Thank you HOUSE! Thank you for bringing so much GOOD into my Life! Thank You! for being my safe zone, my peaceful spot, my place of deep rest and sleep.

A home isn't just a house. It's where you LIVE and BREATHE and make some of your life's most important decisions! The house is my base camp, the manifestation of my dreams, where I travel the world from, and come back to! The house has a spirit, too. A soul that is alive and moves. Have you ever been to a friend's home and you liked it right away? Or you went somewhere, say a restaurant, and you just DIDN'T like it? It isn't all about the PEOPLE there, how they act and feel or the decoration. The building too, has a soul and has it's own unique gifts. I know deep in my heart that EVERYTHING is CONNECTED. And I know that Everything is sacred.

We can honour places, landscapes, houses as well as humans. By decorating them, pray or paint with them, nourish them, give them flowers. Our house is a soul in who's company we are in almost every day. When we HONOUR our house (this means being AWARE, being alive with the building and APPRECIATING it), it becomes the nourishing, beautiful spot on the planet, where we surely wanna live and unfold!

This morning I drew this house sketch and making it made it clear for me just how important my house is. And what a great gift and blessing it is.
You can also be a part of the fun by decorating and appreciating YOUR house. I am sure you already have ways of being with yourself in the house; your favourite armchair, favourite view or favourite little ornament in a special place.
If you want to create your own House Blessing, I have made this drawing available for download for you. All free. As a HOUSE GIFT.
Once downloaded and printed you can colour the image any way you like. And it's a nice practice to do with kids as well. They usually love everything creative! You can also add a piece of cardboard on the back if you like to make it thicker. Paint, glitter and glue. Use crayons, watercolours or acrylic! You can even print the image on a piece of coloured paper, and paint with white on top! Possibilities are endless!
Once the artwork is done, I've designed a little cross in the top of the circle, to put a needle and a string through. Simply cut out around the circle to get a nice, homely inspiration and nourishment ;)

How do I download the image?

Do you have "favourites"? I so have favourites. Favourite mini tinbox with yummy teabags in. Favourite colour combinations. Favourite tea and favourite temperature!

Things have slowed down here lately and I must admit I REALLY like it. No more running around and feeling I have to do everything... yesterday! Today I can relax, and looking ahead I don't have many projects coming. And I like it. I like being new to the world and not worry too much. What will tomorrow bring? I don't know.
I am taking some time to dream more. Well, perhaps not in my sleep (although I do dream sometimes when I'm in deep sleep), no I mean when I'm just walking around, doing the daily work around the house. I think about the future. No, that's not true, I DREAM about it. I picture things in my head that I would like to see happen. I don't DO anything about it just now, which is the part that I like SO much right now! I am -just- being and seeing and... dreaming. It's lovely.
I think about how my art studio feels, and how I want it to be. Recently, I heard a woman say that your studio is your life. Your life is your studio. I like that idea. Anything you create is part of your life. Your life is your creation. You create the life for you. And you already know who you are.

The Moon has been very present the last couple of days here. Very clear and very bright. Last night it was shining in through the bedroom window like a Night Silver Sun. I went out for a walk this morning, and it was still hanging in the air. Over the hills.

Do you know Amanda Clark? She makes such wonderful images. This one I borrowed because it talks to me about the Moon, the dreaming. Somehow the moon and dreaming seems to be interconnected. And the wolf. They all seem to be coming from the same mystery. I don't know it yet. But I am happy to step closer.

I am very inspired by the people I walk amongst. The normal people. All the ordinary people. My cards are about these people. The dreamers, the mums, the dads, sisters and friends. We all have a little bit of something special inside. And I find it so unique and so interesting.

Recently a woman came to me, and asked me if I could make a card design for her to give to her newborn granddaughter. I thought this was a very special and powerful request. Because what are the gifts that we want to give to a new born child? A girl coming into this world, all new, all blessed.

As ever so often (thank you Universe!) the images that I create do not come from hours of thinking and drawing and creating. Most commonly they come from an inside place, and they stand out, they shine. When I see this picture inside I KNOW this is the right image. I see it and I can feel the image.

Then I start to sketch and draw what I see. And the first sketch is often very powerful. This sketch fixates the composition in the picture, who is in it, and where they are.

In so many ways this newborn girl (who is not yet born - but just getting ready!) is just like so many other girls being born. She has the same nose as most, the same eyes and the same body as most newborn girls. And then, in so many other ways - this girl is special! This girl is so unique with her own story, her own family tree and her own roots. In so many ways, there is none else quite like this girl - and that's what I wanted to express, with my card.

But I also wanted to express the love and support commitment from the Universe around this special girl. Inspired by Disney's Snowwhite and The Seven Dwarfs I found myself drawing an image much like the scene in the woods (if you remember the fim), where the animals stand watching. They are observing - they are watching. They are the witnesses of the birth as well as the human family. Perhaps they too are depictions of Spirit, like the Eagle in the tree, and the tree itself.

In this card I used a little bit stronger, darker colour than what I usually do in my watercolours.

Every girl is special. Every person is unique.

Here are pictures from my photo shoot and the final design.
The artwork A New Life is available in my webshop.

Do you know Wendy Andrew? Her cards and designs are so wonderful!

Wendy's artwork connects me with the powers of nature: the seasons, the animals, the spirits of nature. It's wonderful. Just now I received the autumn equinox newsletter from Wendy, with this lovely image. Ah, her stuff is so great :-)

Happy autumn!

Playing with this drawing at the moment - Girl In Woods. 

I can’t explain my love for colours in details. It’s too deep. Do you know this feeling? It’s like there is something that just pulls me and won’t let go. Something is talking to me. Making me heart sing. Making my soul swing. It’s unpredictable. And it’s certain!

I’m working on releasing a studio newsletter soon. I’m going to be talking a little bit about my new video “How To Do Intuitive Painting”. I am quite thrilled about this video, and the release of it!
It was mostly done on a whim (following a spontaneous idea). But now that it is all in the making I see how BRILLIANT and perfect it is. The idea. The making of it. The process. For me right now. I am certain that YOU will like it, too! And who knows, very soon I might be offering my own intuitive art painting classes - LIVE! Wouldn’t that be a dream come true!

I leave you with this picture. It is not mine, but a photo I found on Pinterest, a place where you can find ALL sorts of photos, artworks and inspiration just by searching for it (if only everything else was that easy, ey?). It is an image of the Acorn Gatherer by shamanic artist Faith Nolton. 
Faith is already on my list of favourite artists, and right now I am reading her latest book Gardens Of The Soul: Making Sacred And Shamanic Art. It is such a wonderful book and it inspires me GREATLY! If you like shamanic art, if you are new to how to go about deepening your connection with nature - or, if you haven't a clue how to get started on any meaningful sketches at all, Faith's book is wonderful, powerful and SOUL-full!

Until next time, ciao and TAKE CARE!

Sometimes it takes a while to fully understand something. I find that answering big questions like that right away, keeps me from discovering the real answer. A deeper answer. 

When my friend asked me this question, I felt that it was a question given to me by the Universe, not so much her. She was being Great Spirit asking me without judgement, without fear; "How do you see these images and relate them to your work?". 

Today, the penny dropped. The answer is that my illustrations and my larger canvases are two sides of the same coin. It's like comparing a one-liner stand-up comedy joke with a 300 pages long novel. They don't compare. In this way I am not saying that my illustrations are 'gone' the next minute - I for one believes that humour lingers on and on, and that the same joke can make us laugh throughout a life time.
And the larger scale images are something else. More intense. Deeper.
And they crave from me two different things. One is witty and simple. Quirky and light. The other is a long-time journey evolving as the painting itself is being made. It is a process of discovery, of finding a core and bringing it out from the deep.

It's all part of the same circle. Expressing and creating. Breathing.

Just wanna say something though I don’t know what it is. I love the connection with other people and how things just happen when you let them.
Like tonight, I was having friends over, and before I even knew it they stood with 5 of my prints in their hands, ready to sell in a spot they know. I mean, how does that happen? It wasn’t me. Was it God?
The other night we were with other friends. He said to me, like SO many people before him, (you were probably one of them!), he said: “You should do like children’s art books. Like illustrate for that, because your drawings are so simple and would be perfect for that”. And I said to him; “ I know. I just don’t know how”. And then he told me. He told me how. He said “Start with a story. Make up a story”. And today I was listening to some music and I heard the words in the song; I met a profet, dark as the Night. She could see into my soul. And there was my story!
And you ask me how artists work, and I think this is HOW! In the flow. In the moment. In every breath every new heartbeat.

I turn the music down to hear the rain. It's falling cross the sky in strips. Like little tiny canon balls shooting through the atmosphere. Today I cry, because life is so beautiful.
A small grey bird finds cover in the tall cyprus. He is swaying, dripping from his fur. I am looking out the window. Thunder is rolling in. In the sky clouds of light grey in banners.
The rain is making everything wet. It's dripping from the roof.
Light sounds of drumming and peaceful rhythm. Crackling in the sky. One more bird comes to take shelter in the tree, but flies away just as quickly again. Were there no more room in his coat? Flashes through my window of blue screaming light. I was going to walk home, but now I'm not so sure. Lightning just above the house. I turn the light of and shut the window. The neighbors' dog gives a short bark followed by a short whimp. I assume he wants to be let inside. The thunder is rolling past us. The dog is whimpering. A bright streak of white crashes down through the sky. Then the bang. Waiting. Another break in the sky. Then crash! Oh! Power's off! I am frightened by this power. It's Thor rolling cross the sky throwing his hammer. He is so mighty.
I can do nothing, but wait for it to pass.

The sounds fade into the background. The rain dries out slowly. I go downstairs to check the electricity.

I have decided that my blog is not only going to be about my art, but also about other artists and things in general that moves me! So here is my first post dedicated to another artist!

Today I found some amazing quilts via Facebook. These quilts are made by Hungarian Katalin Horváth - all handmade and so unique and beautiful! I am astonished by the amount of work that has gone into each and every one. I especially like her powerful animistic/shamanic designs and her use of bright, clear colours! I have a thing for rainbow colours at the moment and as you may know, a long time love for bears and wolves!

Katalin lives in the UK. She creates customized quilts and also drum cases for shamanic drums. You can find out more about Katalin Horváth on her website Dream Quilt and on Facebook; Healing Art and Art Mandalas. I kindly borrowed these images from Katalin's website. Uh, they're gorgeous.

I have just read a very interesting post by the American spiritual teacher Ram Dass, about timing. I have enjoyed listening to Ram Dass's recordings of inspirational talks & teachings for several years (he really is quite funny, and great listening to whilst doing house work!). In this post he is touching on something that has come to my awareness recently. It's about guilt & mediation.