Joanna Read
  • HOME
  • Etsy Shop
  • Shop the E M E R G E N C E Oracle Deck

Times of Transformation

10/23/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sketches and studies on Emergence from April 2015. Hand painted silk, wax, oil on panel. Gouache sketches.
This art from many moons ago feels like it was made for these collective times.

When we are right in the middle of the breakthrough it can be easy to freak out and forget how the messy discomfort is integral for anchoring in a new way of being.

It is the very discomfort of emergence that empowers the butterfly with the strength for its wings to be able to soar off into expansive, nectarous new horizons. 🦋 🌸

Making art, dancing, breathing, and being in nature are some of my favorite ways to ground within the discomfort. What are yours?
0 Comments

10/10: Celebrating 11 years in Business!

10/10/2021

0 Comments

 
I'm inspired and a little awe-struck imagining just how much joy, inspiration, and healing has colored the planet since I first set out to explore entrepreneurship through @Etsy 11 years ago today on 10.10.10, and I'm feeling especially grateful for all of the amazing customers who have supported its thriving!

Picture
While navigating the business aspects of sharing a creative practice that has served as an intimate anchor point for grounding what would have seemed at the beginning like an unfathomable amount of growth & transformation in the years ahead hasn’t been without it’s challenges, I'm proud that I've been able to stand my ground and remain committed to sharing authentically to the best of my abilities, while also holding the intentions lightly; doing my best to serve the moment, learning how to believe in myself, and allowing the work to flow through me like medicine all at once.
​Through thick and thin, this resilient little business has given so much back to me in the forms of adventure, empowerment, learning, fulfillment, joy, timelessness, and sooo many inspiring moments of heartfelt connection and synchronicity with amazing people all over the planet, and I am so grateful for all of it!
Picture
Pictured with Dance with the Queen mixed media diptych, an award-winning art piece featured in "Seeing Double" Attleboro Arts Museum juried show, 2010.
Picture
Picture
Process photos of silk painting - a combination of serti method and soy wax batik, from 2010.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Solo Show at Java Madness, Winter 2019.
Picture
From my very first art show in Fall 2010 at Hope Artiste Village!
Picture
Spirit Animal art class, from Outdoor Fitness & Yoga Retreat with Fit to Learn at Driftwood Ranch, Summer 2019.
0 Comments

The Wheel of Life

10/1/2021

0 Comments

 
​This painting came through me half a lifetime ago. I’m fairly certain it’s what led to the scholarships that opened the doorway to my college education.

At the time, I thought what I was painting was simply a dented, damaged bike wheel that was in need of a lot of repair. I was excited about all of the exploration and nuanced problem solving that I could employ in collapsing this mind-boggling 3D still-life into 2D form. The more I slowed down to observe, the more wonder and perfection I saw within the brokenness. I was completely captivated. Awestruck. 


It mesmerized me the the way the angle of the sun in the sky outside the brick building of the school could influence even the most tarnished expressions of color reflected back from the aluminum frame.
​
Picture
Wheel of Life - 24"x36" Acrylic on Canvas, 2003
Like the impressionists, I would sit for hours and observe the colors- fleetingly shifting and dancing across the wheel day after day. It was as though the sun itself was providing the rhythm, the response of light reflected was the melody, and the weather was the channel through which light expressed its potential: some days it was clear, other days cloudy.

Looking back, I can see how what came through in this painting was a transmission from my soul: it was showing me a snapshot of my inner landscape- shiny and beautiful, but in need of alignment and some serious TLC. In both process and form, the painting was asking for me to slow down and tend to the alignment of my inner being with the same sense of persistence, patience, and openness to learning that I was giving to the painting itself.
Picture
Age 17, at the Scholastic Art Awards with my mentor and teacher Phil Conrad.
Half a lifetime later, I feel like that I finally got the memo:

We don’t need to wait another half of a lifetime for the next big breakthrough, healing, or ah-ha moment. Our souls are constantly looking for ways to speak to us and guide us back into alignment with who we truly are.

Slowing down to become present to the channel of intelligence that is flowing through all of life, and developing a habit of consistently tuning our antenna to listen and receive, is all that’s needed for the next great shift.

The messages speak in as many languages as there are people on this planet.
0 Comments

    Joanna Elizabeth
    ​Read

    artist | adventurer | yoga teacher | life coach
    ◊ community 
    ◊ creativity 
    ◊ connection

    Archives

    July 2023
    June 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    November 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    July 2017
    February 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adventure
    Ancestral Healing
    Animal Medicine
    Art
    Chakras
    Collaborations
    Commissions
    Denali
    Driftwood Adventures
    Epigenetics
    Expressive Arts
    Florals
    Interviews
    Journaling
    Ladies Climbing Coalition
    Mandala
    Nature
    Nepal
    Philosophy
    Phoenix Rising
    Podcasts
    Reflection
    Shadow Work
    Trekking
    Wellness

    RSS Feed

CONTACT

[email protected]
© COPYRIGHT 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • HOME
  • Etsy Shop
  • Shop the E M E R G E N C E Oracle Deck