Calling Council

At times, writing about our paintings can be a struggle, and how do we translate their messages for the initiate book? One of my periodic practices is calling council! 

Like getting information from an individual lady, I set paintings around me, pour a cuppa, and invite their wisdom. I allow myself time, and am creative in my inquiries! Are there ladies in addition to the 5 from your quest you wish to include in your Council? Perhaps one painted with Shloh or another IC teacher, before you began Color of Woman? While you may not include their stories in your book, they are part of your story and journey!

Note: per Jena - if English is your second language, you can write in your Mother tongue, and just share some highlights in English!! 

I called my first Council on Summer Solstice 2014, after finishing the second painting in Flora Aube's Art of Allowing online course, Sekhmet. Flora was one of Shiloh's first students to branch out, and begin her own school! 

I held a 'council' meeting with 11 of the 12 of paintings I'd done between Feb and June (!!), & my "star lady" wall hanging in the background, which I stitched for my bodywork room over a decade before.

Spirit Council

Gabriella, Mary, Daffy-Down-Dilly

Gabriella - is my Muse of Creativity, from the first IC class I'd taken in February,  a 'Muse Encounter' workshop with my friend artist Elisabeth Friese-Mick! I refined her face, & added ribbons to her dress ... and added interference paint 'sparkle' to her hair!

Mary of Magdala - was the first I painted with inspiration from Shiloh Sophia from an online offering!
 & little Daffy-Down-Dilly (March) was for a local daffodil festival.

Dancers, Wind Horse

I began "Dancers" in March, on International Women's day, & gifted to my ballet teacher Emma Seth - it still hangs in the Marchant Dance studio. 

Beginning ballet classes as an adult with Emma's mother Lynn brought a whole shift in consciousness and body awareness, and intentional movement. Lynn is an important part of my creative lineage.

Drawing and painting horses was an early love, and Wind Horse, with her Red Thread Rider, began in an open studio at Elisabeth's home. The Blue lady, Presence, is my little mama Lois - inspired by her HS photo (around 1933) and her beloved hills and trees.

When calling council, you might pull out several of the inquiries from each assignment, and hunt up notes from your painting process: intention for each lady, notes on symbols, where you got stuck and how she helped you find resolution.

You might wait to review your notes till AFTER you've gleaned a round of messages; then do another council session after that revisit! 

Your story cards hold insights for this process as well - pull a card before or after chatting with each lady, which rewrite are you present to? Does one of the symbols in the painting match this shift? Is there an ally? Are there insights and messages from other IC processes like your Medicine Basket that dovetail?

After the council, you can pull out and refine the stories and information about your individual quest paintings for your initiate book.  I got a small journal to record these messages from my quest paintings and other ladies, for a dose of inspiration when I need it! 

Social Media - Artist Page and Groups

If you're on Facebook, an easy next step is to create an artist page for your business. You can post photos of your own work, creations from your circles and your classes, post inquiries, and invite friends to "like" your page. As you host events, you can promote them by posting an Event invitation from your artist page, and share that on your personal page and in local groups. 

A way to let folks easily find that page is to add it as a "workplace" and a link will show up on

your profile page! Here's a video which shows how! 
My page is Nadya's  Atelier, and if you click on the link, you'll see some of the ways I use it. (I have several pages for my various "hats," massage, harp, Reiki and Qigong) 

One suggestion is to post on a regular schedule, say Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you have a blog, you can put up a link to a recent post, or one that's timely. You can also share invitations to Shiloh's and out RT sisters online offerings, short videos, etc. 

Once you're offering circles and classes, you may also wish to start a group for your beloveds, and add them as they attend. You can set it as private, and set basic groundrules.
You may decide to keep it local, or add other women as they express interest. Again, you can post events from your group (though the invitation will only go to group members) or share events you've posted from your artist page. 

Invite gals to get involved by posing inquiries and inviting them to post. Here's our local group, which is mainly for Creatives in our area. I offer invitations to WIP Wednesday, to post in both our group and the RT cafe classroom, share event and other information.
Down the road, you can also create a group for an online class, like Amber's "Women Unleashed"  

Creating an Artist Page and linking it to your personal page is a good first step in extending the Red Thread to beloveds, and sharing what you have to offer. This is also a way to begin to tap into your own Soul Work, what are your beloveds hungry for? What do you have to offer?

Here's the "about" blurb for my page:
Transforming stories and lives through Intentional Creativity® 
Ate-lier 
noun \a-tal-'yā\ A room where an artist works