My sketchbook drawing with ink and stamps copyright 2013
I love spring and I’m thrilled that my cherry trees, finally planted into the ground, seem to be thriving. Deer ate some of the early blossoms, but I have been spraying an all natural product for fruit trees to keep them away (with hot pepper and cinnamon or something in it to keep the deer from nibbling). There are so many little cherries growing, I hope the birds don’t eat all of them.
Fu Dog /Acrylic and pastel on paper/ Elaine Clayton copyright 1997
I had a collie I very much loved as a child. I had a lot of deep emotions about this dog that I was not very conscious of having, and a dream along with another event healed me in unexpected ways. When I was about twenty five, I had a dream that I saw my collie, and I walked over, sat down and embraced him. I slowly realized that actually, he was a lion, not a dog. I felt I might be in danger hugging a lion like that. But then the dream switched, even though I was still in the same place. It was as if a screen was lowered to help me understand. A Chinese Fu dog, shimmering and magical, was dancing the most adorable dance. A few months later, I happened to walk by a pet store and desperately wanted to “rescue” one from the place. It was a furry fuzz ball of a puppy, but it seemed to pick ME. So I bought this dog and on the way out of the store, the attendant said to me, “Here’s a book that will tell you about this kind of dog.” I knew nothing, but looking at the little book saw that it was a Shi Tzu and inside it said, that this dog breed was known as Fu Dog or “Lion Dog”. I felt slammed by that, in a good way. I kept thinking, “What if my dream about my beloved dog from childhood was telling me that he was coming back in the form of a new dog, a protector, a lion. A lion dog?” Having this extremely interesting dream connection and the new dog in many ways healed me in that the dog provided companionship and unconditional devotion as well as a lesson in responsibility, grounding me. I still feel this dream and many others are spiritual signs and worth paying attention to. Over the years, my artwork has included Fu Dogs I like to connect to the feeling of synchronicity and guardianship, emotional and physical. (My current dog is a pug, also very much a Fu Dog, she literally dances and prances).
Once a few years ago, I was dreaming (just before waking up at dawn) and was hovering over some rocks and plants. I had the complete sensation of being not just one with everything, but of BEING everything. The feeling was as if in an instance, but a forever kind of feeling. I can’t really explain it, but I felt I was not limited to this body, I was everywhere all at once. Now that it’s spring, I love walking around outside and trying to feel myself blend in with everything, the trees, the leaves, the sky. The blurry leaves shimmering in the distance, the rocks and even the air. When I do this I feel a kind of “zing” that is elating and for a moment I almost have that “I am everything, everywhere” feeling again.
Detail from Planty Goes to Heaven/ Elaine Clayton copyright 2013
My beloved companion, Plantagenet, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel died a few months ago and I was so sad, feeling his devotion, love and innocence to the very end. I truly felt the deepest grief. I was helped by my sisters and friends and tried to meditate about it. In one meditation, I saw in the quickest flash, a perfect scene of a bright and loving man, a sort of Saint Francis (only he looked so golden, he may have been like a Nordic St. Francis!) beaming with joy to receive Planty, and all around him in a green wood were animals of every kind. I was stricken by the absolute calm and beauty of that flash of imagery. I so wanted to believe it to be true. I have learned over the years to trust quick visual messages like that –often that is how spiritual information arrives. Later, I did a meditation by sitting with the sunlight on my back. I saw Planty in the realm I created, a place I go to whenever I meditate. He was gloriously happy at the beach (his favorite place to go) running and playing with other dogs. I saw him looking so healthy and young, and all the colors so vibrant and pure. Gradually, I noticed a beach hut that other dogs were trotting into. I went in to get a closer look, and saw that it was a cute little shack with attractive boxes of all kinds of dog treats, ready for the taking. Like a dog candy shop and all the goodies were free. I was amused by that. Then Planty made his way up the hill where there were wonderful houses, and a castle. I followed. In the castle, there were lots of other Cavalier’s and wonderful rooms full of rich, dark wood and cozy beds or chairs to lay on, rugs and candles lit on tables. There was even a virtuous looking princess, a lady who all the Cavaliers loved, living at the castle. Planty conveyed to me that this was his new home in heaven. I came out of the meditation and immediately discounted it as just my way of trying to deal with the pain of losing him. Besides, why would dogs live in houses in heaven?
A few moments later I went on line to read about Near Death Experiences. I never tire of reading those. I found one I had not read before and the woman telling of her stroke and NDE, leaving her body while doctors tried to save her, she described how she was met by none other than her beloved DOG. I was stunned. The synchronicity hit me hard! There’s more. As I read on, she described how her dog showed her where she lived in the spirit realm, and it was a beautiful house with a view of the hills and dales, a fire in the fireplace and cozy rugs to lay on! I could not believe what I was reading. I realized that of course dogs would live in houses in heaven, they’re domesticated and our home is their home. They have their favorite places in the house just as we might.
I painted this painting when I was deep in grief and still haven’t finished it.
Seeing intuitively, the way I experience it, is to be visually open and to expect that things will show you more than just whatever their literal meanings or uses might be. There is always an opportunity to create and play with whatever is in your environment, and to transform it so the message comes through. I could have been agitated that I found gum wrappers on the floor (and usually am), but this one was so well worn by being in a boy’s pocket through probably multiple wash and dry cycles, that it faded in the most delicious way. I snapped it up on my way to get the boys out of bed for school, and almost skipped to the studio, laying it on the drawing table to see what it wanted to become. It is so nice out today, so much birdsong and sunshine that I thought this bubble gum wrapper wanted to be a sundress. So here it is!
Spirit Painting for J.R. 2013 copyright Elaine Clayton www.illuminara.com
This is a recent Spirit Painting commission that had a powerful synchronistic happening connected with it. I noted for the client that there is a “cloud bird”—a dove flying overhead in her Spirit Painting, and I knew inwardly while meditating and painting that this bird had to be in the painting, even if I did not exactly know why. This bird, like the other elements in the painting are what arrived into my consciousness while meditating specifically on behalf of the one who commissioned the piece. AMAZINGLY, after she received the Spirit Painting, a white dove visited her while she worked in her garden!!! She said that the dove watched her tend to her plants from very close by, and she and others were actually able to hold this dove in their hands. I felt this was an enormously important synchronicity, and a truly wonderful event because, how often after having a dove painted for you, does a dove come visit for a while?
Katherine Miller was in my graduate program at School of Visual Arts in NYC. I know her to be sensitive, empathic and a fun, gifted and lively person. As an artist, that deep sensitivity in her powerfully comes through her art (and makes me immediately have strong feelings). She’s brilliant! I wanted to share one of her recent paintings, a favorite of mine. I absolutely love it—I feel as though I’m in some kind of snow crystal gem when I look at it, something good is going to happen, something mysterious and otherworldly.
Katherine Miller Mediatations, 42%22×42%22.rtfd
Was this a premonition vision?
This is a repost of an illuminara.com post I put up in 2012. In this meditation/astral vision (I was fully conscious and felt I was being “instructed” or shown important things) I saw a terrible explosion, or rather the smoke plumes following a fire or explosion. The image in the right at top is a small watercolor and ink sketch I made of the vision. There were explosions in an open plains area. I’m originally from Texas so I know the feeling of standing on land that is so wide and so flat, you can see for miles beyond. In this vision, there were explosions far in the horizon but clearly visible and clearly very momentous and dire. I thought of it when I heard about the West, Texas explosion. In the vision, however, there were 3 plumes of smoke, not just one and I am not sure why. The crater image on the top left of this meditation sketch reminds me of all the reports of sinkholes we see lately. This crater like opening was full of sand, so I felt it was a beach area or coastal kind of event. I felt like I could intensely see each grain of sand (this kind of sharpness of vision in astral meditations is often experienced). And as far as undersea volcanoes or quakes, seen at the bottom, I am open to learning what this may mean. I do not expect what I see in visions to always or necessarily ever come true, I just try to have the courage to share what comes to me if it feels especially sharp, clear and gripping. I’m happy if anything scary does not come true, of course. I think we all have an ability to perceive precognitive information, it is only a matter of paying attention and writing or drawing what comes. These may just as often be wonderful, beautiful visions as they may be dire and worrisome in nature. I do not like to spread negativity or fear, but acknowledging difficulties or challenges is a positive and caring approach in that we can be prepared and have time to shore up our resolve to love and flourish even amidst the hardships of earth-life.
Spirit Paintings, Reiki and Intuitive Reading sessions in NYC and CT @ illuminara.com
Watercolor Ladies/ Elaine Clayton copyright 2013
I heard it may be a very wet April. Great time to take out the watercolors and let them flow and flow. I also can’t wait to use the brayer (a roller, one of my favorite art supplies). Spring into your flow, your dreams and streams of consciousness while creating something. The playfulness will open up all your senses and allow your imagination to surface. In my new book, MAKING MARKS, due out next year, I focus on that aspect of intuition that in essence is the mind-body-spirit working together to feel the flow and unlock personal unconscious memory (much like my first book on intuition, ILLUMINARA INTUITIVE JOURNAL–which even more than being a book it is a journal for YOUR thoughts and impressions). I wish you happy, playful times being creative in whatever way you choose.
