Saturday, January 21, 2012

Inspiration Avenue Challenge : Butterfly


This past week it was my turn to host the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue Team.  Inspired by the many pairs of butterflies fluttering in my garden, I chose the theme as butterflies.  And what an amazing response I had.  Please make your way over to Inspiration Avenue tomorrow and see the gallery of entries.  How I am ever going to choose a winner for our Red Carpet I do not know.

My entry is a bit different from my usual.  It is not pretty at all, but it is such a powerful image for me.  I have recently discovered SoulCollage and what a wonderful therapeutic art form of self-discovery and creativity it is!  There are some excellent websites if you are interested.  Merely search Soul Collage and Seena B Frost and you will find your way.

This is a card that I made for the many changes that have been taking place in my own life and also in those around me.  It is also a very visual expression of leaving the old year and going into the new.  SoulCollage is an intuitive process that does not use the rational mind.  I therefore, did not set out to use the butterfly images.  The image comes together from a place deep within oneself;  from that all-seeing eye within which sees and records and stores deep into the sub-conscious self.  One uses images from your collection of old magazines, photographs or any images at hand.  I made this one from magazine clippings.

The elephant (one of my all time favourite animals in the wild and in their natural habitat) represents the dinosaur in myself.  Those outdated ideas and beliefs that no longer serve but which swims against the current.  The butterflies, with their tiny and delicate wings, are lifting this big old elephant up and turning him into a graceful flying being.  With a little bit of Grace anyone can fly!

Please join me at The Path of Divine Love in Soul Songs


Soul Songs
Songs of the Soul
Collage of feeling,
vision,
intuition.
Open the door,
make the Unseen
Seen
enter the Sacred,
sing the Soul's Song.


Please come and play along.

Through the work of Seena Frost's SoulCollage I have discovered a wonderful medium of playing, creating and uncovering!  SoulCollage is a structured technique with certain ground rules.  It is ideal for self-reflection and group work.  I started playing with soul collages, based on her book.  I then entered one for Rebecca's Haiku my Heart and I saw some more possibilities.  Then they started appearing in my dreams and in my art.


And now I invite you to play along with myself in Soul Songs every Sunday here on The Path of Divine Love.

I invite you to create a collage card making the invisible in yourself visible.  You create the card from the soft focus of your right brain and you set the intent that that which is hidden, be unveiled through its coming together.  I use an A5 board card to glue the images onto.  I mainly use magazine clippings and paper images from my folder of collected images. I find many old magazines at local charity stores.  Old magazines, especially the old National Geographics, have wonderful 'new' images. Digital artists probably have a digital folder filled with images - this will work wonderfully! You can continue to add to your image collection over time and allow your intuitive self to lead you.  Do not plan too much.  Maybe at times of change or insight, you may want to create a specific collage card honouring that stage in your life, or facilitating the change or transformation or to support a new resolution.  Decide on the subject only and allow your eye to guide you to the images.  Play around for a while with the images, but do not apply your art rules to the collage - there are no rules - that is the fun of it!  You will be amazed to discover how your Inner Artist puts together a powerful and evocative image;  one that gives you a deeper look into the sacred.  

Once you have collated the card, you want to find the Song of your Soul that is held in the inner chamber of this card.  We are part of the infinite and we have many many songs just waiting to be heard!



For the Soul Song I chose the lyrical style of poetry - it is simple and powerful.  I quote :  The term lyric is now used to mean any short poem expressing a poet's thoughts or feelings. Originally it referred to poems which were sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, the lyre. A lyric poem has been defined as "the expression by the poet of his own feelings"(John Ruskin). This definition points to the personal quality of lyrical poetry. It is characterised by the presence of emotion. The emotions and moods are directly expressed by a single speaker who wants to share them with the reader. 


A creative week to you
blessings
Hettienne

6 comments:

  1. Powerful image. Interesting story around your creation this week.

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  2. I told you earlier that I am intrigued by the soul-collage cards you have been making...
    and this one is so powerful in its meaning...and beautiful too. I will be trying this technique for my own self. Thanks for the inspiration♥♥♥

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  3. I agree, very interesting and strong submission. I am going to check this out for sure. Thanks for sharing and for hosting this week's beautiful challenge!

    XO
    Kim

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  4. I've heard about soul-collage but not yet learnt more. But your post has me interested. Elephants are my favourite animals and have been since a child. For me they represent strength, love, family, loyalty, gentleness and kindness. Not sure why but that's what comes to my mind. I also have butterflies (decorative not real) in various places around my house as I'm attracted to their beauty and symbolism. So your collage art speaks to me in a way personal to me.

    Thanks for hosting the challenge this week!

    Kat Xx

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  5. I really enjoyed the challenge theme this week-thanks for hosting. Your post was so detailed & interesting; when I have time, I will definitely check out soul collages. Elephants have a fun personal meaning to me and my husband, and I really like yours with the butterfly wings.

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  6. I have several people on my Yahoo group who talk about Soul Collages. I had never heard of them, so was really glad I was able to read your well thought out post. Thanks for helping me understand this new phenomenon. And your butterfly collage is really very soulful, too.

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Thank you for your comments - I read each and every one! I have taken the word verification off - hope it makes it easier