fun and easy= flow

my sweet, wise, beautiful very pregnant superhero friend andrea led some friends and i through a core values exercise a few years back... mine was, no surprise here, that i'm a treasure seeker. i wasn't really sure what that meant to live that out at the time, but as i paint it, it's coming into focus.

i believe dear kelly rae's core values phrase was brave in sadness and brave in love. i borrow this sometimes personally too to help me. i think she's shared this sentiment on her blog before and don't think she'd mind me telling you ;)

and andrea's i believe was fun and easy. i am just starting to understand how this can apply to my life more fully too.

andrea recently shared this in her interview that i linked to a while back. i love this concept she explains below:

MK: How do you nurture your creative spirit within the boundaries of the “do more with less” mentality of minimalism?

AS: I try to live by the law the buddhists call “The law of least effort.” This basically means
that more effort does not equal more results, but right effort equals right results.

I don’t like to pain over my work… write when it’s not coming, sit for many hours
at the computer trying to wring something out of myself when I really just need to fill the well and be replenished.

I listen closely to my intuition, live my real life as much as possible, and write in bursts
from the richness of my actual life. This is how I nurture my creative spirit. I listen for when there is a story that wants to be told.

i had a skype conversation with my brilliant smart agent/mentor Lilla recently about how can i "step things up"? and she basically said i'm doing everything right (thank you) and that i should paint things that are fun and easy for me~ smooshy color, line and what comes naturally to ME, not to others-- that's where your authentic voice lives.

it was a very big A HA moment. paint what is easy to me? wait, i don't have to WORK at it? make it perfect? make it like math? i can keep it mysterious and evocative and fun? i can play with color and paint and go off on little painting explorations? love. it.

thank you for helping me piece together these puzzle pieces friends.

intermixed are close-ups that my friend bob lake (the fantastic jen lake's mister... if you're in the bay and need a photog-- hit him up!) took of my recent treasure seeker series, which means, high quality prints soon y'all!

smooch,

mati

to a young painter

To a Young Painter

by jen lee

Trust yourself. Your vision. Your hand.
And when your eyes wander in comparison,
close them.

When the world wants you to strategize,
do not apologize for letting your heart lead,
for letting your canvas bleed out
your questions and your fears,
all the desires that you clutch.
You can throw them into the world
like a great flying disc,
letting them land in light and shadow
and colors that surprise.
In images that do not apologize for their honesty.

Give yourself. Your vision. Your hand.
And when your eyes see what is true,
open them.

my talented writer friend jen lee wrote the above and i had to share. she's good, eh?

all my emails are bouncing back

and it's nearing 10 pm and i'm still working... time to call it a day! soon my friends, i'll be back with more paintings.

here's a shot of outside my studio taken earlier with my iphone. i love it here.

insta-happy for me & maybe you too

* necklaces

loving the layering

* garlands


* baths & potions

i am beyond excited to move to a new home soon with a clawfoot & a lemon tree soon!

* biking

sadly, these beauties are already out of stock :(

* music


* pretty pretty patterns


xoxoox

sigh

french artist nathalie lete's work is so gorgeous... i want to make rugs like her!

pdx

lately i've been day dreaming about my birthday and taking a trip up to portland with hugh (he's never been! a bike fanatic like him?) and staying at the ace.... {sigh}. i'd also like to see this lovely lady who always has a camera in hand. i came across these old bits of color and texture from my trip there about a year ago and am re-inspired...i realize i naturally document details to later draw inspiration upon for paintings. i'd like to learn more about photography as an art form, but for now it's fun to treat it like specimen gathering for paintings.

colors connect

outside my studio door....

inside my kitchen...

perhaps soon in a painting!

pre-blog inspiration gathering

it's funny to realize how natural blogging is to the artistic process. i have stacks of notebooks filled with notes & inspiration pre-blog... these date back to 2002 (3 years before i started this blog in 2005).

i kind of miss this old school way of cutting and pasting. i do still keep 3 ring binders filled with clear sleeves where i put inspiration from magazines. alas, the on-line world has made it so incredibly easy to inspiration gather... almost too easy and fleeting. i have to say i like a little hunting for my treasures! i appreciate as i'm looking back on these pages how i naturally grouped the inspiration by color, shape and theme. it's also personally reassuring for me to look back after 7 years and with the influence of blogging and art school that the essence of what inspires me remains intact.

anyone else keep tangible inspiration? how do you store it? is there a theme that you notice? how has blogging affected this process?

xxx

studio time

it's a rainy day, but cozy inside with tea, paint and chocolate...

artist spotlight: paperbling + nosideup= same artist

ohhh. i just joined papernstich and came across this great artist from barcelona... first i was admiring her paper bling and then the intricate hair drawings and realized it was the same chica.

aren't these both great? and they kind of go together too.




i love new discoveries.

xo
mati

show the world your magic manifesto

the last few years i've been mediating in my studio before i begin creating... it sounds lofty, but it's simply sitting on a floor pillow for a few minutes and clearing my thoughts. repeatedly some form of this line came to me "show the world your magic". finally i wrote it down and tacked it to my studio wall just like so.

when i get stuck and overwhelmed with the oodles of art and trends and thousands of ways of doing things. i now simply look up and say "mati, show the world... you... your magic". what no one else has that is uniquely YOU. this is not easy mind you, but it helps to start from this place and eliminate some of the creative clutter and doubt.

next i try to remember that place that children occupy so easily of delightfully sharing their work "the look what i did mentality". i try to get to the most uninhibited place where i blow away all inner and outer critics out of fear of feeling foolish, overly romantic, sentimental, childish... the list goes on of course (i have well developed critics) and stay true to myself and the vision that wants to come through me and onto the page.

i think this mental state works well in art making, but it also carries over to any aspect of one's life. what is it that you want to share with the world that is your mark? what is at your core?

the part where magic comes in is perhaps an extension of the definition~ an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source. it's coming into your power from a deep source and trusting that it is safe to communicate your unique vision. and if you don't as martha graham says... it will be lost.

i realize i may be losing some of you (i feel my own cynicism jab), but i think that's part of the process of unearthing your *magic* is to come up against this resistance. what if i don't have anything to share? what if i've lost my way? what if i don't exactly know yet... yes. all of these are fears that bubble up to surface and then it is our job to trust our voice and move forward.

i share this with you as an invitation. in the hopes it might get someone out of a creative rut. and because i am personally on this path of unfurling my own creativity. and because it's confusing in the midst of trend forecasting and the immediacy of art and design blogs (that i personally adore down to the bones) to not be insanely influenced. it's challenging to slow down, listen close and strive for original ideas and to own your*magic*. i think it takes lots of practice and heaps of encouragement.

thank you hugh hands + feather, fern and bougainvillea care of bernal hill.

antler magazine

i just spent the last bit swooning over the fantastic on-line mag antler. this month's issue is free and stunning! so many artist interviews and inspiring photography.

i was mentioned on their blog last week and since then seriously smitten by both the magazine & blog!

congrats to anne the awesome new blog editor and artist and creator behind these other 2 beautiful spots.

thursday style inspiration

as an artist, avid blog reader and color lover i'm always bookmarking and clipping inspiration to put on my wall or in my many binders (i'll have to show you these sometime).

today i culled together a trend of late of grey and yellow, plus a little feather love, that speaks to me like one of my feather power paintings~

both the headband and the shirt were originally discovered via one of my favorite style blogs modish. the room inspo was dragged onto my desktop and i neglected to note where (please let me know if you recognize so i can credit). what i love about the headband is that it's handmade and transferred watercolor... and the detailing on the shirt and cut and color combo of course... and the room i love because it reminds me of simple ways to potentially switch it up with the antlers, chalk board, paint and re-upholstering.

happy thursday,

mati 

nurturing creativity + everything is really ok

This Ted talk by Elizabeth Gilbert has made the blog-rounds, but i thought i'd share it here just in case you haven't heard it or want to listen again.

I listened to it again today before going out in my studio and it's so wise. i particularly love her story about Tom Waits and message about just showing up and doing the work.

The last week I've been coming down from the excitement from our Little Pink Houses show and Renegade.  I recognize the post-show low as a natural part of my cycle now of the highs of putting so much energy out and receiving so much feedback. Even though it now takes me by less surprise it still is a process to get back into the studio and make new work. 

I really loved reading all the comments about why "Everything is OK". It made everything feel more than ok for me this past week. Thank you. The winner of Britt's awesome print picked randomly by my husband Hugh is Carm who said: 

The print is terrific! I love the sentiment and Brit's style. Thanks for the chance to win! oops... I almost forgot to tell you why everything is okay! It's okay because today my baby sister, who has always struggled with school, is registering for her first semester at the community college and she's ready and she's excited and I'm so glad.

Please get in touch and email me Carm at matimcd(at)hotmail(dot)com with your address! Congrats! For those of you who didn't win the print you can purchase it here.

we are back and it is sunny at last

so you would think june in maine would be full on summer, right? not so fast. all month long it was lush green and rainy dampness. it was beautiful and perfect for hunkering down to paint, but man, i'm happy to see the sun today in SF!
while in maine i mostly wore my SF winter clothes-- long cardigan, jeans, scarves and boots, but i was pining for summery clothes like below. loving the fashion inspiration that creature comforts has culled together here with my painting!

can't resist sharing...

these beautiful keepsake boxes.

they are a collab with the art of my dear friend, birthday sister, big inspiration and former 'mate in the compound sabrina + presented by another amazing artist anahata and line. 

wow. cannot wait till they are available!