Well, it’s been 8 months since my last newsletter and post.  I decided it was time to shut down for a while and regenerate.  The world has been shaking the last 3 years at least.  In those three years I have been on a journey deep into my heart.  Learning who I am, what I want, and finding value in myself as both a woman and an artist. 

During that time, if you have followed my work you have seen me go from light to dark.  I have weaved through illustration and energy.  Sometimes pulling from the abstract and at times pushing everything into line.  My work has definitely mirrored my life.

My personal life was challenging as I went through some family tragedy as well as dealing with critical health issues that impacted me at every level of my being.  All the while I continued to paint and challenge myself while trying to fit into a box of the market I had chosen.

This was a good thing and it was a curse.  The market I have worked in has brought much into my life.  I have learned through my clients that I can control my health better using food as medicine vs. just going to the doctor.  I have found companionship in my spiritual quest as some of my peers have shared the same views.  I have been worked hard by publishers to the point where my eyes have gone blurry and my hand swelled up just trying to meet deadlines. 

I have done vending shows and found myself given the golden opportunity to be featured artist, featured speaker and keynote speaker.

All of this I found inside the box of my faerie niche.  But something was missing.

Within the confines of my work I was losing touch with the rest of me.  Being exposed to the market and marketing in such an intense way was pulling me further from my muse as well as my instincts which brought me to this place in the beginning.

I couldn’t feel the magic anymore.  Only the smooth and glossy production of creating “merchandise”.

Art was leaving the building.  I almost quit. 

Then two men that I know and respect got on the phone with me.  Both of them artists and creative geniuses.  They told me to paint for me.  To put away the noise and just stop for a while and do what feels good.  In fact, one of them told me that it would be a very sad day for him if I put down my brush because it made up such a wonderful part of me. 

Apparently that was enough to stop me from running away from myself and bring me back to the canvas.  Only this time I had unplugged the phone, stopped sending newsletters, stopped booking shows and just painted for the fun of painting.

It pulled me out of my niche.  It pulled me out of my head.  It pulled me back into the dance with my muse.

She woke up and began to just run around painting whatever. 

Having let go of so much the release left room for a new beginning.  With the turmoil and changes in the industry and country over the last 3 years there was a death of the “old way” in the business I have been in.  There is now a new way. New growth that I can see, like when the fires burn the trees in the mountains and the ground is covered in delicate fresh seedlings.  A new crop is forming.

I know through all of my meditation and soul searching after 8 months that it is time to release the residual life and  live in the freshness of this new day.  A new pattern, a new direction and a larger picture have all come clear.

I used to paint and then shrink my paintings down.  From now on I intend to reproduce them full size and/or blow them up.  I have finally found my happy place and a new level of confidence.  All of this from resting.

If you have found yourself running in mud I would like to respectfully suggest you rest for a bit too if you can.  Quiet the world around you long enough to see and hear something other than the white noise that has plugged your ears and covered your eyes.  I did.  And now I have a new website with all new work to show for it. 

I will continue to paint for my niche of faerie as it brings something into my life I can’t get anywhere else, but I have opened the door to expand myself beyond one realm so that I may continue to experience the many different facets of life through my art and exploration.

It was the good move for me. 

If you would like to see my new website you can go to www.LisaSteinkeArt.com and catch a glimpse of the direction I have been moving toward. 

Otherwise you can see the massive changes I’ve made to my old site at www.TheFaerieGathering.com , either way please let me know what you think.

Feedback is always appreciated.

Thanks for being patient and staying on this journey with me as I pull the stickers from my pants and continue down my unexplored path.

See you on the trail.

L

Hi friends.  With all the white noise I decided it was time to quiet down and focus.  With everything happening it feels good to get a clear vision and share it.  Normally I meditate alone and it is very, very personal. But this one is for everyone.  To share, to use, to agree and to enjoy.  Remember my friends. Breathe.

 I will sit in a circle of candle lit flames.

I will cleanse the space and energy around me with sacred sage.

No negativity will be allowed into this place and only purity of light and soul may reside.

With every candle I will light a way of being.

I light a candle in honor of love. May we remember to let it rule our minds.  I am love. I release it to the world. I allow loveability to be my guide and inner voice. May love be the healer and teacher.  May it be the glue that binds us to each other and reminds us each of our value and the value of those around us.  Not only our loved ones but the strangers we may never meet.

I light a candle in honor of peace.  May peace fill our hearts.  May it fill the hearts of those who are touched with anguish.  May they find rest and solice in the breath and remember to forget for just one moment and simply enjoy the opportunity to be alive.  May peace fill the hearts of the oppressors and leaders that they may know the importance of releasing power and absorbing love and life.

I light a candle in  honor of health.  May health come naturally and all un-natural causes be distracted from our bodies.  I release all unhealthy thoughts with every exhale. I release all unhealthy cells with every exhale.  I breathe deeply the light of memory that feeds my body healthy energy.  I remember in every cell what it means to feel, think, and live a healthy life.

I light a candle in honor of courage.  May we continue to carry the courage to take the risks necessary to live an outstanding life.  I release the fear that has attempted to speak to me, and for me.  I contain only the knowing that regardless the darkness of the unknown, there is nothing wrong here.  What ever I want for myself I can achieve.  May I be a beacon of courage for those who are seeking.  Send courage throughout the globe to all who are in fear and fill them with hope and possibility. 

I light a candle in honor of fortune.  May fortune be the path for all who dare to tread.  May we all remember that we truly are the fortunate ones.  Regardless of our physical state or place in life there is always fortune shining down on us.  May we notice the good and the abundance around us.  May we share our fortune with others and be confident in knowing there is always more.  No need to keep looking for it. It is here.  I give gratitude for all that I have and send prayers and thoughts of fortune to those in most desperate need. 

I light a candle for community.  May we continue to find our way through community in a healthy, loving, and compassionate way.  May we attract to us those who will honor us with the purity of their whole self.  I release the magnetic force that has ever drawn negativity to me and am now a mirror to those who are filled with honesty and sincerity. May we hold each other on this planet as brothers and sisters and remember that each soul matters.  No one light shines brighter or better than the next.

Finally, I light a candle for the vicitms of the wars, the famines, the victims of natural and manmade disasters.  This candle is for all of humanity.  May we come together in this time of need.  May we find the love, courage, strength, good fortune, and community necessary to re-invent this life on earth.  May the tears shed shine light on learning for the soul.  May the hearts broken shine knowledge on the need for compassion.  May the lives lost shine light on us all to transcend above hate, greed, ego, envy and power over others long enough to make life worth living and suffering for.  Let’s not forget how much has been sacrificed for our comforts and conditions. 

I sit in this circle of flames and the lights come together in my mind.  I inhale deeply and the light enters my body.  I exhale and release it all into the universe. I become one with the light and the world. 

I go into my personal prayer and leave you with these thoughts. 

Enjoy the moon magic my friends.

It’s time to create a Boom.

Lisa

Today was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining, my home was warm.  I had Enya and other magical music playing and I was happy all day.  How have I been able to achieve this space?  There are a few ways but here is the routine I have been following.

First, I have spent less than 5 minutes a day on Facebook. Yes I reinstated it, but I just didn’t want anyone to feel like I had abandoned them and frankly, I missed the people and connections I’ve made.

Second, I have been exercising every day (except when it snows).  I just briskly walk and jog for a little over a mile but it does wonders for my mood. Getting out in the sun feels so incredible.  Being a Leo and having the Sun as my ruling planet I must have sunshine or I whither up and get very dark very quickly.

Third, I have been meditating daily.  I set up a meditation circle in one of my rooms (used to be the formal dining room…boy was that a waste of space).  I smudge daily, pray and meditate.  I light candles, I think I have 10 at the moment.  They all represent ways of being.  Whatever it is I want to bring into the space.  I have big crystals that I had cleansed and I use them in meditation.  Wow they are powerful. It’s a trip when I open my chakras. I can feel them churning around. 

I can tell when I don’t exercise and meditate. It shows in my attitude and the way my body feels.  I probably drink too much coffee at the moment but that’s about it.  Otherwise I’m living clean and eating right.

Something happened when I stepped out of the market, the industry, the shows, and off of facebook.  I disconnected enough to find myself and my muse again. Quieted the voices.  When I came back to the world I came back to such a shift.  I have 3 manufacturers I’m working with, and don’t feel pressure at all.  I have friends around me that I see during the week for lunch and on weekends. (I knew they were out there, I just needed to take a step).

I guess, I just really needed a hiatus to get back on track and regenerate.  Like a band that played so many gigs for so long…it all just gets filled with noise and confusion.  Now I’m in studio and creating an entirely new line.  It’s a surprise.  I’ve been working on three projects at once and they are all coming along wonderfully.  I’ll be doing a show in September.  Sort of a release party so to speak and it will feature all of my new work.  But I’m going to hide it as much as possible until then.  I have some really wonderful new things coming for you and can’t wait to share!

It’s funny, I didn’t go down under for long.  I guess it was all I needed.  To clean off.  Freshen up.  Get an attitude adjustment. 

I’m not gone, I’m just doing like the bands do.  I’ve gone into studio to cut a new cd.  (that’s a metaphor my friends.)

Btw…still playing guitar and well, getting pretty good.

I hope you are all doing really well and staying happy.  Take time for yourselves to regroup and invest in yourselves.  We need all the energy we can muster up to keep the focus and stay clear.  Smudge people. That’s all I can say.

Hello friends.

It’s been a few days since I’ve been up on social media.  I spent quite a bit of time on facebook showing you all my artwork, sharing my thoughts and my life.

I thought I would set up this blog for a few reasons.  I really wanted to be able to communicate personally why I stepped away from facebook and I wanted to be able to let you know what is going on in world of Lisa.  For those of you who are interested read on.  If not, at least you know I’m not dead or hiding in a closet somewhere…lol…

So why the sudden jump off facebook?  Am I depressed? Do I hate someone?  Did someone say something mean? Am I crazy?

Well, maybe crazy but the rest are all a resounding no.

Let me first say that it wasn’t an easy choice.  I have met many friends that I consider very valuable on the internet and you mean very much to me.  I have recieved a great deal of companionship, creative stimulas and joy from participating.  I also intend to come back as soon as I am cleansed. 

It actually wasn’t a decision I made lightly or emotionally.  It’s something I have been thinking of doing for a few months now. If you were around the first of last year you’ll remember I cleaned out my studio.  Wanted to get all of the energy out of there and start completely fresh.  Then the first of this year, I pulled out of the market and chose not to paint to sell but just to paint for me.  Those two moved cleansed me creatively in ways I can’t express.  But there was still something feeding me that wasn’t working.  With all the purity I had put into my creative space there was still something that kept showing up for me in a disempowering way.

I realized finally that I had a soft addiction to facebook.  I used facebook for my social life as well as my work environment.  I spent my down time playing around and chatting.  It was fine except I am a bit of a hermit and well, if I am getting socially fed by the internet I am too comfortable to push myself to go outside my front door.  I have lived here in CO for almost 6 years and still don’t have what I would call many close friends.  It’s not because the people here aren’t worth knowing. It’s because I chose not to leave and get involved in anything other than “work” related activities.  I also realized I was using time on the computer to chat that I could be using to write, or create or play music.  Those three things feed my soul.  The internet for me was more like tv and channel surfing.  There were times I could have been hanging out with my kids that I was playing around of facebook as well.  So needless to say I really needed to take a break.

But there is more to it even than that.

I really needed  to be able to control what I was being exposed too.  With this soft addiction I’d wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, scroll down the feed of facebook and see what other people were doing.  I saw many different artists posts.  Right now doing my artwork I don’t want to expose myself to any other forms of art.  I want the energy to be completely pure.  I saw posts from reps and manufacturers and publishers.  I don’t want to be thinking about whether or not my work is marketable at the moment and yet with a morning dose of store owners and other types of buyers it was always there.  I saw posts from people who were angry or people who were sad or people who were hurting.  As much as I love my friends, it was sometimes a very brutal way to start a day with my coffee.  Now I start my day with my coffee and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer…haha.  Not that it’s more positive, but it’s just folly and is not anything more.

One of my biggest issues personally as an artist is my voice in my head that says I’m not good enough.  We all have our own thing and mine is that.  So when I would go on facebook and see other artists work I would sometimes compare my work and say “I wish I was as good as them”.  When I’m not doing that I love my art. I have a beautiful relationship with it. But when put into a forum of many, many other artists doing something similar I can’t help but get sucked in. There is also my issue with the fact that the stimulas is always the same.  I find that as an artist, I need new, fresh ideas and by being on there daily I am always hit with the same circle of creativity.  Nothing really pulls me into something that causes interest in the area of creative growth.

Right after I jumped off facebook I began to go out.  The first person I hung out with is a friend named Cher Lyn.  She’s really beautiful and extremely talented.  Her energy is so fascinating that just being around her makes me feel sparkly.  We went to lunch in Boulder and talked about doing a retreat together. (Hosting one, not going on one).  Who knows if we will really do it but the idea of moving beyond the same thing different day I’ve been living had me lit up.

A few nights later I went to a Gothic Art Benefit.  I auctioned off some of my work to help troubled teens and while there saw some amazing new art, met another artist and his wife who are so much fun.  He’s very unusual and so is his woman.  She reminded me a bit of Drucilla from Buffy only prettier and not crazy.  I listened to a band who had this Adam Ant meets Peter Murphy thing going.  Very cool music.

These things I would have not done if I had the crack high of my facebook fix.  Without the social fix of facebook I have to get out and do things or I go crazy. 

But for all my friends, I miss you and if you want to talk here on my blog or e-mail me, I am still up for a good chat.  This way though, I have control over what and who I am exposed to and I can clean myself of this soft addiction.

Maybe an easy way to look at it is I’ve gone into facebook rehab.  (Hello, my name is Lisa Steinke, I am a facebook aholic).

I’m much happier than I was and have been very busy here in the studio creating and playing music.

Please know that I love to hear from you and look forward to your e-mails.

Till next time,
L