The more consciously we look for things, the more we see them.

Try it for yourself. Look for a specific brand and/or color of car on your next commute to work and be amazed at just how many you see.

I asked my class at Spalding House (aka The Contemporary Museum), to take the week between classes to look for faces — not in people, but in the world around us.

They found faces in the clouds, on slabs of marble and granite, on a wall of brushed metal, on a piece of wood paneling, in the lichen and moss on rocks, in trees. They brought a cornucopia of images to class.

My heart swelled; they’re expanding their vision, and their world, through the practice of art!

Creating art does that for us.

People often think of art as something “extra”, like an elective in our otherwise busy “life schedule”.

Art, the creation of it and the appreciation of it, can be much, MUCH more.

Art is a means of communication. As such it can “connect the dots” of all that we know to all the many things that we don’t yet know.

Art communicates to us on a mental level, and even more often, on a heart-to-heart level, a more powerful, and potentially subversive sort of communication.

Tree Diva

My friend Larry owns Art Attacks, a frame shop in Honolulu.

One day while working in an art gallery, Larry saw a woman put her hand to her heart and gasp while looking at the painting in front of her.

Thinking she was in pain, he rushed to her side, only to discover she was having an “Art Attack,” not a heart attack.

The beauty of the painting had evoked a gasp from her as she connected to it on a deep, visceral level.

Art comes in a wide variety of styles and subject matter. We decide which images we like and which ones we don’t.

Our tastes, our preferences are our own, for us to decide, and no business of another. Isn’t that great?

Today let’s celebrate art for its power to connect.

Art is ALL around us every day.

Art is more than what we see in a museum or gallery. Art, especially art well done, is so prevalent that it is all but invisible.

Let’s connect a few more dots …

Graphic Art creates ease of use and beauty in books, magazines, catalogs, advertisements, newspapers, and even the signs on our highways and in our libraries.

Textile Arts create clothing, fabrics, pillows, and more.

Decorators create beauty in homes and stores (have you looked at the displays at Whole Foods lately?).

Culinary Arts create amazing food for us to eat and see — we eat with our eyes first.

Art and Friendship connects you and me.

Heart Strings

It’s our connection to one another and to a greater wholeness that is at the heart of this holiday season.

Thank you from the depths of my heart, for sharing my journey through art with me. I truly value our connection and the many gifts we have to offer one anther.

Today is a day of finding incredible beauty. Keanu found a dead monarch butterfly in the garage; I brought it with me to the studio this morning so I can enjoy its form.

On my way to the studio, I found some fallen banana flower petals and knelt down to pick them up. You guessed it; I brought them along to the studio with me.

Once at the studio, Rebecca pointed out a large moth resting on the screen. I took a photo so I can appreciate it longer.

Yesterday Rebecca, Sue Stagner (organizer extraordinaire), and I spent the day cleaning the studio in preparation for Open Studios this weekend. Apparently we made enough room for me to start bringing new found objects back into the space!

Participating in Open Studios is one way of ensuring the studio gets a goodcleaning at least once a year. (Hey! I work here I don't live here.)

Better yet, it's a time for me to share this wonderful space with all of you.

Come see what I've started to paint, what paintings are finished, and which ones are more or less studies. See if you can "connect the dots" that become my paintings.

Often we think that if we "felt better”, or if we "felt like painting", that our painting time would be more fun, or more interesting, or our painting “turn out" better.

Actually, we will feel better about painting (and the resulting painting) after we paint!

Rather than waiting to feel better before taking action (starting to paint), it’s important to know that our attitudes follow our actions. This means that we often feel better about doing something AFTER we’ve done it.

Whether it's painting or going to the gym or some other task, it helps to have a habit or practice in place so the decisions to act are made ahead of time. That way our resistance (fear) doesn't stand a chance of stopping us from taking action. 

When you hear the phrase “stand up straight”, whether it’s said to you or to another, do you “stand up straight”?

Did you just sit up straighter when you read, “stand up straight”?

How’d that feel?

Aside from the annoyance factor, did you feel a tiny bit better for having straightened your spine from the “I-didn’t-realize-I-was-slouching” position you’d been in?

When we don't use our creativity muscle regularly, it slouches. It goes slack. It goes limp, and gradually we “lose the juice”, the “fire in our belly” that fuels our creativity.

Nike’s famous slogan “Just Do It!” is a great start for any new action we want to cultivate.

“Just Do It Again!” is an even a better mantra to recite.

Doing something once is a start. Doing something regularly is the way in which we create a habit or a practice.

If you want a habit of feeling good or happy with yourself, figure out which of your actions produce those feelings, and then Do Those Actions Again and Again!

My students are often surprised to hear me tell them that I’m not sure what I’m doing, or what I’m going to do next when I paint.

This usually happens when I’m starting a new painting, or working on one in front of class.

What they might not realize is that I hope I never really know what I’m doing next!

I don’t want to know exactly how something is going to turn out. Where is the excitement, the fun, the thrill of adventure, if that happens?

I’m a painter and, as such, I love to paint. (I’m also a teacher who loves to teach and a writer who loves to write, but I digress).

Recently I got to test out my desire of not knowing what I’m doing by painting some giraffes on a red clay flowerpot for the Honolulu Zoo’s 2015 Gala Fundraiser, “Growing Wild.”

I have wanted to paint the animals of Africa for at least three years. Knowing me, you might be able to guess why I haven’t done so — I haven’t made the time to go to the zoo to sketch the animals!

The Honolulu Zoo gave me (and a few dozen other artists) a 10” red clay flowerpot to paint. This was the perfect opportunity for me to paint Giraffes.

First I painted Daniel Smith’s white watercolor ground on the pot and let it dry for 24 hours. This enabled the pot to accept watercolor paint.

Next, using photos supplied by a friend taken on “safari” at the San Diego Zoo, I sketched three giraffe heads on the pot.

I’m used to painting with my paper upright, so I wasn’t expecting problems painting on the vertical pot. But the watercolor ground isn’t quite as absorbent as paper, and the paint dripped in unexpected ways.

No worries. Realizing smooth washes were not going to come easily, I took a more painterly approach, blending the colors on the pot the way an oil painter might blend them on canvas.

The beauty of watercolor is its translucence, and that characteristic came through as I layered colors upon blended colors. I even added pinks to brighten up some of the warm patches on the faces of the giraffes.

I have one step left: seal the pot so the paint is permanent. This isn't a step normally taken with watercolor paints, but it is necessary for this painting adventure to be successful.

The flowerpot was a joy to paint and I hope it raises a lot of money for the Honolulu Zoo. The animals in our care deserve the very best. After all, they give their best to us each and every day they share with us.