In the Studio | the gift of artful reflection
The starry Arizona night softly dances across the sky, the moon is swaying to a peaceful rhythm.
I am wrapped in a delight of twilight- flickering candles, soft music, warm Malbec wine staining my lips. I am lit with inspiration and creative juices- the Muse has arrived!
Studio Song of the Day: Ode to Coffee by Zenobia Green
These days I have been in the drifty haze of Arizona summer heat and spiraling artistry. But, I write to you with a purpose and a small token of my own reflections.
I gift you this token, the gift of artful reflection.
With it, you are bound to the beautiful and imperfect reflection that is your Self.
With it, you are asked to explore questions that bring you closer to who you truly are in creative and spontaneous ways. Beautiful, isn’t it?
We all know how messy, disruptive, and confusing life can be. Time keeps moving forward whether you’re ready to move forward with it or not. The road ahead becomes foggy, the water we once looked into becomes murky, suddenly the wind has changed and we are now a feather floating with the rush of air into new territory. You settle onto new ground and begin to marvel at your new surroundings- strange, beautiful, delicate, and calmly terrifying.
This has been my experience as of late, anyway. Or maybe I am just someone prone to questioning every chapter of my life and seeking to fully understand it. Maybe a mix of both, I suppose.
But all is not lost!
At last, the most precious gift of all for any artist in their life is that of artful reflection. What is artful reflection? Let’s open up the Emma Encyclopedia and take a look:
Artful Reflection: The terrifying bliss of reflecting on oneself and their journey by capturing a moment in time with art, in any form, to encapsulate their emotions and experience. Artful reflections include, but is not limited to: art journaling, mixed media, poetry, writing, drawing, painting, sculpting, crafting, sewing, songwriting and creating of any sort.
Now that we have the definition down, let’s talk about what some moments of artful reflection can look like.
Mixed-media and poetry
I love waking up early with the sunrise and starting my day with yoga and finding a sense of calm in myself. I also like to do morning pages every morning to center me and sometimes this inspires me to write, reflect on my thoughts, and check in with myself. I’ve been having a hard time feeling confident about myself and showing myself love lately, so these feelings and emotions showed up in my morning pages. I pulled a card from my Earth Warriors Oracle Deck: The Turquoise Changing Woman. The message: embrace change and a renewed vision of oneself. I sat with the message for a bit and meditated. I began to reflect on these feelings.
I remembered another period of my life when I struggled with self-confidence a lot, too, and I had decided to write an ode to myself as a sort of promise- to love, honor, and respect myself, among many other things. It sort of emulated that of a love letter. An Ode is a ‘lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.’ I had put it on my mirror for about a year and would read it to myself every time I got ready or looked in the mirror.
So, I decided to write another one, titled “An Ode to the Woman I Am & Becoming”.
An Ode to The Woman I Am & Becoming
“Here lies my promises
To the woman in me, ever-changing,
like the waves of the sea, that fall
down her back.
She is with me until my last breath,
she is with me until my death.
Here lies my promise
To love her fiercely and radically,
to see her through it all,
as she does for me.
Here lies my promise
To see her through all the seasons of her life,
letting the sun soak into her skin.
May I always remind her of her beauty.
May the colors of her soul shine so brightly,
as the pearl on her finger.
Here lies my promise
To take her in from the rain and hold her, as her hands hold mine.
To let her be fresh as morning dew,
for who you are to her, is who she is to you. ”
As I wrote these words, I felt a deep connection with myself. I began to crave painting colors around the words, so I indulged and grabbed my watercolor set. I ripped and glued words from a book that I use for art journaling, drew flowers, vines, and butterflies in ink. I added linen paper around the piece spontaneously, embellished a butterfly sticker in the center and painted hues of oranges and pinks all around the words.
I stuck the paper right next to my inspiration board and some fresh white roses.
2. Self-Portrait Art Journaling
Another morning of writing in my journal, embracing my morning pages and it’s process. Again, I have been struggling with self-confidence and really showing myself love or accepting myself for where I am at lately. As I reflected on these feelings, suddenly, I felt the urge to paint a self portrait and play with colors, mediums, and inspirations. But I had a vision of it being an inspiring self-portrait that I could use to dream of myself… so I whipped out the ol’ Dream Journal!
My Dream Journal
I created a dream journal for myself to put things i’d like to manifest or just be inspired to embody in my life. I made it ~ art journal ~ style.
I had been looking at an art journaling magazine called Somerset Studio and found inspiration in Gwen Lafleur’s mixed-media character studies. I took the general idea of making a character study by painting them in acrylic paint and using ink to define their features, painting a colorful background, and adding elements (images, symbols, colors, etc.) that make up that character- except I was the character!
I first painted myself with acrylic paint and embellished the details with a black ink pen. I then painted the background with a mix of acrylic and watercolor paint and added details in black ink. After, I cut a patterned paper and glued it underneath as my ‘shirt’, added other cut-out images, ripped words from a book I use to art journal (the same as the other piece I did), cloth flowers from a scarf I have, linen leaves, washi tape, and cut strips from paint swatches that I got from Home Depot. Of course, Mod-Podge and a signature sticker Emma-butterfly sealed the whole piece together in a few brush strokes and voila!
Now I had a beautiful self-portrait of myself that made me realize I had a lot to love about myself.
I ended up spending the whole morning and afternoon working on this small page, but I was buzzing with energy, inspiration, and creativity!
So, there you have it. The token of artful reflection offers so much. It’s almost like an art-therapy session with yourself, meant to hold space for your emotions and current experience while also pulling you into clearer skies, my dear fluttering feather!
Artful reflection is a process that takes place within the heart. It can, will, and should look different to you because it’s meant too. It’s for you and you only. It’s meant to pour creative, artistic energy into your relationship between yourself and the world…and between you and yourself.
So next time you find yourself a little lost, confused, sad, happy, excited, etc., grab a piece of paper and some supplies and see what comes of it. I have friends who use songwriting as their form of artful reflection and others who simply use drawing or sculpting, too. Listen to yourself and any creative callings (like really wanting to sing or use watercolors!)
I bestow this beautiful token of artful reflection upon you and remember to enjoy the process!
With all my love,
Emma xx
