996 32"x25"

Drawing Is Fun

2007-12-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

For some time now, I have been trying to get myself to draw more. I carry a journal with me everywhere. I write down my dreams, inspirations, ideas for blog entries, titles for paintings, songs I hear on the radio, inspiration for a new painting series, a color combination I want to paint, an idea for a skirt or jacket I want to make, along with quick sketches of these things to remind myself.

Sometimes I write down snatches of conversations I overhear. My favorite is one I overheard at Home Depot. Noel and I were shopping for houseplants for our new LA home. In the garden section, I saw an elderly couple. The wife was saying to her husband, "They have your snapdragons! Would you like some snapdragons?" She was so excited about the snapdragons and her husband wasn't. It left me wondering what the story was about Snapdragon Man.

I digress. I want to draw more. Just last week I bought myself a new sketchbook for Serious Drawing Only. And I resolved that when I go to Chicago for the Holidays next week I will bring it, and some drawing tools. I have this perfect picture of sitting in a cafe with a lovely cup of tea, drawing away.

Then tonight I was tooling around on some new blogs I found from links here and there, and I found this:

“But I don’t have time to draw...”
Draw lunch as you eat it : 1 drawing
Draw the news as you watch it: 4 drawings
Skip 1 sitcom: 3 drawings
Skip 1 basketball game: 11 drawings
Overtime: 2 drawings
Draw in the locker room at the gym: 2 drawings
Draw the coffeemaker while you wait for the coffee to perk: 1 drawing
Draw in line at the supermarket: 1 drawing
Stay up an extra 10 minutes: 1 drawing
Get up 10 minutes early: 1 drawing
Draw during commercials: 6 drawings per hour
Draw every time you smoke a cigarette: 1 drawing
Draw till the waiter brings dessert: 1 drawing
Draw in the tub: 1-2 (waterproof) drawings
Draw on the phone: 2 drawings
Draw during a pedicure: 2 drawings
Draw in the doctor’s/ dentist’s/ therapist’s waiting room: 1 drawing
Draw at the red light: 1 drawing
Get to work early, stay in the car: 1 drawing
Take the bus: 2 drawings
Draw while waiting for spouse to get ready: 2 drawings
Draw what you’re cooking while it cooks: 1 drawing
Draw on the john: 1 drawing

From a free downloadable PDF found on Danny Gregory's blog.

Thank you, Danny Gregory, for the inspiration and permission!

I realized when reading this non effort list that I have been putting so much energy on making my drawings perfect. What crap! I have one resolution for 2008 lined up so far, and it's this: Draw! No matter what. I have some new forms to create, and I know drawing is the key.

How about you, do you like to draw? What are your favorite drawing tools?

"Cosmic Flower" 2005 32"x28" acrylic on vinyl painting

Night Tree

2007-12-09T23:40:00.001-08:00

When I made this painting, I was playing with mixing two colors into several tones, and using this as my palette. The two colors here are gold and black. I like the resulting drama and contrast.

This tree is surrounded by energy, and is aware of that energy. There is no problem here, nothing to solve. The ground even looks like it is swirling. The earth turns, continues to move, and the sky has its own movement.

Sometimes it can feel like things are stuck and just NOT moving. That is a good indicator that it may be time to let go of something. What to let go of is up to you. I've noticed for myself that I always know what has to go, even if I don't wanna know it. Resistance is futile. Surrender, Dorothy.

If you could change one thing about yourself overnight tonight, what would it be?

"Night Tree" 2003 32"x28"

Valley of the Sun

2007-12-08T20:00:00.001-08:00

I meet a lot of people who are going through stuff, Big Stuff. Life changing stuff. They have decided to grow, and maybe it all started with something relatively simple, like I Am Tired Of How Things Are Now. Or, I Want More. Or Why Don't I Know What I Want? Or more poignantly, Why Did This Happen To Me? Or even more dramatically, Why Is Everything Falling Apart? AAIIIEEEAAHHHH!!!

It's so much fun to read people who have gone through this, and are now Through it. Into something else, to be sure. Last night I gave readings to a group of women at a party. I love to read at parties. One woman I read wanted me to look at her growth, and where she is now. I saw she had come though several decades of clearing everyone's problems out of her space. Thirty years ago she took on every problem that came her way, along with all the pain that came with it. Nowadays, her amusement is so great no problem can get through it. "You want me to solve WHAT?" while laughing herself silly, was the picture. Both she and I laughed out loud at this one.

This week something interesting happened for me. I was quoted in the Los Angeles Times, in an article about the Writer's Guild strike. I am listed on the WGA website as one of the businesses giving discounts to writers during the strike, (I'm offering a discount on my readings.)

The reporter, Lynn Smith, emailed to ask if any writers had responded to my offer. One had, and I wrote back to Lynn letting her know this. She asked if the writer was concerned about her future career as a writer. I wrote back that I don't predict the future since I don't see it is written in stone. And that it is interesting when something big like a Writer's strike comes along because everyone has a chance to make choices.

What I notice during emotionally charged events like this strike, is that everyone has an opportunity to take a step. It is possible to create something new, no matter what the outcome. And each person is making choices along the way. Sometimes things have to look hopeless in order for actual change to happen.

Life is very messy. So is making Art.

"Valley of the Sun" 2006 34"x32"

Gold Autumn Leaves

2007-12-06T23:20:00.001-08:00

I remember taking my first Beginning Painting class years ago in art school, and hearing the phrase "mark making" for the first time. The instructor assigned as homework some drawing exercises, and mysteriously told us to bring 'something other than a paintbrush' to paint with next week. I did the drawing exercises and completely forgot about the other something, until I got to the cafeteria for my morning tea. I grabbed the most likely object, a plastic fork, which proved to be a life changing move on my part. After spending a pleasant 6 hour studio class making marks with my plastic fork, I was in love.

My work changed dramatically after that fateful day. I thanked my teacher for that, but I don't know if I thanked her enough for helping me free myself from the confines of my brushes. Thank you, Ellen Campbell, for helping me to find permission to play with my paint!

Though I love my brushes, my favorite painting implements tend to be plastic forks, ripped up newspaper, fake plastic credit cards that come in the mail, and rags. This painting is from 1997, only a few years after I began painting with forks. It is typical of my work at that time. The entire piece was 'forked'. I had it animated on my first website, very cool.

I have a friend who's also an abstract painter who came back from a trip to Rio during Carnivale and began to literally stomp on his paintings. He did a whole series of these stomped works, and they are so energetic and beautiful. They look like how he felt and what he was going through at the time.

I, like many other artists, look at other artists' work to see what they are doing, what they've come up with. I may be inspired by something another artist does, but then I change it, do it my way. I am inspired by Hockney, Richter, Bonnard, and so many others. I've had many people copy my reverse painting on vinyl, as I have looked at how others work with imagery, or color, texture. We all learn from each other. How fun is that?

But if my work isn't true to me, it won't speak to anyone, and I will be bored. Then I won't want to make it and it won't get made...so I work at doing what is mine. I love to see what other artists are doing, love going to their shows, love learning about new forms. But if I begin to compare myself to all of them, it will not be good for me and my work. So my biggest task here is to be me, and not try to be them. Seems simple, ay?

"Gold Leaves of Autumn" 1997 32"x28"

Fire on the Mountain

2007-12-05T21:56:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the clouds and the sun are arranged just so, and you can catch a light show that seems to come straight from the cosmos. Yet another example of Earth's beauty, free of charge. The Greatest Show on Earth!

"Fire on the Mountain" 2007 26"x20" at kriscahill.com

Flower

2007-12-04T22:24:00.001-08:00

Being an abstract painter didn't occur to me as a real possibility for a number of years. I loved abstract art for its freedom. But every time I thought about working this way, or calling myself an abstract artist, I felt like a fraud. I assumed the other painters had a special understanding I couldn't even fathom, I was too clueless. The level of invalidation to get through was astounding.

I remember the first time a show by an abstract artist created an intense desire to make paintings that had that kind of power. It was Gerhard Richter at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, in 1988. I stood in front of these giant canvases filled with the most incredible colors. The forms, the rhythms, the light in those pieces! I was truly blown away. Something inside of me stirred, and I remember the tears in my eyes, but it would be another 15 years before I had permission to call myself an abstract artist.

When I began making these wild colorful paintings, I was shy about showing them to anyone. I gave my husband the one he loved, and it hung in our home, still does. People would come over to see my work, and when they saw that piece would always remark how they liked it, it was so different from my other work. I finally began to play with abstract forms, looser brush work, the use of different tools. It was like revisiting my fabric painting days, though less safe. When I painted fabric, I had more permission. Now I had to find that again, on a scary canvas.

My new abstracts were fun to make, and began to find a following. I realized I was painting and expressing energy in a new way, and I could communicate this way and be understood. Part of this was me deciding I didn't need to make sense.

Everyone sees different forms in abstract imagery. Months and years later I see things in my paintings that are 'new' to me. But I understand what I am healing in myself is also on an emotional level. Somehow painting abstractly does this in a different way than anything else.

Becoming a clairvoyant was the biggest step I took toward healing myself in every way, including creatively. I don't think I would be making these kinds of paintings if I hadn't.

"Flower" 2007 13"x13" at Etsy

Bird Forecast

2007-12-03T22:29:00.001-08:00

I named one abstract I painted 'Bluebirds' and another 'Blackbirds'. They remind me of songs.

When I was making this smaller piece, I kept thinking of the phrase 'the forecast calls for birds', which is kind of a twist on the line from the blues song, 'the forecast calls for pain'. Given a choice, I'd take birds over pain any day, hence the title.

"Bird Forecast" 2007 12"x12" at Etsy

Eye of the Fish

2007-12-02T20:42:00.001-08:00

There I was, innocently painting away, and this wild fish showed up out of nowhere and proceeded to take over my painting! What could I do, helpless in the fierce face of the fish? And its eye. Eye of the Fish!

To me this has always looked like a Fish On Fire. That may be a different painting for another day.

What I like this piece for is its carefree energy, which I remember having while painting it. How fabulous to be carefree - when I am actually there it is a wonderful feeling and I can't imagine why I'd want to be anything else. Ha!

There is a dark underbelly to this piece too, kind of like a Dead Fish. Perhaps a bit colorful still on the surface, but not the whole story. No need to camouflage the truth here. Adults think they need to do this: lie to be polite. Children learn this behavior from adults, sometimes forcibly. "Don't say that, it's not polite!" might often be the response from an adult when a child says what he or she is experiencing or seeing. Children learn to judge this way, themselves and others. The adults don't necessarily mean any harm; they are trying to help the children acclimate to the social mores.

Unfortunately for us all, the social mores involve lots of lying. We are all guilty. This doesn't make us wrong. It just may be time to stop lying! The pressure to keep lying is great. And we may become unpopular if we stop doing so. But we may also start to see more clearly.

We may not even know we are lying. If something is repeated often enough, it becomes "truth", or we make it so by believing it without question.

As is my custom at the end of a year, I begin writing my goals for the new year. They change often enough, while still retaining an integrity and consistency. I know all the facts aren't in today, and I expect they'll be coming along when I'm ready, so I give myself permission to change, A LOT.

One of my goals, for every year, remains consistent. Truth. My own. I work on this every day.

"Eye of the Fish" 2007 40"x36" at kriscahill.com

Playing With Fire

2007-12-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Exciting news - this painting, "Playing With Fire", has been chosen as one of the six featured pieces at Artscene.com. Every month 6 artists are chosen, and one piece from each is featured, along with a link to their website. My painting may be seen on this site through December.

"Playing With Fire" is the first large piece I created in the Energy Series. I love this larger size, 36" x 36", because the pattern I am working with can be played out more. I am pleased with how the energy looks like it is undulating, and I picture a fire being fed from deep within. The turquoise is the fire sparking up and out. The painting has so much depth and emotion, and I feel that I surpassed what I intended to create here. It is always nice to have this attitude about my own work, a feeling I would like to experience much more.

Fire is dangerous, attractive, warming, passionate, hot tempered, action oriented, fast moving, unpredictable, colorful, destructive. Not an energy to take lightly, certainly one to be friendly with.

You can see "Playing With Fire" in person at the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, hanging above the front reception desk, where it will be through December.

"Playing With Fire" 2007 36"x36" at kriscahill.com

Energy of the Sea

2007-11-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

Today it rained all day long. It's the first real rainy day I remember since I moved to Los Angeles on October 3, 2006. No joking.

I loved it. I was out driving in the rain, enjoying a dust-free windshield. I noticed that many other drivers seemed uneasy in the rain, perhaps because of its unusual nature in Southern California. And while I was driving on the 101, a friend called, also a transplant from Chicago. She was happy about the rain as well, and though we talked about the weather, it was a real conversation. It was about feeling something we each hadn't felt in a long time.

I've always loved rainy days, though like most people, not too many of them in a row, please. Could I order my rainy days scattered like sparkles throughout the sunny ones? I don't want to seem greedy here. One day like today will fill me up for a while.

My silk floss tree, the tree I fell in love with as soon as I moved into this urban oasis in downtown LA, looks so happy. Its trunk is finally bright green and lovely. It's been wanting a big drink of water for so long, all 3 stories of it. Last year it greeted me the day I moved in with a profusion of hot pink blooms. This year it could barely muster a few blooming branches after the measly 3" of rain all year.

The rain of today has washed away much of the energy that's been collecting all about. And not just from my car, which is much closer to its original color now than it has been in a while. A side note: one may not realize how dirty one's car windows have become until rain brings sudden consciousness to this fact.

No, the energy I am talking about is often invisible to most, but definitely felt by many. I am aware of a large number of people who are going through big upheavals now, huge changes, freakouts, destruction, massive newness! Wow, what do I do now?

Today's rain seemed to me a balancing of the circus going on now. Kind of like zambonis at a hockey game. Clear the playing surface and begin again.

"Energy of the Sea" 2007 14"x14" at kriscahill.com

Being Seen

2007-11-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

Many people I give readings to are looking for the same thing: permission to be seen, to shine. And to shine being who they are, doing what they want to do. No coincidence I moved to Los Angeles, which so many flock to for this reason.

"I want to be a star!" - How about being the star of your own life?

I read a book recently that illustrates this theme so beautifully, "Undercover", by Beth Kephart. The heroine narrates the story, which follows her adventures as she is pursued by a number of young men in her high school, not because they want to romance her, but because she can write the magical verses that win for them the young women they are romancing. She is the school's Cyrano, at the expense of her own happiness. There is the point in the story where she decides to have more:

"But the greatest tragedy of all is letting invisibility win. It's choosing to give up the thing you want because you think you don't deserve it."

I love it when people reach conclusions like this! I cheer them on and wish them the best. They have decided to change, to grow. What was once good enough no longer is. How cool is that? That's always the best part of the movie, when the hero or heroine changes like this. If everything begins and ends the same, how boring it would be.

The same is true with real life, and I am not talking so called reality TV. I mean my life, and yours, and his over there. Change is the norm, actually. Even if we don't want it. Especially then.

So why not embrace it now, and have a say in how it happens? What is the change you'd like to become?

"Early Day" 2007 14"x14" at kriscahill.com

Amusement Garden

2007-11-28T20:55:00.001-08:00

What if you could plant amusement? Sow the seeds of amusement so it would grow, and then you'd be able to pick it, to harvest all that amusement? Wouldn't it come in handy on a day that was the antithesis of amusement? Like having a stash of chocolate when everyone thought it was all gone and it's raining like heck out and everyone wants some and nobody wants to go to the store for more. Wait! - You remember just in time that gorgeous chocolate put away for a...rainy day!

So what if amusement could work that way too? It's only one of the most valuable energies you could possibly ever meet. If you ran into amusement in a dark alley, it would laugh at you for being frightened of it.

You might want to get started on your own amusement garden today. A good place to start: what makes you laugh out loud? That's a good thing to plant in your garden. What gives you joy, makes you happy, helps you get away from the prevailing miserable wisdom? The Waaahhhhs? (I am personally amused by the Waaahhhhs, but please don't tell them!)

"Amusement Garden" 2007 14"x14"

Green Sky Begins

2007-11-27T18:01:00.001-08:00

The first painting I made in 2007, 'Green Sky Begins' is a look into another dream-like place. There is an earthy quality, a grounded feel, and also a cosmic one. A place the spirit can play, and the body feels good there too.

Continuing the spirit of green I am ensconced in now, the greens in this painting are among my favorites.

It is difficult to see in a photo the depth and texture in this piece. I am grateful the color comes through. This is a painting I can sit and look into, and always see something new. Ominous and Optimistic; can the two co-exist? Why not!

"Green Sky Begins" 2007 32"x40" at kriscahill.com

Spring

2007-11-26T23:29:00.001-08:00

Another painting inspired by renewal, growth, new beginnings. The green is what does it for me, as I've been saying: I'm in a very Green season.

It's interesting to become aware of what I've been taking for granted lately. It is so easy for everyday objects and 'realities' to become invisible to the naked eye. Simply by virtue of the fact that now they are common, normal. Like palm trees in my backyard, a heated pool I can go in year round, walking around in flip flops most days in the year. I never used to have permanent flip flop marks on my feet. Not for the first hmmmmany years of my life.

It's odd when I become aware of now taking for granted the surrounding landscape, which is quite different from the Midwestern one I lived in for so long. When I visited Chicago in August, I realized I missed certain trees, and rain in summer. Which is different than rain in winter, which to be honest I don't miss much.

And it was nice to not see palm trees everywhere. In Chicago, palm trees would be disturbing. Whereas in LA, people decorate them for the holidays. Swear.

My point is the forgetting, the taking for granted things that become familiar. All too easy for anyone to do in this ever faster paced time we live in. Being able to create time to Be is lovely, difficult, and most important.

"Spring" 2007 26"x20" at kriscahill.com

Abstract Heart on Gold

2007-11-25T10:33:00.001-08:00

Another heart... today is my birthday. I feel good, and not in the mood for a huge hoopla. So I am doing things that make me happy. A small friendly fun dinner last night, a hike this morning. A movie and dinner later. Listening to music I don't usually hear.

I can't wait to get back into my studio and make some new paintings. This week, the beginning of my new year, is the perfect time to start some new work.

"Abstract Heart on Gold" 2006 30"x28" at kriscahill.com

BEarthday Weekend

2007-11-24T18:43:00.001-08:00

It's Birthday Weekend, so while I am off gallivanting about and celebrating, I'll leave you a painting to entertain you.

"Earth Heart" 2006 30"x28" at kriscahill.com

The Storm Between

2007-11-23T18:59:00.001-08:00

This is the companion piece to "Beautiful Storm". I pictured this as a storm literally between me and my objective. An energy to sit out, wait through, and clear. Requiring patience, and an awareness that Here was Energy. The distant sky is lighter, calmer.

An exploration of light is what this series is about. Light has power. Daylight is completely different energy than moonlight. Different moods are associated with each. Painters, poets, and photographers work with many tools; the use of light is most important. Without light, it would be difficult to see anything. How about this: without darkness, it might be difficult to appreciate...light.

Working energetically, intuitively, emotionally, when creating a piece like this, I am able to express my experience without words. I simply offer it for you to see. You will have words of your own, as unique as your experiences.

"The Storm Between" 2007 26"x20" at kriscahill.com

Beautiful Storm

2007-11-22T22:18:00.001-08:00

Another painting about a storm. The energy in my new abstract landscapes series is intense, wild and stormy. I like it, that feeling of the winds picking up, something getting stirred up and blowing through.

A storm can happen within, invisible to the outside world. Decide to grow and set off storms around you. Merely by deciding to change, the winds pick up. Free will. Why I don't predict the future: it isn't up to me. The power to rearrange the landscape belongs to each of us. Now that's scary!

"Beautiful Storm" 2007 26"x20" at kriscahill.com

Green and Fuzzy

2007-11-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

'Green Fuzz Heart' comes from a long line of heart paintings, many of them fuzzy. This one works for me because it looks as if it has a light within, and because I am partial to certain shades of green lately.

If you love color and/or are influenced by it, you will understand when I say that right now I am going through a very green time. Though I live in LA, which is in Brown Season, (a friend told me there are 2 seasons here, Green and Brown), I am In The Green right now. I love greens ranging from gold-green to bright olives to lime to rich deep yellow greens, with a few soft greens on the side. I tend to avoid bright greens, anything reminiscent of St. Patrick's Day is not my green.

I look at color in different ways: as an artist, clairvoyant, and fashion obsessed woman.

To me, the artist, it's all about color speaking, glowing, singing, and creating interesting relationships. I feel the color as I work with it, and though I love paint, I understand it's just a vehicle for my color addiction.

To me, the clairvoyant, energy can be seen as color. It's fun to look at the colors someone is working with. My green looks like self healing and new growth to me.

To me, the fashion obsessed, it's all about, 'what colors do I feel like wearing, and what looks great on me? Plus, do I have shoes to go with it?'

My favorite colors tend to be intense bright colors, but it's hard to pick just one favorite. I love deep hot pinks, yellow oranges, intense fiery reds, rich violets. They all look wonderful balanced with warm browns and very dark purples. Colors have vibrations and sounds. I can hear this color combination as I write it. A color symphony!

"Green Fuzz Heart" 2007 14"x14" at Etsy

Lavender Sea 2

2007-11-20T16:40:00.001-08:00

This is another piece from my current series of abstract land and sea scapes. This is the smallest yet, 8" x 8", which is a challenge for me actually. I decided to make a lot of little pieces to play, move quickly, and free up some ideas. The advantage was that I would be less judgmental as I was experimenting. A phrase I learned in art school and would do well to remember more often!

I am pleasantly surprised with the detail, intensity, and richness of these pieces. For a while now I've thought the smaller scale wouldn't satisfy me, but it creates a whole new form I love. Now I'm getting ready to take some of what I've learned in these small pieces, larger. They are great sketches to work from, and the added advantage is that they are also complete paintings, and I have been selling them!

Gratitude

2007-11-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Not just because it's a day to eat fabulous food, socialize, and watch football and parades.

To me, Thanksgiving isn't even about History. There are differing versions of the true meaning and circumstances of the first Thanksgiving.

I prefer to have my own present time experience of Thanksgiving: it's about giving thanks. Simple. I like a holiday that is all about gratitude. I celebrate my birthday near Thanksgiving, so it's always a special time of year for me personally. I am already celebrating my own New Year, and grateful to be doing so.

Having gratitude is a good feeling. If I can learn to be grateful for my biggest challenges and especially, challengers, I'm doing well. After all, I attracted them to me for a good reason. I'm trying to get somewhere with this energy I'm stuck in, and they are only helping.

I finally realized this a few years ago when I attracted the wrath of a very angry person. I really didn't get it for the longest time, and in fact couldn't see it for the life of me. When, after a (way too) long time I finally did get it, one thing that helped it to clear was gratitude.

Featured Painting: "Great Heart" 2007 30"x30" at kriscahill.com

Technicolor

2007-11-18T20:32:00.001-08:00

Without giving away too much information, I will confess that when I was a kid, we watched TV in black and white. Until I was 9 or 10, everyday. The switch to color was wonderful for me, since I was already deeply in love with color. My generation embraced the change enthusiastically, without so much as a sigh at leaving black and white television behind us. That belonged to our parent's generation.

They watched in black and white: "The Honeymooners", "I Love Lucy", "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Our shows: "Gilligan's Island", "I Dream of Jeanie", "The Brady Bunch" were all in color. The Partridge Family's bus would really lose something in black and white. "Laugh In's" colorful set would be wasted. This was a generation gap not widely discussed: color. Clairvoyance had taken a step.

Clairvoyance is colorful. To a clairvoyant, energy can be seen as color, and colors can be "read". Colors don't have static meanings, and don't mean the same thing for everyone every time. Colors change, can show truth and beauty, and also lies and stuck energy. "The picture of health", "you are a vision", "a sight for sore eyes"...all clairvoyant phrases. A human ability, clairvoyance has a bad rap as merely a teller of fortunes. There is a much bigger picture. What if your ability to "see" affected what you could create?

"Technicolor" 2007 10"x10"

The Queen's Court

2007-11-17T19:57:00.001-08:00

Though this painting is from this year, it is a continuation of a series I began in 2005. I made so many versions of this image, and still love it. The sky became more dramatic in each successive painting, the colors more intense. Every painting truly has its own space, and though I might attempt to create a similar piece, I can't duplicate. Nor would I want to, what is learned there? It gets boring to make a painting just like the last one. If I'm exploring a similar idea, I want to take it someplace new and add something else, take a risk somehow.

That is what's fun about painting, for me, that risk taking. Because unlike most painters, I can't paint over what I'm doing. Water colorists know what I mean; their technique has a similar challenge. I paint in reverse, backwards, onto clear vinyl, and I can't correct what I've done once the paint dries. Which is pretty darn quick, and then it will never be removed from the vinyl. Except with a blow torch, which is a technique I have not yet embraced. Hey, there's always time!

So if I have a correction to make it had better be immediately. If I don't like what I've done to begin with and it dries, I often don't complete the piece. I can do a preliminary sketch, but that doesn't substitute for the actual material I work with. So I have learned to Destroy more. Aah! I don't have to be perfect?

I've been revisiting my old work as I get ready to start the new. Wonderful activity for the end of an intense year. Lots of certainty, and somehow I've released the need to explain myself. How the heck did I do that? Don't ask.

"The Queen's Court" 2007 35"x32" at kriscahill.com

Red Blooms of Spring

2007-11-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's not Spring, it's almost Winter. And I was thinking about Christmas and how this painting kind of looks like that, being red and green and all. Every painting has a story, and here's one for you.

I grew up in Chicago, which is not known for its 12 foot high-plus bougainvillea hedges. Hell, I thought I was doing pretty good getting a hibiscus to grow 5 feet tall there. Then I moved to Los Angeles, and OMG, what ARE those flowers?!! I love the red bougainvillea that bloom, incredibly, on a very urban truck route through downtown LA. I am amazed at them; in a year with the lowest rainfall on record, (3"), they are sexy and ROCK my eyes when I drive past them!

In the sunlight they glow, incredibly. Along the same route, there are coral, purple, pink hedges too. But the red ones are magical. They bloomed big in the Spring, hence the name of the painting.

"Red Blooms of Spring" 2007 14"x14" Kris Cahill

A Truck Day

2007-11-15T20:34:00.001-08:00

A Truck Day is a day on which big trucks keep blocking one's path. Even though it's a pain in the ass, I have come to accept Truck Days for the signpost they are to let me know Energy Is Not Moving. As if I wasn't already aware of it, and needed a huge multi-ton vehicle to rub it in. Maybe it died in front of me on a small street and the oncoming traffic is not sympathetic. Or it was Optimistic, yet still got stuck under the overpass. Hate that. Or, as is often the case in downtown Los Angeles where I live, it tried to run me down. Which is kinda funny if it's not happening on a day when you absolutely have to be somewhere or are trying to get things done.

I feel like a character in a cartoon strip when this is happening.

Today, as I'm sure you've already guessed, was a Truck Day. On the surface of it, things were going well. It didn't look like anything was stuck necessarily, so I decided this Truck Day was about moving things out of my way. That was after my first morning Truck, which combined with a few other things to make me, gasp!, late for an appointment. I am almost never late, and often early, sometimes laughably so. But I absolutely could not control the morning's events, so I was late. Which didn't become funny for a while. After it kept happening, both on my way there, and on my way back. After I went out again to run errands, and there it was again. Hello, Twilight Zone?

I have happily regained my amusement this evening and haven't seen one truck since I came home.

"A Gentle Spin of Truth" 2007 30"x34" at kriscahill.com

Having Fun

2007-11-14T21:54:00.001-08:00

What's so important about having fun, anyway? And are you? It always looks like a good idea to me to have, find, make, create, feel...fun! I am one of those people who believes we are here to do much more than our "duty" and/or suffer. Whichever appeals to you more. Whatever. Hello, drama?

And so it becomes a courageous act, in a world that isn't fun for many people, to decide to have fun. Even if you are having a difficult time, having the attitude of fun can heal you and keep you young. Better than Botox, won't freeze your face! Plus it's incredibly difficult to be controlled when your attitude is set at fun. Try it and see what I mean.

If I am having fun while painting, magic happens. First of all, I don't need to make a perfect painting, I am already succeeding by having fun just painting. Then, because of all that fun I'm having, I allow myself to play too. Before you know it, I am loving my work. Because I haven't put all kinds of pressure on myself to create a perfect thing, something better comes along.

"Energy of Fun" 2007 14"x14" at kriscahill.com
Bikini Clairvoyant, Energy of Fun

Deep Night

2007-11-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

Today was a very long active day. No words left until tomorrow. Good Night!

"Deep Night" 2007 14"x14" at kriscahill.com

Free the House-Elves, I Mean Humans!

2007-11-12T11:45:00.001-08:00

I love Hermione Granger and especially, her quest to free the house-elves. I was right there with her the whole way, and it was such an interesting turn when they didn't WANT to be set free! Huh? Who on earth (or at Hogwarts) wouldn't want to be free???

How silly of me. It was considered shameful for a house-elf to be freed by its master. Every good house-elf knows its place, and has one. Dobby was just an oddball, and Winky fell apart after being freed.

As a person who has spent my life working toward my freedom, (and along the way thinking I could help others achieve theirs), one thing I have learned is that in order to be free, you gotta wanna be! It's scary, this freedom thing. Who am I going to blame if 'xyz' doesn't work out? What would you do if suddenly all blocks that have been in your way, weren't? What would I do?

I like to think I'd be doing pretty much what I am now, (only with more shoe shopping). I'm already stretching more everyday, making new contacts, writing this blog, perfecting what it is I do. Still, I'm looking for my excuses and rooting them out like the weeds they are.

I've been reading a great book called 'Art & Fear' by David Bayles & Ted Orland. One of my favorite passages:
"When sense of self depends so directly upon the ranking bestowed by the outside world, motivation to produce work that brings high ratings is extreme. In not knowing how to tell yourself that your work is OK, you may be driven to the top of the heap in trying to get the rest of the world to tell you."

I don't think this speaks only to artists. It does speak of valuing oneself, and is a place where many people are growing right now, including yours truly.

"It matters not what someone was born, but what they grow to be."
~J.K. Rowling , Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

'Ring of Fire' 2007 30"x22" at kriscahill.com

Peace

2007-11-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Every painting has its own moment, never to be repeated exactly. It's truly a present time act. I can always tell how I am feeling by looking at my work.

"Peace"  2007   14"x14"

Dreamy Tree

2007-11-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

I just got this painting back yesterday from a show it was in. I used to make a lot of tree paintings and realize I haven't made one since leaving Chicago, over one year ago. Thirteen months, to be exact. One of the things I love about living in Los Angeles is the flora, which still delights me with every change that happens. Purple flowering jacaranda trees, hot pink blooms on the silk floss trees, nearly fluorescent bougainvillea everywhere! Cactus gardens, palms, calla lilies growing outside by the hot tub. Outside. Tall. Plants that do not die over the winter because it just doesn't get cold enough to kill them. Sorry, Chicagoans.

I love this tree, and living with it again inspires me to begin a new tree series. Most of my trees were bare, winter trees. My bare trees would look as if they were dancing, moving, communicating with their bodies. What is so different about this tree is the foliage. I began painting trees with leaves the last year I lived in Chicago. After 11 years of painting bare trees, this was a big deal for me. I wonder what kind of trees I will paint now? I will post them as I do them.

"Dreamy Tree" 2006 32"x40" at kriscahill.com

Something Unexpected

2007-11-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

I made this painting, Center of the Storm, in 6 hours, while being filmed doing so. You can watch the whole thing on youtube. I had no idea what I was going to be painting; I improvised. This was my second youtube video. The first, Mystery, was painted early this year. In roughly 2 minutes you watch me paint an entire painting. In reverse.

I've been painting using my reverse painting technique for over 20 years. Happily, I am not bored with it yet. I keep discovering new things about my medium, which is a sure indicator that I keep discovering new things about myself. By now I understand a lot more about what will happen if I mix these pigments, or glaze this color over this one. I feel there is always more to learn here. And I love the surprises that lead me to the discoveries, the treasure!

I know one big frustration for many artists is that the piece they are working on doesn't match the vision they have of the piece they wanted to make. I also have visions of paintings, flashes of inspiration, color and light played out in a magical way. When my efforts don't quite own up, I can get frustrated too.

One thing I've come to be grateful for is the happy accident, the surprise, the "mistake". What a gift. If my control freakiness were allowed to rule, I might not have these mistakes, and would be a lot poorer for it. As a very wise person said long ago, mistakes are how you learn. So be grateful for them instead of beating yourself up for not being perfect.

"Center of the Storm" 2007 32"x40" at kriscahill.com

The Sea Dream

2007-11-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

It's one of those cloudy night skies with a big bright moon backing it up. This lights up the dramatic sky, which looks like it's boiling with the wind, the sea following suit. It feels normal for this place though, this is how it is here.

Sensing the energy that lives in this place, shivering with pleasure at this rich night, you feel fortunate to be here to see this. You suspect it to be larger than humans have the ability or desire to comprehend. The emotions this brings up criss cross inside of you, longing for something you feel you knew once, when? A disquieting sense of missing something. Loss, is it still loss when you don't know what's lost? Yet a feeling of optimism remains, it's not too late.

You wake up feeling the dream, deeply. A change has taken place within you, though no one can see it. The day ahead of you seems much less real than the dream you just left.

"The Sea Dream" 2006 30"x36" at kriscahill.com

Bye Bye Bluebirds

2007-11-07T18:03:00.001-08:00

Happily, I sold one of my favorite abstracts this week to two people who already own a large red and hot pink abstract of mine. "Bluebirds" is on its way to its new home in Chicago.

This piece was a breakthrough for me in many ways, and like many of my paintings, took me a while to "get it". Sometimes what I create doesn't sink in for a while. Especially if it's a new idea, an adventure into uncharted territory. I don't get my own work. I'm too close to it, and have a hard time separating enough to be objective. Perhaps this is normal, but it drives me crazy sometimes.

The most important thing is to be able to see it myself. My goal as an artist is to see my work clearly, without judgment, and to allow myself to simply make it. Get out of my own way. It's when I begin comparing it to others, stop listening to myself, or wallow in negative energy, that I am Stuck and cannot begin to contemplate how I will dig myself out of my self imposed rut. Waaahhh!

I must back off, go away, eat chocolate, meditate, laugh, obsess about shoes...or something else. It helps to get feedback, and I want that. I'm not making my paintings so that they can sit in a vacuum, or a dark closet. The desire to communicate is great, and painting is one way I do this. Having validation within, no matter what the outside world says or does, is the key to creative freedom, at least for me.

"Bluebirds" 2006 26"x20"

Red Plateau

2007-11-06T08:40:00.001-08:00

There's a storm happening, a dramatic weather event. Totally beyond all human control. A healing to not be able to do anything to fix it. No responsibility! The landscape is getting rearranged by the energy passing through. You know it won't stay for long. Every storm ends eventually, leaving an imprint. A new perspective is the gift the storm brings. Everything that seemed important was left aside, if only for a short time. Something bigger came in and took up space, thrusting its viewpoint onto the stage. Perhaps everything changes as a result, destruction and eventually, recreation. Maybe you change.

"Red Plateau" 2007 10"x10" Available on Etsy

The Cloud Appreciation Society

2007-11-05T10:02:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the skies in my paintings are all about drama. I must say, I really enjoy a good dramatic sky. And who doesn't? Honestly, these blue sunny skies in Southern California get kinda boring. I don't mean to knock them, they are really pretty. And the smog in LA makes for some colorful sunsets, especially after all the fires this season... I grew up in the Midwest, and interesting skies and clouds happen everyday. Or at least that's how I remember them. The clouds are how the sky paints with light.

A good sky can set the tone for the day. Where would film noir be without moody skies? If there are outdoor scenes, you can bet it's grey, misty, dark, cloudy, dramatic. Every film I've seen by Eastern European directors takes place on a cloudy day. Usually in the snow. It's all about mood. And conversely, beach movies have to have blue skies. The mood is lighter, fluffy. Maybe this is why Southern California has this reputation?

What inspires me about clouds is the stories that come with them. A dancing sky, pictures in the clouds, light that is reflected through clouds. I recently found out about and joined a wonderful group called The Cloud Appreciation Society. Yes, one exists. It's very inexpensive to join, and you will receive a badge, certificate, and welcome letter with your member number on it. There is a wonderful website, and members can upload their cloud photos/art/writing. Lots of fun!

"Cloud Appreciation Society" 2007 34"x32" Available at kriscahill.com