I’ve designed a new website called Susan Korsnick: Art and Soul. I hope you’ll join me there for new blog posts, artwork, and upcoming events. Soon, there will even be a “shop” on the site to purchase my art online. Exciting things to come at Susan Korsnick: Art and Soul. I look forward to sharing the journey with you!
I am not the only one watching for signs of Spring.
This year’s Spring vacation was actually a “stay-cation” and I couldn’t be happier. I spent a glorious week noticing the daily subtle changes in my own backyard. Every day is Earth Day to me and every moment of every day has it’s own, never-to-be-replicated beauty. From a gathering of bluejays to a spectacular sunrise, blink and I miss it. Gaia calls us to be fully present to experience her rich bounty.
The daffodils in my garden lift their joyful heads to the sun.
I celebrate the early spring color palette with each new blossom and blade of grass. Blink and I miss the brilliant yellow daffodils in my garden lift their joyful heads to the sun. The yellow forsythias wave their arms in greeting. The white, delicate lace flowers of the serviceberry act as a veil between me and the clear blue sky. “Everything is holy now,” Peter Mayer wisely wrote.
“Everything is Holy now” wrote Peter Mayer.
Blink and I miss the yellows and whites make way for the purple of lilac and hyacinth and the delicate pinks of cherry and dogwood. Each has it’s own cycle within the greater cycle of transformation that forms the wheel of the year.
Blink and I miss the little place in my garden where a rabbit is preparing a nest for her young. One day, I noticed the mulch in a flowerbed pushed aside. Soon, dried grass and straw appeared in a neat little pile. Then, this little nest materialized. As I write and look out my window, the nest is completely hidden from view by a mother who instinctively knows what to do for her young ones. How much wiser would we be if we were more attuned to Nature? What do we know that we have forgotten?
Mulch and soil are pushed aside as a mother rabbit prepares a place for her babies.
Ok, confession time. At the time of the Winter Solstice, I hung a wreath by my front door. Amazingly, it stayed perfectly green through December, January, February, and most of March. I should have taken it down but procrastinated. By the time I thought about it again, I noticed a bird flitting back and forth from the wreath to wherever she needed to go for food and… you guessed it… building material for her nest. Well, what could I do? The wreath is brown and brittle but she loved the location and gave birth to three wee ones. When they fly the nest, I’ll toss the wreath. I promise.
A winter wreath becomes the birthplace of three birds.
I could sit in reverence all day every day, observing the beings in my yard live, grow, and eventually die. The cycle of birth-death-rebirth is the natural way of things. I know. But Mother Earth calls me to action. It’s not enough to take, I must give back to stay in right relationship with Her.
I honor Her by vowing to be a steward of the land entrusted to me for as long as I live here. Ancestors of bloodline and ancestors of place are with me as I cut back dead raspberry canes and clear the space around my grapevines. I hear my grandfather’s voice echo in my heart, gifting me with his wisdom of flora and fauna. I see the rainbow of jars in my grandmother’s root cellar- her connection to the land made visible. I sense the presence of those who tended this plot of land long before “my people” even set foot on the shore of North America as immigrants in the early 20th century.
So I garden without herbicides and pesticides. I hang prayer flags and make offerings. I grab a lawn chair and my watercolors for a quick plein air session with the tulips and squirrels. I pick up every bit of trash that blows into my yard. It’s heartbreaking to see a birdnest with trash woven in among the grass, straw, and twigs. I plant native species and compost as much as possible. I do what I can the best I can.
Most importantly, I sit in silence and listen to her many voices– the wind, the rain, the birdsong, and my own contented sighs of belonging. Call it prayer, call it meditation,… I call it CONNECTION.
I love them all… all of the beings on our beautiful planet. My view of “beings” has greatly expanded with my awareness of indigenous cultures and earth-centered traditions. Trees, streams, oceans, plains, mountains, polar bears, glaciers, bees, wolves, … do you get where I’m going with this? We are all connected. All life is one.
I weep for the fact that we live in a time where we have to march to protect our planet. In less than three centuries, we have littered the world with plastic, fossil fuel pollution, and chemicals. We have killed more species than I can fathom- extinct, gone,…forever. We continue to threaten all life with our choices and this breaks my heart but I’m hopeful that we are raising awareness and more of us are doing what we can to help the environment… for all of us…and I do mean ALL OF US.
I pray that we can educate and enlighten the ignorant. I also pray that love, light, reverence, and stewardship quickly replace greed, hatred, destruction, and domination. May we each do what we can to protect our home… our Mother. I hope you take part in one of the marches around the world next Saturday. Raise your voice for those who don’t have a voice.
Mother Earth, Mother Earth,
Take our seeds and give them birth.
Father Sun, gleam and glow,
‘Til the roots begin to grow.
Sister Rain, Sister Rain,
Shed your tears to swell the grain.
Brother Wind, breathe and blow,
Tell the blades so green to grow.
Earth and Sun, Wind and Rain
Bring to life the living grain.
Waldorf Song for Children (Writer Unknown)
On Solid Ground. Mixed media piece by Susan Korsnick
This past week, I realized that many of the women I came in contact with were voicing the same concerns that I was voicing to myself. “How do I keep getting up in the morning when all I hear is news about hatred, greed, ignorance, deception, and abuse of power?” “How do I keep vigilant and actively involved when I’m so exhausted?” “I’m only one person. How can I possibly do this?”
One of the most important things I can do is continually remind myself that there are millions of people around the world doing great things– speaking out in support of diversity, doing what they can to safeguard immigrants, actively engaging in ways to help Mother Earth and protect all beings, defending women’s rights to have autonomy over our own bodies, voting, marching, RESISTING.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Our current “situation” is calling us to take a stand like most of us have never had to do before. I’m a baby boomer, born in the 1960s. I was still crawling when Civil Rights supporters were marching. I was wearing rompers when women were burning their bras. For most of my life, I took for granted that someone else had done my fighting for me and the fight was over. But now, we are all being called to resist darkness in all it’s forms and the emotions that often accompany challenging times- fear, despair, anxiety, and depression. At times, I want to say “I don’t have it in me to fight.” But I do. I know I do. We all do if we do it together and maintain our footing on solid ground. Stay grounded in what matters most.
I’m quite an admirer of Tamara LaPorte’s LifeBook online art class. The yearlong online art class approaches art as a pathway to self-awareness, healing, and creative expression. Each week, Tam or one of her many guest instructors share a lesson that participants can follow closely or use as inspiration for whatever their intuitive knowing calls them to create. There is a Facebook group where we can share our art and personal journey with others. Having a support system is vital to creative expression and resiliency in difficult times.
Lindsay Weirich recently offered a lesson called Solid Ground, which profoundly moved and inspired me to create the piece you see above. There is deep shadow and contrasting light on the woman and subtle hearts around her. She is me. She might be you. The words say “Self Love is not self indulgence. Self Love is self preservation.” It is my reminder to stay grounded in love.
Staying grounded, for me, is a multi-faceted approach to wellness and at the core is Self Love. We have to take care of ourselves in every way. Physically, we need to stay rooted in the present moment. This keeps fear of the future and imaginary “what-ifs” at bay. Mentally, stay focused on what we can do and how we can do it. Then, recognize when it is time to stop and honor our need for rest. Emotionally, stay heart-centered and express gratitude for all that is good in life. Spiritually, stay grounding in what we believe and our connection to Source, Universal Love, Spirit, God, or Goddess (however you identify the divine).
A few years ago I hosted a Red Tent Event where self-love was our focus. I reflected on this in my blog post Refilling the Well. When we are under stress or fearful, we forget that we have the answers available to us if we listen to our inner wisdom, to our higher selves. The Red Tent participants explored ways to ground themselves and shared their experiences in a sacred Wisdom Circle. Each woman had unique ways that nourish her. I can’t remember what I shared that day but I can share what keeps me on solid ground today.
May you identify what keeps you on solid ground.
May you find peace and balance.
May you find your tribe and your strength.
May you always know that you matter.
Namaste
Spiral Mandala- watercolor and graphite on paper by Susan Korsnick 2017
SPIRAL MANDALA
Cosmic Creative Force
Co-creator of Life
Empowered by Love–
Empowered by Light–
Empowered by the Connection
to all that is.
detail of Spiral Mandala by Susan Korsnick
Self-Care is necessary for body, mind, and spirit.
I’ve always been a “To-Do-List” maker. In the past, I made grocery lists, work-related lists, lists of errands I had to run on Saturday, and even a list of things I’d like to do if I wasn’t so busy making lists! Do you know anyone like this?
Lately, my list also includes things like march on Washington, call my legislators, write to them when they stop taking phone calls, and put my money where my mouth is by getting rid of credit cards that are affiliated with companies that support things that I don’t. I never dreamed I’d need a list like this. I don’t want a list like this! Who would?!
I never imagined this being on my To-Do list but it is!
In addition to being a list-maker, I’m an empath and maybe you are, too. Empaths are highly sensitive people who feel deeply and try to do as much as they can. They…we… act from a place of compassion and love but can easily get overwhelmed. It leaves me feeling like this…
I have nothing left to give.
For me, it begins with a brand new To-Do list, identifying ways to balance what I need with what I need to do. What are all the ways I can nourish and nurture myself so I don’t get depleted?
One of the first things I notice about that 3-prong guide to self-care is that it is all connected. What nourishes the body can also soothe the spirit and quiet the mind. This reminds me of my post titled Boundaries & Priorities from May 2014. Following these suggestions and reflecting on those I wrote about 3 years ago take me from “I have nothing left to give” to this….
Shhh… self-care in progress.
In the March/April 2017 issue of Spirituality & Health magazine, Dr. Judith Orloff’s article “The Empowered Empath” shares some of her tips for refilling our well so we have more to give others. I am particularly moved by her Empath Affirmation.
“I will treasure myself and vow to have people in my life who treasure me.
I will use my sensitivities to better my own life and the world.
I will celebrate the adventure of being an empath.”
I’d love to hear what works for you.
Every once in a while, I nourish my Self by taking what Julia Cameron calls “Art Dates” in her book, The Artist’s Way. Typically, these are special dates with one’s self to seek inspiration and nurture the artist within.
I explored this in my post Art Date with Myself. Funny, I broke the rules in that post, too!
I take plenty of Art Dates by myself but this time, I chose to spend it with my boyfriend. It was a lovely February day so we decided to explore the newly renovated National Gallery of Art East Wing in Washington DC.
At the end of our artsy adventure, he asks me a provocative question that I love for its directness and the ease with which I can answer it. “What did you fall in love with today?” While I deeply adore viewing all of the pieces in general, there are three works that I am, indeed, in love with.
Henri Matisse, Large Composition with Masks (1953)
I’ve been in love with this piece for decades and every time I see it, these feelings grow stronger. Every single time without exception, my heart swells and tears fill my eyes the moment I come around the corner and view this enormous cutout in all its colorful, simplistic glory. It is, by far, my favorite work of all time. Those of you who have fallen in love with art know what I mean and how impossible it is to explain why a piece captures your heart, soul, and imagination.
I’m also in love with Pierre Bonnard’s Nude in an Interior (1935). His use of bold blocks of color and pattern, patches of sunlight, his color palette, and contrast of the straight lines of the interior against the feminine curves of the nude captivate me.
Lately, my color palette has been rather dark and often subdued. The joyful, sunny colors of this painting inspire me to play with similar colors.
Francesca Woodman – Caryatid, New York (1980)
This mysterious, otherworldly image by Francesca Woodman captivates me and leaves me with many unanswered questions. Who is this? Where is she? What is she thinking? The tragic and divinely talented Woodhouse died at age 22, leaving behind a great many self-portraits and other beautiful and unsettling images. I love how this piques my curiousity. I want to know more about her art and the creative yet tortured woman who created it.
Please share.
We The People- Part 1: mixed media on 18 x 24 paper.
WE THE PEOPLE
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The Preamble to the US Constitution
The One You Seek- mixed media on 18 inch square canvas. SOLD
THE ONE YOU SEEK
The one you seek
is already here.
The one you seek
always was.
The one you seek
is within you-
is you-
is.
Susan Korsnick 2016
Samhain- colored pencil on linen
SAMHAIN
The veil between the worlds is thinnest
When the heart remembers.
Susan Korsnick 2016
Calling the Moon- Mixed media on paper. Susan Korsnick 2016
CALLING THE MOON
You called me
Cycle by cycle.
I called you in turn-
A rhythm shared.
And now a new rhythm begins
To find you, I go within.
Susan Korsnick 2016
Susan Korsnick 