Tag: Susan Bradford

what are the odds?

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

To get some insight, I’ve been pulling cards from a deck that I made about a year ago.  In the past week, I’ve chosen three cards, and no lie…I’ve gotten the same card all three times.

What are the odds of that happening?

The universe is really trying to tell me something and I am really trying to listen.

I guess that it’s all about the upcoming four-person show that I’m going to be in at East Stroudsburg University in September.  The work is finished and so now comes the most challenging part:  going to the opening.

OK, I get the message!  I will set aside my insecurities about my work and about myself.  I’ll forget all my memories of past openings and how I dread them.  I will trust my instincts about the work and remember the joy I experienced while creating it.

I will go to the opening feeling calm and open.  I’ll look forward to seeing my friends and to meeting new people.  I’ll talk and laugh and drink some wine.  I’ll visualize people liking the work, and I’ll have fun.  I’ll remember picking this card three times, and I’ll think…pretty damn good odds…

 

 

Some quiet time

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

A few calm moments tucked into many, many hectic days have led to the creation of these crystal beaded bracelets. They do need some concentration, but for me they are really pleasant to make and are a way of quieting my busy mind and encouraging me to pay attention to my breath.

Look for them at the San Juan County Fair next week, and at the Mandala Design Works booth at the Delaware Water Gap Jazz Festival in September.

Seems a little strange

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

Yesterday I finished painting for a show at East Stroudsburg University that is a full month away. This is unheard of for me! Anyone who knows me knows that I’m usually still painting on my way to hang a show, and that I should be putting up signs on the wall that say “Wet Paint” instead of labels with the titles.

Not this time.  I have to send the work to PA next week and it has to dry first, and so I had to stop working.  I really should have stopped on Sunday, but there was no way.  So I pushed it to Monday and then Tuesday and finally Wednesday.  Two friends came over to look at the paintings and said, “We think you have a show!”  And so it is.

I’ve been on such a roller coaster ride of emotions this past month.  Up and down all the time with lots of curves.  Some days I felt that I wanted to cancel the whole thing or give in and show old work.  Other days I was just so happy to be in my studio painting that I didn’t care if the work was good or not.  Other days I cared way too much and felt inadequate to every other painter on the face of the earth.  I just wanted to crawl back in bed and never touch a paintbrush again.

Did I say days?  No, my feelings could change drastically in the space of five minutes.  I could go from ecstatic to depressed and moody in a moment of time.  From feeling totally in the flow and joyful about what was happening to totally disconnected and insecure.

The eleven paintings are a product of all those emotions, and I have to say that as of this morning, I am feeling pretty good about them.  But catch me in an hour or two….

Pictured is a detail from one of them.

A Milestone of Sorts

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

 

Time to let it all go already – this first chakra stuff – loosen up – connect to the earth.

Pay attention – move – breathe – be aware – have some fun.

Sixty five – and how to thrive.

Once Again

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

I’m remembering what it’s like to be in my wonderful studio. To have six paintings and six paintings on paper and two sketch pads going at the same time. To see drips of paint on the wall and the floor and my clothing.  To come back into the house with paint-smeared hands.   To connect with the work in that way that can only happen when I’m in there every day.  It is so powerfully motivating to have a show coming up once again.  But I want to be thinking ahead in that same way, beyond the show and to keep remembering, and not to get so mental, and not to think too much about what it is that I’m going to paint, but to get out of my own way and out of my own head and just paint.  And work in the garden and paint some more.