The Woods

 

Featured image: Boreal Forest Shoreline

it's full of

solace

and

mystery

never looks the

same way

twice

after a rain or

in early morning

sunlight

filled with shadows in

the 

evening

lines blur when 

dancing with

the wind….

the woods

In Balance

 

Featured image: Balance

when in balance

with the oneness of

things

entanglements

and

emptiness

disappear

Save the Dates! 🎨

 

Will I see you there? 🤩

📅 July 26-27-28, 2024

🕙 10am - 5pm Daily

Immerse yourself in captivating paintings 🖼️, intricate sculptures 🗿, and unique artistic expressions during the tour. Engage with skilled creators, delve into their techniques, and who knows, you might just discover a special piece to take home with you! Embark on an artistic journey amidst the serene beauty of Wisconsin's breathtaking Northwoods. 🌲

Get more information here: https://christinealfery.com/pages/northwoods-art-tour

Red Umbrella

 

Featured image: Under My Red Umbrella

As I sit under my red umbrella, drinking my coffee, I feel the gentle breeze across my neck I think this thought:

“I believe in a loving and kind God who mysteriously and miraculously is interested in the well being of each and every one of his creations.”

This thought gets me through the day. I feel and think in my heart and soul that a divine force of love and light that follows me and tells me never to give up.

So today dear friends, I wish to plant a seed of hope and faith in your heart, faith in life's goodness and hope for a creative life, creating for whatever purpose.

Loving Power

 

Featured image: We'll Sing in the Sunshine II

loving power of

        creating

interconnectedness

        of all things

the beautiful curious

divinely intimate

mysterious

power you have

        it is you light

        your blessing

Control

Featured image: Searching for Golden Nuggets

Do you go to extremes to taste freedom?  I do…. My search for freedom is everlasting and always seems just around the corner. 

Sometimes I think I have found it, but am only fooled by its shiny disguise.

All of us quest for freedom in our lives, some find it, some never do.  The trick is to keep searching.

Strong, Intelligent

 

Featured image: Journey of the Blackbird

Strong intelligent

strutting down the

Path

tawny pebbles, majestic 

purple and blue black

feathers

catching the sun

regal, beautiful

strong

intelligent

black bird

Buds

 

Featured image: Lily Jitterbug

pink
and
   purple
buds
floating in
the  sky
caught
my
eye
nature's 
way

I just love spring, renewal, rebirth.

An Artist's Creativity

Featured image: Two Roads Diverged

an artist's creativity 

radiant

innocent

pure

artists know nothing

but to be

creative.

creativity is life’s 

mysterious gift of love 

and 

hope and rebirth

Turquoise Jacket Accepted into Exhibition

 

Featured image: Turquoise Jacket

Excited and honored to announce that my artwork, "Turquoise Jacket," has been accepted into the prestigious 54th National River Road Show by the Art Guild of Louisiana!

Gray Squirrels

 

Featured image: Squirrel

Gray squirrels came up and just looked at me this morning as I was having my coffee reset. And they just stared. In the beginning I thought, “What do you want? What are you telling me?” So, I looked them up on AUNTY FLO. It says that squirrels remind us to have some fun. The Native Americans believe that the gray squirrels often are seen as a symbol of resourcefulness, agility and adaptability. 

Hmmm… I totally agree with Auntie Flo. I think I will have fun today.

Sacred Rock Accepted into Exhibition

 

Featured image: Sacred Rock

Thrilled and honored to announce that my piece, Sacred Rock, has been chosen for the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 45th Annual International Juried Exhibition! 

Only 80 pieces out of 331 images submitted by 258 artists made it to the exhibit at the Lancaster Gallery of Art. The exhibition will run from August 2 to September 15, 2024! 

Divine Jewels

 

Featured image: We'll Sing in the Sunshine II

Divine jewels

we are divine jewels

we majestically become

part of the

dewdrops on grass

dewdrops become part of

rivers, streams, 

that are forever

changing moving

we are divine jewels

we are a dewdrop

Live Beyond the Lines

 

Featured image: New Colors from the Garden

Live beyond the lines

Live the magic

Of life

Make the unlimited

Be a part of 

your life

imagine beyond what is

normal

it's ok to color outside

the line

I give you permission –

To – live beyond the lines.

Intuition and Imagination

 

Featured image: The Journey of a Gypsy

Intuition and imagination

Wake up your intuition, take a deep breath, exhale slowly. 

Our intuition guides us to follow our own path. Our intuition works as a team with our imagination. Intuition, imagination, they work as a team. They fill us with energy. They exhaust us.  When we follow their paths, they connect us with our nature and our identity and we can follow our own light.

Flickers of Life

 

Featured image: Earth's Jamboree

Flickers of life - greenness

Leaping joy of

greenness

flickers of life

turn your face to the

Sky

Rest in flickers of

Life

greenness

whenever you can.

Sun rises listen

woods trembling with

possibility

forget everything, 

rather

think about the

greenness of the

day and 

flickers of life

Listen With Everything You Are

 

Featured image: Nature's Truth

Listen with everything you are

I am in love with springtime,

 joy of new life emerging

listen with everything you are

listen to the cry of the jays

Black birds

list with everything you are

to the hum of the waking world

It’s beginning again

it’s beginning again

its beginning again

wake up to the

earth is trembling

with possibility

Heart is Calm

 

Featured image: Dancing with the Wind and the Trees

In the woods I stand with the trees and in the sunshine.  I could stay here for hours.  These times lift my heart and take all my worries away.  I listen to everything the woods are saying and my heart is calm.

Fear

 

Featured image: Which Way

FEAR

     Is habit

     Forming.

Kills spirit

   self

   Soul

Release

    Fear

Create

   Happiness

Create

A 

   WELCOME

place

Where

Self

   Happiness

   Rest

Baby Bird

 

Featured image: Baby Bird

Baby bird

     Maybe

    2 days

Away from

Mom.

Learning to swim.

Artist vs Science

 

Featured image: Imagination

Artists work in subjectivity not objectivity like science. Science has a hard time grappling with subjectivity because it is difficult to quantify and be objective.

A.I.

 

Featured image: Change II

We are in a transformative moment in history. This idea of capital a. Capital i. is going to change our times.

Life

 

Featured image: Circle of Life

Struggle

Loyalty

Friendship

Hope

Life.

Art is a shelter

 

Featured image: Shelter

You know how you go about living and thinking that everything's okay, and then all of a sudden, everything seems to be jammed up and bogged up and bad, and you just wish that you could curl up and stay in a little ball until all things have passed by?

Well, I haven't eaten— that happens when you make art. 

Art is a shelter for all those things that you've curled up into a ball and made yourself into. You need to uncurl and create, just create, and create, and create.

The Mask Receives Gold Award

 

Featured image: The Mask

I am delighted to announce that my work, "The Mask," has been awarded the Gold Award at the Red River Watercolor Society's 31st Online National Show. This recognition is truly an honor, and I am grateful for this acknowledgment of my artistry. Thank you to RRWS for this prestigious award.

Trees Along the Shore

 

Featured image: Cedar Roots Along the Shore

trees along the river

the soil is so thin

marveling at the

trees many

massive

gold on along the bank

grounded in soil so thin

We Are Cups

 

Featured image: Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

We never sit 

   anything out. 

We are cups,

     quietly 

     and 

     constantly 

being filled.

the trick is 

knowing 

     how to 

tip ourselves 

over and let the 

beautiful stuff out.

Wolf Spider

Featured image: Spider Web

I always love it when a creature crosses my path and represents in the spiritual world who I think I am. Yesterday a Wolf Spider crossed my path. I noticed it in particular, because she had a beautiful large, white sack and bands across her legs and was extremely furry. So I looked her up online. I was curious about this beautiful spider who had crossed my path and its symbolism and spiritualism. According to online resources, Native American cultures, Indian Native American cultures associate wolf spiders with protection and nurturing, and their webs symbolize creativity and extreme feminine energy. It is patient, resourceful and adapts to different situations easily. The wolf spider uses its instincts and intuition to overcome challenges. 

I love it when I look up a creature that's crossed my path and it's exactly who I think I am - well, at least I think I am anyway. I don't know what other things to think. Have a good day!

I am in Love

 

Featured image: Flowers Just for You

I am in love

I am in love with the mild light of springtime, the sheer shivering joy of springtime and its delightful gentle intricacies.

The Enchantment

 

Featured image: Red Truck

When I walk into a thrift store or antique shop or go to a garage sale, I feel so many things bouncing off me, mainly the histories of the objects that are for sale.  If I don’t get that feeling of spirit and history, and the aura of the objects,  I turn around and don’t go any further. I think of walking into a church the same way. It doesn’t matter what denomination the church is, if I don’t feel the spirit of the church I want to walk away and not go in.  

This phenomenon and this feeling is different yet the same in both places. I either feel this life and spirit of what is there and stay or don’t stay.

When I go shopping for antiques, I like to think they are lovingly used. I need to feel this marvel of its history, to engage with it. I love being able to touch the toys that children used to play with, like this antique truck. When I caress the object, I don’t want to let it go because of this spirit and its history, its life. The experience is unique to me, it is mine and I continue the history of the object or place, like a church. But this experience never happens when I pick up an object or walk into a place if it is “new.”  And this experience only happens if I choose to let it in.

Try it – give something a space, place, or object a chance to speak to you.  It is a marvelous piece of enchantment that is very powerful.

Wings of a Dove

 

Featured image: Dove II

The Wings of a Dove- Finding her way

She finds her way

a doves wings – the wind - 

wind beneath her wings –

she finds her way.

She learned to fly

With the wind beneath her wings

singing to her

My Orchid

This is an orchid - isn't it glorious, so beautiful.  And the amaryllis in the background-what's up with it? I have 6 of them blooming and it's not Christmas.  I know what's up. It's a blessing.

Artist's Reality

 

Featured image: What Lies Beneath

Artist's Reality

artist's reality, to make the

ordinary

e.x.p.a.n.s.i.v.e

u.n.l.i.m.i.t.e.d

inspired

BE

 

Featured image: Your Mind Sings - Listen

Find a place, some kind of environment that allows you to

                     BE

Find your recklessness.

Pretty Present

 

Featured image: Gifts from God

Don't box yourself in. If you choose to box yourself in then be a pretty present then, share yourself with others.

Enlighten and Illuminate

 

Featured image: Balance

You have the potential to enlighten, illuminate and transform people and places. When you have inner balance and peace within yourself you have the same inner balance and peace within your spirit and soul that you can share with others.

Let the Beauty Out

 

Featured image: All Rise

We never sit anything out. We are cups quietly and constantly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out. Ray Bradbury

Mother's Day at Black River Harbor

Glorious Mother's Day at Black River Harbor - I have several stories of chats with folks along the shoreline walk - but first thought I would share this with you all - the apple blossoms and cherry blossoms were glorious along the shore and on the trip up.  

And then I saw a carpet of stars - magical carpet of stars.

and two beautiful forsythia bushes oh my gosh - oh my gosh this is now my desktop slide.  I am switching between the white blossoms and the yellow blossoms - can't decide.

The Mask Receives Award

 

Featured image: The Mask

I am incredibly honored that my piece, "The Mask," has been awarded an Honorable Mention at the esteemed Philadelphia Watercolor Society 2024 Member Exhibition. This recognition means so much to me as an artist and serves as a testament to the passion and dedication I pour into my work. Thank you to the Philadelphia Watercolor Society for this incredible honor.  

Kayaking

 

Featured image: Caves Along the Shore - Lake Superior

kayaking

arms stretching

finally I am

free

horizon and water

meet

still

kayaking Lake 

superior

Back Yard Birds

 

Featured image: Back Yard Birds

Gosh where to begin?  I played around with this whole piece and everything in it. I think every part of an abstract or semi-abstract work is always experimental, as I rarely have much in mind when I start working. When I began this work last November, I started with a figure, washes, and colors.  I then stepped back and asked myself what the idea behind this work would be. I decided to make birds part of the composition, but how and where to place them became a major struggle.  I tried many ways, sizes, colors and shapes but always painted over them.  If you look closely at the work, you might glimpse the birds I painted over because they just weren’t right. It wasn’t until I put the red bird on the shoulder of the figure that I stopped struggling and felt comfortable with the marks and colors of the bird.  The rest didn’t come easily after that. I tried many birds flying around but that didn’t work for me. I finally settled on a bird at the bird feeder.

This whole work was extremely experimental for me and I learned a great deal from the creation and placement of the birds. I am ready to move on with what I learned to the next work and put these new ideas to work for me. The fun part for me as an artist is always knowing that even as I move on with new ideas, they are never the same in the next work.

Little Hummer

 

Featured image: Little Hummer

Yea! First Hummer at the feeder today!

Stillness

 

Featured image: Yellow Finch III

The finch's yellow 

song 

touches the 

stillness.

Masked by a grey sky 

  metamorphosis 

of the sun happens.

Enjoying the clouds

 

Featured image: A Cloud in the Sky

Just a minute ago I looked up

Toward the sky, puffy clouds

Slowly meandering across the 

Gray blue and white sky. I wonder

I listen. Eyes closed, I travel

Happily to a different place

With blue white sky and 

Puffy clouds. When I open

My eyes, puffy clouds have

Moved on to be shared with

Another, Minutes spend 

Enjoying the clouds.

Change

 

Featured image: Wonderful Flying Machine

Is it too late to change? Am I working towards that dream I thought I was called to do? But what I am doing is not what I imagined or dreamed. I am wondering, is it too late to change direction?  It is hard, change is, I know. 

But I do change – and I make myself vulnerable by putting my new work out there. I have the attitude that change is good, but hard, but imagination is fun and exciting. All the large competition pieces I have been working on this winter are different from other works I have done.  Change is scary. As I work, I think to myself is it worth even entering a competition with this one?  When artists change, they have no one to go to, to talk to about the new pieces. For me, if it gets into a competition, I say to myself well I guess it wasn’t that bad.

The thing about being an artist is it's about being intuitive, and listening to what the creative activity wants me to do. It is really what makes a work unique and original I believe. So I guess I am changing constantly – and I know I am always working towards that dream I think I was called to do.  At the moment, it isn’t what I imagined or dreamed but I get up, show up and have never, never given up. So I guess the answer to my question is – it is never to late to change, and imagine, imagine about this new day and what it is going to bring to you.

Geese

 

Featured image: Goose

Darn it, darn it! Those geese are back on my little island.  Well, it isn’t mine, but I like to think of it is mine, as many of my neighbors on this side of the lake also think it is their little island, or some call it Powder Puff. 

The geese came last year – and now they are back.  This used to be a loon’s nest and I saw them earlier, but they must have gone somewhere else. 

Anyway, the geese are there building a nest, making the little island full of slippery poop. The mom sits on the nest and once in a while the dad helps and sits.  Then, about a month later, we watch as the goslings are in the water swimming behind their parents. Cute? Yes, but darn it - they are on my little island.