Amy Hillenbrand

5 THINGS I DO TO CLEAR MY MIND FOR PAINTING

amy — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 17:13:35 +0000

It is my intention that my paintings have an impact on people to help them heal and bring them joy and happiness into their lives and into their souls. As we have all heard many times, everything is energy and in that vein, thoughts are energy. So before and during my painting time I want to have a clear mind, clean energy and become an empty vessel so that I may download joy into all my paintings. I want to be singularly focused on the task at hand. If my mind is swirling with a to do list or my latest conversation, I am actually multi-tasking… the opposite of a singular focus. Sometimes this is easier said than done. Over time I have come to realize I utilize different “tools” to help me go to that Zen place. Depending on what is going on in my mind I use different methods. I share these with you so that you might find an idea that could help you get in your most creative space.

Listen to Tibetan Bowls

I think music has always been a way for visual artists to get in the flow. I do have my favorite Pandora stations and Sonos’ channels, but over time I realized that my mind would pay attention to the words of the song and my body would pick up the energy of the songwriter. The words and energy would side track me and before I knew it my mind would start to ponder why the lover left or what caused the heartbreak, LOL!

So what was the alternative? I thought back many years ago when I went to Cranial Sacral Healer in California. Before and after her sessions she would begin by playing Tibetan Bowls. It would immediately put me in a beautiful relaxed state and clear my mind of all it’s busy-ness. They have such a healing quality. Many articles and studies have been done to prove exactly that. I found a site that plays continuous sounds. Tibetan Bowls sounds is what I was personally looking for but, there are many other sounds to choose from.

Stare at the Sky

This may be one of the easiest on my list. I think I stole it from my childhood when I would sit in a field of wild daisies for hours on end and look up into the sky. It has such a tranquil and calming energy and yet it feels very powerful. The beautiful blue color and vastness has a mesmerizing ability like no other. It never fails to bring a smile to my face and the blankness in the canvas of the sky allows my mind to fall quiet. Try it. Trust me. You’ll like it.

Listen to a Guided Meditation
Sometimes when my mind is especially busy, I will use a guided meditation to calm it down. I use an app on my phone called Insight Timer. It’s free! There is an endless supply of guided meditations on that app, with every topic under the sun. You can also use the timer feature to sit in your own quiet meditation.
One of my favorite guided meditations on that app is by Tara Brach called, “Loving This Life-Happiness”. It always puts a smile on my face, clears my mind and puts me in the perfect mode to paint.
There are times when I find I have an emotional upset which makes it almost impossible for me to paint. When I’m in that state, I will use a meditation that will get to the core of the issue and release it. It was created by my good friend Wendy Down. She is an amazing life coach and energy healer. The meditation is called “Pure Sleep Now”, but like I said, I use it to release an emotional issue. You can find the meditation here.

Move Your Body

Back in the day when I owned a design firm, I did a talk every year at a nearby University for the Interior Design students. One of the topics I spoke on was: What to do when you’re stuck and no creative juices are flowing. My simple solution was to go for a walk. It makes sense that our body and brains need oxygen to function at optimal capacity. There are studies upon studies that will speak to the virtues of movement and how it benefits our bodies. I know from personal experience taking a walk or jumping around my studio to my favorite dance music works! Try it. Trust me. It helps!

Pet a Kitty

We all know that loving a pet can do wonders for our lives, but did you know why?

According to Dr. David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. a kitties purr calibrates at 500 on the scale of human consciousness. This is the same level that love measures. According to Hawkins we, as humans, live at vastly different “levels” of consciousness. Hawkins’ Consciousness Scale ranges from 0-1000, (1000 is the Highest Level of pure/consciousness humanly possible.) This Love level (same as a kittens purr) is the level which opens the door to benevolence, mercy, and forgiveness. This is a beautiful level to create from, don’t you think? Google Dr. David R. Hawkins and learn more.

These are just some of the things I do to help me get to the right head space in which to create from. I would love to hear from you if they work for you or what practices you use.

A Peek Inside my Artist Studio

amy — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:58:54 +0000

I lived in Austin, TX for eight years and was very happy with my friends, my home and my very art-friendly city. So when my husband suggested we move to San Antonio, I have to say I wasn’t very gung-ho over the idea. But then he said the magic words- new artist studio.

In my old house I had the easel in my living room. It was the room right next to the front door. It had big beautiful windows, but it was by the front door. Did I say it was by the front door? I felt I needed to have the room perfectly picked up at all times. I’m not a messy painter, but as an artist I just had stuff and more stuff. So lots of canvases started migrating across the foyer to the dining room. etc etc etc… Any-hoo, my husband “had me” at NEW ARTIST STUDIO!

The Painting Corner

This is my light-filled painting corner. As luck would have it, the studio has north facing windows. The perfect light for painting. I have large windows on three sides on my studio, painting heaven! Outside the windows I have several bird feeders, so when Sophie isn’t supervising my process she is bird watching.

Across from the easel I have my comfy chair. Perfect place for my muse to taker her catnap. I’m surprised she isn’t in this pic.

I love this wonderful antique bookcase that I my husband collected about 30 years ago. It has been used for many things over the years. I found these handy-dandy baskets, which fit perfectly in the shelves. Love when things like that happen. I separate my paint by color- yellow, red, blue, greens. So now it is super-easy to find a tube when I’m painting.

Storage!!

I was able to custom design the room to have storage for my canvases, books, papers, shipping materials and equipment. Now all that stuff has a home. I made the storage closets 5′ deep and added shelves up to the ceiling. In the closet to the left of the sink, I added a counter with file cabinets underneath to put my printer on and other messy stuff. The Christmas before we moved into this house my Dad gave me a nice Christmas check, I used the money to add a sink. A sink!! It feels like such a luxury. In my others homes, I was always washing brushes in my kitchen sink, so this is so fantastic.

Finishing Touches

On one wall I have an old mantel that my husband and I found in a antique store when we lived in San Diego. It has moved several times and found a home in my studio. It serves no function other than I think it’s cool. There is also an extra easel to put my paintings as they are drying. I think all artist studios should have an old mantel in it, ha! The painting on the easel is called Orchid Ovation.

This sweet little chair is what I designed the room around. I loved it’s color it the inspiration for the drapes, paint color and the rug. Above the chair is a piece of art I bought about 25 years ago. It is a whimsical painting of a kitty. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I realized that I now own a real kitty that looks a lot like this art.

And there you have it! Let me know when you’re in the area, I’ll give a personal tour.

Royal Value

amy — Sun, 20 May 2018 15:08:11 +0000

I’ve been creating these energy paintings for the last two years or so and I have come to know that it is important for me to deeply feel them and allow the healing to heal me first. Makes sense right? I really didn’t know that that would be how it would work when I started out.

Recently my intuition has been talking louder and louder, poking at me to fully express what my energy-infused paintings mean and how they can help others. Oh, how I have resisted. I can be somewhat bashful with this type of thing. Since my resistance persisted the Universe started using other people to say it to me. So in the last couple weeks I have had three different people say that to me.

In the following paragraphs you will read about my journey with the energy-infused paintings. I am calling this painting “Royal Values”. As I write this I am quite in awe with what has unfolded as I created this painting.

I never exactly plan what energy vibrations will be in my next painting, they just come to me and then somehow magically the perfect subject matter appears with it. This particular painting I was guided to infuse the painting with value of self. I didn’t know exactly know what it meant when I started out. This particular image of a peony was quite intimidating and then add to that, it was four feet wide.

Value Time

I do start out with an energy intention, but as I paint, I learn lessons along the way that deepen my own healing on the issue at hand. My first lesson was to value my time. Many times during my painting sessions my phone would ring. Many times I will answer because I am valuing the caller more than my scared painting time. I could feel myself wanting to answer but Istayed steady and continued painting. It is quite a disturbance when I’m channeling and painting to be interrupted with another’s energy. I learned to honor and value my own time.

Value Intuition

As it is a large painting, it took several weeks to create. I grew impatient so a couple days in a row I forced myself to paint 7-8 hours a day. I did this even though I could feel the fatigue. The painting became very laborious and the painting quality suffered. I later had to go back and fix those areas. The next few days I wasn’t able to paint. I was wiped…meaning I was very weary and had no gumption to continue to work on the piece. I know my lesson was to value my own inner voice.

So in the days following I didn’t paint, really couldn’t paint. I did other things in my life that I had set aside. I considered them unimportant or stated another way, they held no value for me. Boy, was I wrong. As an energy light-worker it is important I have the clearest cleanest energy possible.

I had things in my life that were tolerations. Things that wereslowly driving me crazy and mucking up my energy. First I tackled my kitchen. Every single time I opened the door to my pantry I was bugged not fully aware of the subconscious annoying conversation going on in my head. After the pantry was all cleaned up,my energy felt clearer, but I still wasn’t ready to paint.

Value What Feeds You

Next I tackled my patio. I’m a huge plant lover. Spring in Texas had started in February and there were many projects that whispered to me every time I time I stepped outside. Nagging thoughts like: re–pot this, make this work, clean this out, etc. I dug in and started the work. The whole time my ego voice was screaming at me to stop and laying a guilt trip on me. I worked and worked until all the little projects were complete, so I could feel complete when I stepped outside and no longer have the un-done projects disturbing my peace. My plant babies were happy and I was happy. As I was working another value lesson was emerging. I began to value my green thumb and my ability to create beautiful spaces. I also became aware how much my plant babies feed me and always have. I ignored them and did not recognize what value they added to my life. This is one way I fill up my well.

Value Divine Timing

Weirdly, I still wasn’t ready to paint. So it was time to send out for a life-line. I texted a trusted light-worker and pondered my procrastination even though I loved what was happening on the canvas. She texted back two words: Divine Timing. Yet another thing in my life I was devaluing. God’s timing. I allowed the words to wash through my body. I was to trust and value the Source that moves through me and enables me to create energy-infused art.

NOW I was ready to go back to the canvas. It flowed. The love, the joy and the ability to be present so I could infuse while painting. I felt clear and it felt effortless to paint once more.

After it was done, I wondered will the energy healing “work” for others. I had a friend stand in front of the painting and stare at it for awhile and then have her close her eyes. I asked her what she felt. She felt a swirling around the throat chakra. When the swirling finished she said she could feel a clearing of some sort. Wow!

I researched what the throat chakra represented. The colors associated with the throat are often blues, deep purples and aquas. Wow! I say wow because noneof this was planned. The throat chakra’s emphasis is on expressing and projecting the creativity into the world according to its perfect form of authenticity. The throat chakra is about the expression of yourself, your truth and the purpose in life and creativity.

So how does “Value of Self” tie into the throat chakra? I used to think that the solution to a problem was the complete opposite of the problem. For example, in this case, if the problem was the inability to express one’s own purpose and authenticity then the solution would be to talk more, express more, be more, right? I tried that; it doesn’t work. This is like putting lipstick on a pig. You have to get to what is causing the problem to begin with.

But now I’ve come to understand that there usually is a seemly unrelated antidote or solution to heal something. In this case, it was to value thy self- royally! When one can truly value themselves they are fueled with the ability to fully express. If you don’t value yourself you can’t project your true authentic purpose or true authentic creativity out in the world, can you?

Watch this quick video about this painting, click the link below.

Royal Value Video