The Power of Emotions to Transform - Exhibition Postponed due to Illness...Stay tuned while we reschedule

Emotions are a dicey proposition. We need to experience and understand them in order to grow and heal. At the same time if we allow them to overwhelm us, we can get into trouble.  Repression, on the other hand, is just as bad leading to stagnation.

Jill Joy - Dissolution - oil on canvas - 60x72"

In this work, which I create on an as needed basis to cope with strong feelings, I have allowed myself a constructive way to feel and process my emotions: Giving them life and expression, but not allowing them to overwhelm me or anyone else. And in the process a dynamic piece of art is created that, having transformed me, has I believe, the power to transform the viewer.

Jill Joy - Divertere - oil on canvas - 36x36"

Devotion

             Jill Joy - Devotion - oil on canvas - 60x48" - 2014

This painting, Devotion, is about spiritual devotion and also plain old human love…loving someone intensely and how our devotion to that person can transform us regardless of the circumstances. It’s part of my current series, Consciousness, but also a subset of work I call Evolution – 4 or 5 paintings that represent the leap from one level of consciousness to the next. The Evolution works are dynamic and give a sense of bursting into growth and new awareness. They are loosely tied to the chakras (energy centers in our body), indigo is the color of the 6th chakra and violet is the color of the crown or 7th chakra. This painting is somewhere in between those two…a deep violet or purple indigo representing the transition from one level of consciousness to the next. Some info below on the symbolism of the colors and the Chakras (citation).

Indigo – 6th Chakra (third eye)

Indigo opens the door to the Divine and it is the color that we associate with night. It is at night, when our senses become finer and a different part of us awakens. Indigo brings clarity to the sense organs - your seeing, hearing and feeling. Indigo It is also connected to your sixth sense - your third eye.

Indigo is a bridge between heaven and earth, between the left and right hemispheres and also between life and death and helps to make a transition towards life or towards death. Indigo color energy is an energy of deep change. It allows you to transform the energies of lower chakras into higher spiritual vibrations. You must be cautious though, because you can become ungrounded and disconnected with the life on earth and with your family and friends. As you unfold the petals of your third eye chakra, you begin to recognize patterns. You can see where you have been, where you are stuck, and where you are going.

You begin to experience those "Aha" moments. Moments of insight and clarity. You are recognizing your patterns and are able to relate everything to a larger picture and what it means. Illusions are shattered and dreams are integrated. You begin to experience wholeness and sense of tranquility and inner knowing - wisdom. You begin to see that you can consciously create your life. And that your vision for the future is a creative act of will.

Violet – 7th Chakra (crown (top) of the head)

Violet connects with sadness of letting go and also with joy of transformation. There is peace and tranquility in the new found knowledge of profound change. Violet color is cleansing and purifying. It is the color of magic, ritual, cleansing, purifying, connecting, mystery, and mysticism. It is a color that allows us to glimpse other realities, beyond our physical and material reality of this earthly existence. It is pure cosmic energy.

Violet is a color of reconciliation. Of bringing together polarities - male and female, day and night, hot and cold, heaven and earth, right brain and left brain. In this state of balance, you feel the connection with other beings, with heaven, with earth, with all of Universe. There is no separation, no duality.

http://www.chakra-anatomy.com

http://www.jilljoy.com

http://www.artandhealing.org/

http://www.artashealing.org

Not Just A Pretty Face #art #contemporaryart

In addition to being an artist, I am a budding art collector. My fourth purchase of original art just arrived by UPS. I was so excited when I saw the package was from the Lois Lambert Gallery in Los Angeles. Some of you may know I've switched to being a full-time artist from corporate marketeer, so I could ill afford, really, to buy a piece of art. But I was cold calling galleries in November and I saw this photograph, it immediately spoke to me and I had to have it.

View fullsize

Tamar Levine - What A Life #5 - Digital Photograph - 1/15 - 2014

The fall had been a tough time to say the least. My on again off again relationship was off again at the end of the summer, this time permanently I believe. There were other things going on in my life that were difficult, hard choices to move my creative life forward at the expense of material security among other things. Those close to me were experiencing hardship and uncertainty. All of which had me feeling adrift.

When I opened the box I was moved to tears. Because emotionally this photograph is right where I am at. I thought to myself, this is the pure purpose of art, to make us feel. Because when we allow ourselves to feel, we become whole. We heal. It also helped me accept life. This is life after all. We sometimes feel adrift. We are constantly challenged. It never ends. We reach one pinnacle, only to find another calls our name. This photograph and the photographer also made me feel as though I was not alone. It pointed me to our shared humanity. Which is such a gift these days in an isolated world of sole proprietorship, telecommuting and social networking rather than face time.

One of the good things that happened this fall was finding an art gallerist in Florida who really seems to understand my work and what it is about, the drive for conscious evolution and spiritual healing toward enlightenment. The first step to transcending where we are is to acknowledge where we are and to feel.

"I want to encourage people to experience feelings and memories that they have lost touch within the course of their lives. If for one moment in an individual’s day they can step away from the confines of the structure of their life and indulge their eyes and minds in a work of art, perhaps they can reconnect with a part of themselves or of the world that might otherwise be forgotten." - Jessica Salameh, Wall Street Fine Art, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

That's what Tamar Levine's photograph does for me. Like the model, it brings me right beneath the surface of the ocean of my mind and plunges me into feeling. So yes, when buying art we sometimes want it to make us feel good and we sometimes want it to match the wall color or the couch and harmonize our surroundings. But that is not the most powerful purpose and application of art. Helping us drop into the ocean of our subconscious experience is. Thank you Tamar Levine for allowing me to know myself.

http://www.jilljoy.com/

http://www.loislambertgallery.com/

http://www.tamarlevine.com/

http://wallstreetfa.com/