I’ve had requests for me to post some of my art while it is in progress. Up until this point, I’ve been reluctant to do so because, if it is in progress, it is not yet perfected, nor do I have any idea where it will end. I do not know if a piece, when I start it, will complete in 2 hours or 2 decades.
When I began the first piece of my Conscious Art collection, I had no idea it would become “art” and I had no idea that it would evolve into a “collection.” I did it in my Anatomy and Physiology class at Myotherapy College of Utah, back in 2004, as a way to keep my mind alert. At first, I hid it from my professor because I had been so often scolded for “doodling” and “not paying attention” in high school when I had tried this technique. However, she began observing the process of my art coming forth and, one day, about three days into that specific piece, she said, “Angie, that is an incredible study tool you are incorporating. Not only is it beautiful, but that art is embedding into your brain everything I am saying. Keep it up!”
I was stunned. No one had ever encouraged me to do my art. No one had ever even given me a compliment about my art and sometimes, even, I had been teased and told I couldn’t draw anything realistic so I should give up trying. Therefore, my art had been relegated to the nether regions of my self and rarely came out to play. And, when it did, it was in secret and for very minimal periods of time.
Yet, here she was, encouraging me to keep doing it and she had called it beautiful!
I felt shy. There was a part of me that wanted to hide it, tear it up, destroy it, hide it, and never return to it. However, another part of me that had been silent for far too long suddenly screamed inside for me to hold onto that pen and keep going.
At the time, my tools were simple. Basic 20 lb. bright white copy paper and a black Pilot G2-07 gel pen. While I have tried other mediums and other papers, I return to my original, simple tools because they are my favorite. I became fascinated with how the ink would roll out of the pen onto the paper, they way it would pool if I held it just right, the way it would flow if I added water – an accident in the beginning, but a technique I immediately fell in love with once I got beyond the heartbreak of the original disaster.
When I create art for my Conscious Art line, I create from sheer impulse to flow the ink onto the paper. There is rarely a title, subject, or “point” in mind when I begin one of these pieces. Mostly, they start because I simply want to create something. Often, my art pours out of me while I am listening and learning. Therefore, the transformation that is taking place in my brain gets embedded in the ink, the swirls, the lines, the textures, the images, the designs that flow out onto the paper. I choose to do this art while I am in the space of Learning, Love, Transformation, and Expansion and, because of that choice, this art is embedded with positivity and transformative energy.
It has been awhile since I’ve done a piece of Conscious Art, but this morning I felt the tingle in my fingers that told me they wanted to hold that pen and get the art pouring forth through the subtle movements of my hands, the firing of my neurons, and the opening of my heart. While it is not complete, here is a glimpse of what is happening here in my world…
