Don't Give Up Pandora

Is it just me or is this time of year slightly depressing?  To combat the general malaise... ahem (big words for big feelings) I paint, and I paint strong women plus I meditate and call upon Her. I participated in a Spiral Dance led by Starhawk for Winter Solstice last Saturday in LA after attending the Renegade Craft Fair; what a dichotomy!  Perhaps I'm being harsh but the fair felt like Gen Y's in corporate art mode (beautiful and all, but very very digital and the art all looked the same) and then in the Reclaiming Tradition the Solstice event was of course pagan and kinda like attending church for smart hippies; lots of dancing, calling in of the elements and drumming by folks with very interesting names.  I prefer the latter; dancing freely is fun! Plus Starhawk with her permaculture activist background orates spectacularly; all of us were mesmerized as we swayed in tune with her words and her drum.

Check for available prints and originals at CreativeSoulGuides.com

Today's painting is yet another Goddess-ey being who i named Pandora after listening to Tori Amos' song Pandora's Aquarium. Tori is a Goddess, so if you haven't listened to her yet...do. She rocks magically, big time.

About the Creative Soul Guides ~ Art to Awaken Your Creative Soul

Creative Soul Guides help us enter into other realms; realms where inspiration, quirkiness, love, and being different are okay.

Kathy Crabbe painted the Creative Soul Guides with her non-dominant left hand. This awakened Kathy's intuition and she started giving Creative Soul Readings using a deck of 88 cards.

Coming soon! Soul Essence Portraits - a Creative Soul Reading combined with a painting of your soul's essence.

Kathy Crabbe is a Creative Soul Guide, artist, author and educator who has devoted her life to exploring spirituality and creativity with passion and integrity. Kathy empowers soul-seekers to live the life of their dreams through online resources, inspirational art, Divine Feminine eClasses, eBooks, and Creative Soul Readings infused with a rich background in the arts.

Ask Selma

Ask Selma. Go Ahead.

Be

Brave.

The hardest lesson is to love what you already have.

Page to the left is from my sketchbook: Kathy Crabbe, Ask Selma, 2013, ink & gouache on paper, 5 x 7”. Shop here.

Ask Selma via Kathy here (scroll down).

What's a geek-ey, extroverted artist from small-town Southern Ontario, Canada to DO in the countryside of Southern Cali for fun?

Yup, that's right...I draw...people, faces, figures, cartoons to keep me company, & lots of em! You can check them out here: Lefties Aliens Goddesses Fairies Mermaids Cartoons (new)

**To purchase prints or originals please click here for my Etsy Shop.

How to connect with a cartoon community

Kathy Crabbe, Queeniel, 2013, ink on paper, 5 x 7”.

My intention this month (at the New Moon) was to connect with a community of creatives for encouragement and networking, but I wasn't too specific about what kind of creatives, although the person I really hoped to connect with was Vanessa Davis, a cartoonist I just discovered who is very much a part of the vibrant cartoon community that exists in the United States. I've been super inspired by her interviews, podcasts, videos and artwork which can be found on her website: http://www.spanielrage.com/contact/

But the realllly interesting thing is that I sketched a cartooney face that looked very much like Vanessa just two days before I discovered her online. I was visiting Los Angeles for the weekend and purchased a small sketch book and some Asian brush pens whilst in Little Tokyo and was really inspired to start sketching right away especially after visiting the Japanese American Museum for the Giant Robot Biennale 3 show where I especially loved the cartoon-ey art of Saelee Oh. I was also inspired by the artists and toys I found at Q Pop Shop. I wrote this about the whole experience:

Looking back on this trip I feel as though it freed me up...to be me, to just dream and not worry about it...but also to think about everything differently and to realize and respect all I do know and all I've learned along the way during my 47 years on Planet Earth.

The drawing that looks a bit like Vanessa is posted above and I do believe it helped me find her and then befriend her on Facebook where we just started a conversation today - woot! Gotta love the internet at times like this.

**To purchase prints and original drawings by me please click here for my Etsy Shop.

Don't Second Guess Yourself

I attribute my recent work, in part, to the awesome art materials I picked up in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles at Kinokuniya Bookstore. I'm using a Boku-Undo Co. 11mm fountain pen and Kuretake (Bimoji) brush pens in sizes 0.5-1.5mm and 0.3-1.0mm in a 5x7 inch New Soho series sketchpad (for watercolour). Pens are like clothes for me and new pens make me feel extra creative.

I was also inspired by the work of cartoonist, Vanessa Davis and especially liked this comment from her mom as told in an interview with Vanessa: "Don’t second guess yourself. Leave that to everyone else."

Oh ya, the other really interesting thing is that the first drawing I did in my new sketchbook (while in Little Tokyo) was a woman's face that looked remarkably like Vanessa Davis, third eye and all! I may post it later after I connect with Vanessa and see what she thinks.

Spartacus by Kathy Crabbe. Magic Powers: Computer genius Flies-by-night Musician

Today is the New Moon (in 21 degrees Capricorn) so if you're an astrology buff you might want to check to see where that lands in your natal birth chart and if you don't have a chart I offer several Astrology Reports here on my site. For an interesting and informative astro-read I recommend the blog of Emily Trinkaus, a Portland area astrologer who I've had the pleasure of meeting and hearing speak.

I created a deck of oracle cards called the Lefty Oracle cards and if you want to 'pull one' for the New Moon please be my guest! I pulled the one below which relates to the recent transits I've been undergoing: Uranus Opposition and Uranus conjunct my Ascendant. Uranus relates to Kundalini energy which relates to the snake.

Kathy Crabbe, Sue got real cozy with her inner serpent, 2012, mixed media on paper, 8.5 x 11”.

**To purchase the drawings above as originals or prints please check out my Etsy Store or email me.