Angelic inspiration

I've been busy the last week or so with a commission to paint seven archangels.

 

Just click on the image to see a larger version of each angel.

You may already know that I practice Angelic Reiki, so the angels and archangels play a big part in my life.  Angelic Reiki is similar to Usui Reiki, which is what most people know as 'reiki', in that the therapist is just a channel for the healing energy.  But in Angelic Reiki, we channel the energy of the Angelic Kingdom instead of the universal life energy.  I practice self healing daily (or most days) and send healing to friends who are in need of it.  I have a couple of regular clients and do attunements for those who wish to work with Angelic Reiki.  The Angelic Kingdom has gently brought me positive changes over the 7 years I have been inviting it into my life.

Until recently, I haven't felt moved to paint angels.  The Goddess is the one who usually guides my hands when I paint.  

I've made an altered book about angels and I've done some small pieces of work in sketchbooks, but no paintings.  Then, about a month ago a friend asked me to do two small angel paintings for her therapy room (and then two more!).  Then a request from one of my training school tutors for seven archangels on canvas. She had just done her Angelic Reiki attunements with me and wanted a set of paintings for her therapy/training room.

Mostly, depictions of angels are pretty cutesy girls with big eyes and wings.  And that's ok, if that's how they appear to you. But for me the angels are ENERGY.  They are beings of LIGHT.  They are HUGE.  It was pretty tricky to try and squish these beings onto canvases measuring 50 x 20cm.

I hope I've managed to get a little bit of their essence down in the paint.  I hope the client likes them.   My son said they look like 'fire' but 'elegant' so I think I'm getting there.

If you would like your own angel painting please contact me.  Commissions are very welcome!! 

Don't forget- my blog is a year old on the 15th of this month!!  There will be giveaways and a discount on cards and prints in the shop.  Make sure you are signed up for the newsletter to get the details then...

See you soon

Angel blessings from my heart to yours

Rachel xox

new paintings and a giveaway heads up!

So... I've been painting - a lot - lots of lovely little goddess paintings have been coming through.  

I've given myself and the painting more time.

And here's the process for just one of them...

 

This painting (and others) is for sale and is now displayed in my Gallery.   If you would like to buy, please contact me.

The other news is that my blog and website is a year old next month!!  Yay!!

To celebrate, there will be some birthday giveaways and shop discounts.  Make sure you are signed up for the newsletter to get all the details next week.

Are you celebrating anything this week?  I'd love to hear about it so drop me a line in the comments...

From my heart to yours

Rachel xox

HAPPY EASTER

After a brief foray into Spring pastels last month my bold bright colours are back.  

And so am I!  I think I have already said in previous posts this year that up to now I have found 2013 tough going so far; some days it just felt like too much and I was worried that my black crow of depression had returned to roost. But sometime in mid March, just before the equinox, the pendulum swung back again and my mojo has returned.  Hooray!

My energy has shifted and it's feeling good. I think you can tell in my paintings.  This painting of Ostara, goddess of Spring and new growth, says exactly how I'm feeling.

I like the pastel colours, don't get me wrong (and so do lots of you - I had lots of lovely feedback on Facebook and IG about the pastel garden goddesses) they gave me a soft quiet energy when I needed it.  When my own personal energy was low and a bit lost, this is what was coming through in the art.  They were also an important part of my self care when I was not feeling like me - daily art practice even if it was just 10 or 20 minutes - using a different palette, gentle colours which spoke of hope and new growth.

But they're just not me, not the real me who wants to sing from the hill tops or run down the street and shout my joy to the world.  My true colours are strong and bold and alive. There are plenty of days when I don't feel like this but when I get the paintbrush in my hand and the goddess chooses the colours these brights are what my soul is singing about.

What makes your soul sing?  Do you do it often enough? What simple steps could take you there? What self care do you need to get your mojo back?

Have a lovely Easter weekend - go celebrate Ostara in whatever way floats your boat...

From my joyful heart to yours

Rachel xox

Happy International Women's Day

It's the 8th March - International Women's Day - first observed in 1909 -over 100 years of celebrating women!! And so it should be....

IWD was first celebrated on the 8th March in 1975 during International Women's Year. (I was 18!!)

Most of my paintings are about celebrating the divine feminine within us.  When I first painted this type of imagery in the 1980's the (predominantly) male art world didn't like it and couldn't cope with it.  It was one of the reasons I stopped painting for such a long time.  Thankfully, this time around I have a different audience now who love the goddess energy and celebrate the feminine. 

Are you celebrating today? Are you proud to be a woman? I am...very proud of my divine femininity and womanliness, I hope you are too...

From my heart to yours

Rachel xox

Marvellous mandalas

There's something in the air at the moment - everyone is making mandalas! 

Louise Gale is making them on the beach in Spain, Julie Gibbons has just opened her 'Great Round of Mandala' ecourse and over on Instagram Emily Lagore creates the most fabulous mandalas in her journals.

And I am planning my own Mandala workshop for the end of March/beginning of April (sign up for my newsletter to get the updates on this).

The word Mandala comes from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘wheel’. It is a symbol for the circle of life and for the great Creator (or Goddess). Mandalas are easy to create and a wonderful method of using art as meditation. When I was reconnecting with my creative self, I painted or drew them nearly every day.  I still use them as a way of quietening my mind and tuning in to my self, especially if I feel stuck or low.  And sometimes I make them just for fun!

Sometimes I paint them on canvas...

Sometimes, they are in my art journal...

And sometimes they're tiny...

I started this teeny little journal using words and mandalas in January.  I really did feel low then and this was an easy way for me to connect with my creativity.  The words I use are uplifting or life affirming quotes and the act of writing them helps to lift my mood.  Creating a mandala around them acts as a meditation to ease my soul.

The process of making mandalas has helped me over the past two years as a form of creative meditation.  I would highly recommend it and it's another of the exercises in my Goddess Inspirations Yearbook

I've added a few of my painted mandalas to the Gallery.

If you want to join the lovely Julie, registration closes in a few days, so be quick.

Do you make mandalas?  Have you thought about making them?  Would you like to start?  If you live in the north east of England (or even if you don't!) I will be running a workshop based on my own mandala practice very soon so make sure you sign up for my newsletter to get all the latest details. (Just go to the top right hand corner of the page and fill in your email.)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on mandalas, so leave me a note!

From my meditative heart to yours

Rachel xox