Growth, Soul Art 2018, cropped. 12 x 16 in. mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado.
Body map. 2018 Sheila Delgado.
Body map detail #1
Body map detail #2
Body map detail #3
May 23rd was a recovery day for me. After days of constant busy and little rest. I missed the live Soul Art group events, but was so thankful to watch them late in the day. I completed the worksheets, glanced at the Facebook group postings, and started my Soul Art journey.
I began with the body map. Watercolor and pencil. The largest sheet of paper I had, 12 x 16. Scribbled Neocolors, activated with water. Working quickly. Listening to songs and stories of the event leaders. I buried the body map with soft ivory acrylic. While it was wet, I scratched and scribbled into the paint. The texture remains visible in the final piece.
I poured colors into a butchers tray, started to cover the white with patches of blues, and desert earth tones. Clay and sand. When I added the green, instead of abstract patches, leaves began to form. Laura Hollick is the host of this annual event. This year, over 12,000 creatives took part.
Every garden presents innumerable fascinating problems.
Winston Churchill
It was not in my mind to create a scene. The questions and answers prompted by the worksheets are, not surprisingly, clear to me here. Focus on growth. My artistic growth.
A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious
with a feeling of serenity and joy.
Luis Barragan
Every grain of experience
is food for the greedy
growing soul of the artist.
Anthony Burgess
Growth, Soul Art 2018. 12 x 16 in. mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado.
Look at the earth crowded with growth, new and old
bursting from their strong roots hidden in the silent, live ground, each seed according to its own kind… each one knowing what to do, each one demanding its own rights on the earth…
So, artist, you too from the deeps of your soul…
let your roots creep forth, gaining strength.
Emily Carr
Click the images below or links for more.
Soul Art 2013. Acrylic on paper. Sheila Delgado
Soul Art 2013
Soul Art 2015. 9 x 12 watercolor on paper. © Sheila Delgado 2015
Soul Art 2015
Soul Art 2016, watercolor, oil pastel on Yupo.
Soul Art 2016
Soul Art 2017. 12 x 12 mixed media on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
Soul Art 2017
Love all of these! Soul art…perfect phrasing!
I love that too Chandra 😉
Beautiful pieces, sheila! And it’s so lovely to see your past years’ artwork as well. Hope you are well rested, my dear friend. Keep painting your world with your magic touch and thank you for coloring ours so beautifully. Hugs!
Aww, so kind of you as always Trang. I have been resting. Fighting the urge to work, work, work. Actually, my body is forcing me to rest. My long list of to-do’s is still long.
Hugs to you dear friend 🙂
The Soul Art sounds like an interesting experience. I hope it rejuvenated you this year. It looks like it has given you some fascinating art over the years.
It was perfect timing. (That has happened before.) Called me back to the studio, and gave me creative freedom (to just do) and focus. fun to look back at the first year. One of the first pieces I shared with the world. (A little scary at the time.) Happy weekend Val 😉
I’m feeling joyful, Sheila, knowing that you participated in the creative restorative nourishment of Soul Art yesterday! Every time I scroll through your post here, and I’ve already done so more than once, Body map detail #2 jumps out and delights me—love it, love it, love it!
So WONDERFUL to hear that Dotty! The spirit of the day is reaching out, and continuing on 🙂 I love those little drops too. Thanks Dotty for stopping in 🙂