Wait, wait, until you see IT!
It will be your second love.
You fell asleep in despair;
unknowing of what lies in the view from your window.

She walks on the dry land, so parched,
yet, quenching her thirst like no other;
a haven for her life force, soon to be on canvas.

She discovers the oneness,
continuing to be experienced by her creations.
She is one with the earth and sky.
She is the red earth, the bones and death;
coming back to life.

She is home.

Kaleidoscope Curtain

Eyes closed, vision unimpaired

Inward glancing connecting two

Paired by trials and stories unfold

Exchanged a lifetime, fragile and bold

Left on canvas or in words

Whispering ghosts of wisdom heard

Begging for another chance

But, first a glance, first a glance

Revealing desires of the soul

Listening finally to what is told

Always wanting to be revealed

Taking the armor off, dissolving the shield.

As Artists, we help others see. The world is waiting for our vision. It isn’t obtained by just painting pictures, as much as bringing this depth from within our self and helping others see beyond what the viewer already sees. If we allow our self to go deeper and express in such a way, the viewer will believe they have seen it as well. Our job is to be the poet, the preacher, to enhance the vibration of the world by our creations. We are the interpreters.

An artist asked me, “what inspires you to paint?”  It is beauty of nature for sure, but as artists we have the opportunity to see beauty in the mundane. As Hawthorne says “it is so much greater to make much out of little than to make little out of much-better to make a big thing out of a little subject than to make a little thing out of a big one”.

Learning does not make the artist as much as practice and getting in tune with your voice and expression. The teacher is there to inspire. Be yourself, be true to yourself as you paint. Don’t be in competition with others. Listen to your voice. When you are free with no thoughts and lost all concept of time, you are one with the painting and are connecting to a deeper level of expression. We are always students. I will always be a student. It is important to always be instilled with curiosity and wonder. The more I learn to see, the better artist I will be.  It is important, when you learn from others, to keep your originality, to not be clones of your teacher, but to find your inner voice, notice your assets and allow yourself to shine in your own way.

What is unique about your Artist voice, how is it expressed in your creating?

Born from the intention of Zeus and and Imagination of Mnemosyne mothered 9 daughters which became the muses Calliope, the Goddess of eloquence, epic poetry, drama, performance, communication, transmission and storytelling; Clio the muse of history and writing; Erato, the muse of four aspects of love-Agape-Eros-Libido & Philia; Euterpe, the muse of music and lyric poetry; Melpomene, the muse of tragedy; Polyhmnia the muse of oratory, sacred hymns and poetry; Terpsichore, the muse of dance; Thalia, the muse of comedy and play; Urania, the muse of Astronomy and Mathematics.

Muses inspire you to take action. I have been having a block and looking over the Muses I realized that I was missing the muse of Thalia. I was forgetting how to play and have fun with my art. I usually call it artwork. Don’t want to even call it that anymore. I might start calling it artplay. Yesterday I received my large pallet knives I ordered, going to play with thick juicy paint. I am also going to prepare 50 blank canvases, and paint with no reference. The child in me got excited. It didn’t want to come out before, the parent in me was making it too serious. The child wants to explore and do art for the sake of art. I definitely feel a shift.

You know there are no rules about a muse, how they should look or be. Gender, age, appearance and character are variable, but one thing for sure muses are like angels. Muses can set you into a deeper journey of discovery, joy, beauty and just plain loving the experience of creating.

Who is your Muse?

First of all, I want to thank everyone who supported me in the last Live Auction @140hours of fame. You helped Colin Lewis and his cause the Chiva Foundation receive $300.00 for the children’s orphanges. Twitter followers were amazing. You all rallied around, tweeting until the last moment, hoping to get monies for the foundation. At the end of the first round, we had not sold the painting. Gary Brant, the creator of the Live Auction @140 hours felt so moved by your efforts that he decided last minute to continue the auction for another 24 hours. In doing so, we were able to sell the painting. Without this extra time, we couldn’t have done so.

When I decided to donate my proceeds to the Chiva Foundation, I had no idea what would happen as a result of this giving. Your tweets were in such an overflow that @140hours had increased their traffic exponentially. Gary at that time realized that not only could we sell artwork as an advantage to the artist, but it could also be two-fold. We could also benefit others, by having future auctions that help other charities as well. This is a win win situation.

After participating in the last event, I felt so full of love and joy. Colin Lewis and the children from the Chiva Foundation orphanges responded with such gratitude and sincerity. I realized the impact I could have by using my creativity to benefit others. I also realized the beauty in humanity and the willing to help and support. You all have increased my faith and meaning in life. Who would know that in giving you do receive 10 fold and do not necessarily know where it will come from. It has a life of it’s own when you are in this flow. Thank you again Colin Lewis, Gary Brant and all my friends on Twitter for your support.

I am going to donate 50% of my proceeds from the sale of the painting above, “The Oak”. The proceeds will go to The Chiva Foundation at the next Live Auction starting this Friday and I ask again if you could please support us again. Big Hugs to you.

Have you ever heard your heart talk? I don’t know whose voice it is. It could be mine. It could be another. It could be my deepest desires. It could be a story. It could be something I need to know. I could almost articulate the words, but they are not from this language. This language is from the heart. I hear this language when I am in nature, when I listen to music, when I connect to the one, when my heart wants to be heard and when I feel love. I hear it when I have memories that may be from another life. I hear it when I feel the sweetness of tears. I try hard to bring it to the surface to bring it into words, but it stays in the heart, barely voiced, but not quite. It never arrives. The harder I try it won’t appear. It is connected to all my lives, it tells a story that I know in the heart, not the head. It is an expression of another world. It is a creation. It is the deepest of all feelings. It almost sounds like music, because it has a rhythm. It is the deepest of all deepness.

Perhaps it will show itself. But not now. It is a newborn, birthing, developing, expressing. It will become, but not now. No it is only heart words. Heart words are not intelligible to the human ear. It is not ready to be heard, just felt, barely audible, a small voice, a gentle whisper. The heart is speaking without words…

I am currently auctioning my painting,“The Last Roundup” and my proceeds which are 90% of the monies will be donated to The Chiva Foundation, which supports 3 homes with a total of 35 Children. Two of the homes have children from 18 months to 9 years old and one home has children from 9 years old to 18 years old. 28 of the children are in the junior homes. One of the homes for Toddlers is specifically established to care for children diagnosed with ‘ailments’ such as lung problems. Through the Chiva Foundation priority is being attached to getting the right live-in ‘parents’ and ensure good living standards whilst focusing on emotional and educational well-being. The foundation arranges education such as music lessons, language lessons, clothes, beds, the installation of computers. At the senior home and we are working on renovations of the buildings and providing good nutrition. All in a loving family environment.

I became aware of the foundation through a wonderful person and friend on Twitter @ColinLewis  He actively works at and supports the foundatiion. Through our conversations last week he mentioned one of the children, Piotr (Peter), who lived in the Toddler home, had just died from lung complications.  It was then I realized that I wanted to do something for the Chiva Foundation in Piotr’s name.

“The Last Roundup” measures 24″ X 36″, Oil on Linen. It will be auctioned on November 27th, Black Friday on 140 hours of Fame, @140hours on Twitter.  My painting can be found on this page http://www.140hours.com/paintings/pages/janetvanderhoof.htm Please help by bidding on the painting as well as referring to family and friends that might be interested. Also, if you could RT this Blog post it would help get the word out. Thank you so much, any help is appreciated.

Melodies, melodic notes

No one needs to know the depth in which I feel you

Privacy for you and me alone

Carry me away on tips of eagle wings my love

Not close to the sun

But bring me to the stars

So I may see the stars in me and others

I speak with simplicity

To explain the most complicated measure of all.

I am reading a book called “Art and Fear”, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. He had an interesting section about perfectionism. He talked about a teacher that had announced one day that he was going to devide the class into two groups. Now one group would be graded on quantity and one on quality. The requirement was simple. For the quantity group it was measured by weight, 50 lbs equaled an “A”, forty pounds equaled a “B” and so forth. Now the quality group only could do one ceramic. It had to be their best work and quality of work was the grade. Well guess what, when it came time to grading the groups while the quantity group was churning out the ceramics and learning from their mistakes, the quality group was theorizing not doing and had little to show for it. They had “grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay”. This in the end good work is not synonymous with perfect work. “Art is human; error is human; ergo, art is error.” So inevitably our work will be flawed and looking for perfections is flawed.
There comes a time when we have to quit rationalizing and just do. No matter how much you think about doing. It is not doing. We can rationalize it isn’t good enough to do yet or not the right time. But unless we start to bring this quantity of doing and risk making mistakes we cannot learn and grow.

I know I am showing my age, but there was a song that was a hit by Julie London, I was 19 when it came out , it was called “Is That All There is?”. The songs theme was the lack of meaning in life, when we get caught in doing from the ego’s point of view. At the end it of our life or when we wake up we realize that it didn’t mean a thing. I know a lot of you may feel this way,  due to the economy, spending most of his life working for one corporation, expecting much more than what is currently being returned. What matters then? What is our purpose? What makes us want to get up in the morning and put our best foot forward?

I remember when I read ET’s “New Earth”, while I was receiving art coaching. I had been coached for about 8 months and I was on a roll. I was producing art regularly, making goals, joined a gallery, became published and had a lucrative show. Reading ET’s book was life changing, but it also burst my balloon. I was moving moving moving and then reading the book it basically said that anything that I did with form or even saying that I was an artist didn’t matter. Anything with form was an illusion. Whatever I accomplished did not make me or break me. The bad part as a result of this awakening, was there was some good news and there was some bad news. The good news was that I was perfect just the way I was, the bad news was how living in the spirit can be a quandry, trying to have goals and objectives with the drive I once had, is no longer available to me or desirable. Living in the spiritual realm can be bliss and difficult. Although, I am not ready to shuck it all in. I am not going to be alive for ever. So now is the challenge to play with form, enjoy life and create meaning.

As of now my purpose has changed. I am realizing that I am here to heal myself and by doing that it heals the world. I am also realizing that I must keep my vibration up everyday and how I do that is helping others and creating, whether it is art, poetry or writing. The most important thing is to not let life pass me by. I know now that form is just to be played with. Having this new philosophy, can give you the freedom that you never had before. It allows you to wear as many hats as you want, experiment and explore, with detachment.

I would love your take on it. What keeps you moving? What makes you want to wake up with a spring in your step and say “Thank God I am Alive”.