Cary Wyninger - Art N' Soul

42 years approaching for me...and I'm not afraid of getting older so much.  I don't think I am anyway.  I'd like to say the older I get the less I give a crap (shit...fuck...rat's ass....whatever you want to call it) but that wouldn't be true.  I do give a crap.  I do care....I just care more deeply about certain things.  I care less whether or not I have wrinkles and care more about Mother Earth and her ability to live whole and healthy.  I care less about the weight I carry around my torso and more about how we treat eachother and ourselves with decency, respect....love....and understanding.  I care less about the silver streaks that are coming more rapidly in my red headed hair and care more about raising my children to honor themselves, honor open-mindness, honor nature and our fellow life around us.  I care less about whether or not my art sells or is 'good' or is something I should even do....and I care more about the simple fact that we should just be doing it.  More of it.  Daily.  Listening to our inner promptings.  Just do it.  Just be in it.  

 

Things are not just black and white...they are FILLED with grey.  It can seem complicated, but I think only if you're looking for a single answer.  It's made me look at the color grey...and all things grey that have been popping up in my life lately.  So I've been getting grey hairs all over the place recently, I've mentioned it already...it's okay.  I'm not covering it up, not dying over them, not plucking them.  It is what it is and no shame if other people color or pluck.  We each do what we want to do.  I had a little love affair with the Great Grey Owl (it might still be going on a bit....and really with owls in general) but the Great Grey Owl is so breathtakingly beautiful....and the name...'Great Grey'.  Yes.  Love.  I've had 2 dreams in the past 6 months or so about a little grey kitten that was found (in strange places in my dreams cuz you know, dreams are strange sometimes!!).  Those little grey kittens felt big to me for some reason.  And then to top it off, a little feral grey fluffy kitten was sighted late last fall near our house.  We worked all winter feeding it and providing a warm place for it to survive.  We finally gained its trust...and she has come into our lives with such silly antics and the best cheek rubs.  I can't get over her silvery tufts of fur behind her ears and her grey fluffy tail.  I'm totally in love.  She's complicated and simple all in one....but I feel her.  

 

And so I'm honoring the grey!  I'm going to think in all the different shades of grey (there's more than 50 ;-)  )  I'll be dabbling in incorporating more 'grey' in my art and in my life!  I hope to share more grey themed things in the up and coming months...until then....

 

Peace and Love :-)  

Once in awhile I like to write it out...as well as paint it out.  My connections and thought processes and life contemplations.  It's not of any formal technique but just a free flow of words that come to mind.  Here is one of those times :-)  

 

Piece by piece

It's woven together

What feels right

What feels whole.

I'm remembering

The stories

The connections

A source of pain

A source of "unexplained" fear.

Also, a source of healing.  

 

Whole-hearted connection

Whole-hearted understanding

While keeping the air of mystery

As it's supposed to be.  

 

Acknowledgment

I see it...

I feel it...

I accept it.  

I accept the challenges

To understand and be understood.

To be open and still have boundaries of my own.

I accept the challenges

of what my soul craves.

 

Balance

Restored balance

in many forms of Life.

 

I give reverence to those before me

To myself for who I was before, and who I am now.

Reverence for the wisdom

The songs

The dance

The gifts.

 

I forgive.

I do my best

To what calls me

To lead how I can

To heal and be healed.

 

Peace and Love Always :-)  

 

~Cary Wyninger    Art N' Soul

 

Painting:  "Sacred Ground"  12"x16" oil on canvas

Like the swift, cool, autumn breeze...I feel the time to move on from my soul feathers is shifting.  I sat down last Tuesday, paper and pen in hand....and just sat.  I didn't feel compelled to draw a feather.  I felt a little lost.  I realized that it is time to move on to the next idea that has been brewing inside.  I've had this idea of blending surreal, dream-like scenes with colors, women figures morphed into birds or having wings.  Who knows what other images will appear (trees and moons?)  

Ideas are funny that way and I find it interesting to see my pieces move and grow.  I'm diving deep in them and letting the slight obsession take over.  I dream about them, I see them around me in day to day life.  I think about them and what they mean.  

So I hope you stay tuned to the next phase!  My season is changing. I hope you find the time and inspiration to create something yourself!  I hope you take that to the next step and SHOW what you create, speak about what you create, and appreciate what speaks to you on a personal level :-) 

 

Peace and love,

 

~Cary

So much so much so much!!  Breathing through some lovely artistic growth spurts and overall life loving alltogether!  Some days I feel I have a good footing and balance....following a solid action plan.  Other days I'm eating a cheddar wurst for breakfast while my mind whirls and twirls away from me.  That's perfect!  Absolutely have to remember to breathe...let some things go and balance it out!  Direct my energy where it's softly leading me....and right now it's sitting down to write this out. 

 

My art has been revolving around the feeling of freedom.  One of my core desired feelings....Freedom.  I've been doing waterolor washes, and finding images





 within the colors and saturations.  There's been alot of feathers and leaves...and now feathers have become my latest obsession.  I love them.  I love what they symbolize, and I love that it's coinciding with my feelings that I am free to be who I am.  Free to listen to what my gut tells me, my intuition.  Free to follow what I love unapologetically.  Free to love myself as is!  Free to let things go but in a non-judgemental way.  Free to find balance in many forms.  My heart sings as I type this up :-)  And I feel extra good about what I've been creating because I've been incorporating stones and crystals (as I feel seems right at the time) laid out on the pieces as I and overnight when I'm done working.  This extra boost of good energy adds tons of awesomeness in my mind.  Hopefully offering extra power to their new people as they hang them in their new places. 

 

I have yet to get all the information on current pieces up on the website...but they will be complete and up for sale within the next couple weeks.  I have launched a campaign to sell 100 shirts with my 'Freedom Feather' printed on it (it only goes till 8/22/17!!)  My hope is to simpy spread this simple message...to be free.  Free to be you in all your glory :-)  Click on the link to get yours...or to buy one for a friend as a kind gesture. 

 

 

Peace and Love to you all!!

 

~Cary  Art N' Soul

 

https://www.bonfire.com/carys-campaign-8/

 

I think about alot.  We all do...or most of us do...and sometimes I have these mini 'epiphanies' where I've all of sudden figured something out that's been mulling over within my head.  During the end of a beautiful yoga session, I had this moment of a meshing between my head and heart....it was a moment where a HUGE thought/idea/philosophy came full circle.  I have no idea how long that thought took for me to even think about it....but it was so big that I cannot even find the real words to fully express it.  But I'll try :-)  Balance.  The constant strive for balance.  There is no message that is all true...because so much changes in terms of us, what we need and our environment.  But one thing rings true...is we look for balance.  Yin and yang.  One of my favorite symbols and philosphies....it's huge!  We act...we rest.  We're bright and bubbly....we're low and bloppy.  The yin and yang concept is so huge that I cannot fully go into it...but I feel my insides have wrapped myself around it much, much more fully. 

For me personally...one of my balance needs is grounding.  Earth.  Soil.  Shade.  Quiet.  Not to be mistaken as depressed....I'm resting.  I'm taking the energy that has attached itself to me and I hadn't let it go through...I held it.  I'm full of it.  I can't shake it....and so I feel shaky.  I then need to partake in the activities that I can release those energies that don't nourish me....let them release, let them absorb, recycle to new, clean energy....so they can be light and positive again.  Back out into the world....as something of love.  That is why such activities as art, (visual, poetry, dance, music) and yoga, other exercise, meditation, prayer, touching with nature (hikes, walks in the woods, gardening etc.), getting a massage (or reiki) amongst MANY MANY activities that fuel your inner self are so uber important.  They provide your fuel to continue. 

Neither is bad.  Resting isn't bad.  Activity isn't bad.  They both have their place and time....and we all need to find our personal balance.  And to each their own...our balance isn't my neighbor's balance.  No judgment needed....it is what it is. 

So cheers to you!  Whether you're resting right now, napping or sitting...or writing, drawing or playing music...listening to music....or totally being active with yourself and getting big things done...cheers to you!  :-)  Do it with heart and soul....and follow your ebb and flow by honoring the balance :-) 

~ Cary Wyninger  Art N' Soul

And that's okay.  I just have to remind myself of that from time to time.  Sometimes many times.  Per day. 

We already know there isn't really a "perfect" anyway, right?  It's defined by our own minds and what we've let society/enviroment define for us.  I'm talking more in terms of my art right now, although in general too.  In terms of my art...I have fear.  Fear of what other people will think, say, question...fear that I won't even like it myself!  I have high expectations.  That fear and expectations I have for myself get in the way of just plain appreciating every little thing I can.  The beauty in the process, the steps, the colors, the shapes, the flow of it all.  The beauty in just letting go and let the piece guide me.  The beauty in sharing, collaborating and growing.  It's all beautiful.  The mistakes are beautiful.  They aren't mistakes.  They're there whether you want to change them or leave them be and bask in the beauty of whatever it is. 

Okay so now that I've gone off on that...back to what my point was. 

Now that I'm letting go of concrete, preconceived ideas of what my art should look like, I've begun to do some small watercolors that are purely abstract...purely working from intuition on whatever it is I'm feeling and trying to put a visual look to the feels.  These two were done in short phases along the day. 

So I'm hoping if you feel the fear...the fear that someone else does the same thing you do, or the fear that whatever you're doing isn't 'cool' enough, 'orginal' enough, 'fine arty' enough.  Push through it.  Do it anyway.  Work anyway.  Bask in the beauty of it instead! 

 

Peace and Love...

~Cary

So what the heck is going on now?  I spent much time in January and February preparing  pieces for my "Spirit Trees" show.  Now still playing catchup with commission work that was all put on hold...but I'm already thinking about what's next!  Do I want to even go there?  All of "Spirit Trees" have yet to find homes!  Where am I going to safely keep them?  Perhaps I need to find another place to show them after April 11th...that is end date for Gallery M ( http://www.janetmootz.com )

 

So the order of events thus far:

1.  Finish current commission work

2.  Create new pet portrait pieces for Best Friends Pet Clinic in Galesville, where I have other portraits hung but need fresh new faces on the walls! ( http://www.galesvillevet.com )

3.  Mural work at Zen and Pow Studio's new space...yeeha!!!  ( http://balancenowzenandpow.com/ )

4.  May will be the Art for Animals Fundraiser Spring Art Gala!  fundraiser for Trempealeau County Humane Society  ( http://www.tchspets.org/ )

 

Eek!  On top of that my mind has been brewing for more pieces...another grouping of pieces that are


"Old Souls" type.  Ever since I've done this horse piece called "Just Be" I've been thinking about how certain lives seem to have old souls within them.  People, animals, trees even...and as I encounter them I'd like to paint them :-)  Have you ever encountered someone or some thing that just emanates 'Old Soul" ??

 

Stay tuned if you feel so inclined on the upcoming excitement in my world...shoot me a message of your thoughts or words of encouragements, I just may need them :-) 

 

Earth without art is just 'eh'...right?  Trees, plants and the neverending landscapes are Mother Earth's artistic creations.  I just happen to focus on trees sometimes :-)  I love them, I love the different barks, the leaves, pine needles (don't get me started on the pine smell or pine songs!), the branches, the twists and turns trees can make.  I love their roots and how they can grow in the most outrageous places.  They have a lifeline.  Their trunks connect their earthy roots to their reaching out branches that kiss the wind.  They are a lifeline.  We rely on them for breath...physical and spiritual/emotional/mental breath. 

I aim to honor them by not painting just how they look, but how I imagine they feel.  Or how they make me feel.  I aim to inspire other tree huggers to come together and pause for just a moment, and feel their presence.  Maybe give a little gratitude for them just doing what they do...being what the're supposed to be...dancing with nature's rythmns. 

What do the trees do for you?  Say to you?  Mean to you?

 

'Let's take our hearts for a walk in the woods, and listen to the magical whispers of old trees'

 

~Peace and Love..... Cary

 

"Love and Light"  oil on canvas 2016 

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