It’s time to have fun and create a beautiful piece of  work in your style, while being inspired by the steps in this lesson! Remember to take the tips and suggestions I give you and make it your own. The goal of this lesson is to create a piece that speaks to your own intuition and spiritual guidance. One that is beautiful and full of meaning and magic, detail, sweeping movements, and will continue to unfold its meaning while you live with it. We will also give attention to the elements and principles of symbolism plus a mini lesson on art and design. I have so much fun creating these for people, and I know you will too!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. A few sheets of 6x9 Artagain Black Paper  I take one 6x9 inch sheet and cut it in half. The end result will be 3x4.5. This is a nice size to finish in less than an hour and also a standard size to find mats and frames for without going to a large expense. Once you lear this technique, feel free to experiment. I enjoy working in a square format myself.  

2.    At least 9 Sakura Gel Pens or other gel pens of your choice. I recommend using ones that are metallic and / or glitter, this helps them show up against black paper. 

3.    Good quality colored pencils, such as Prismacolor pencils. Which ever pencils you choose, they have to have a high concentration of color to binder so that they will show up, again against the black paper. Make sure you have a good white or light one in the set. I use this  as you will see.  Also a pencil sharpener.

4. Blue painter’s tape, or non-tacky tape that will not leave a sticky residue. You can find this at your local hardware store.

5. You may want to make a small (less than $5) investment in a color wheel from your favorite art shop. Or print one out from the internet. 

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Instructions

1.    Lay down the paper on your work surface. If you need to , use a low residual tape to tape the paper down. I personally find it easier to be able to move the paper around as I draw.

2.   Place all of your materials where you can easily see and reach them. I tend to lay out all of my pencils and pens in one layer/ color order (whatever makes sense to you. I tend to go with the old "Red, Orange, Green & Blue...).  I start out OCD like this, but as the drawing session goes on, I am, let's just say, not the neatest in putting them back where they belong! 

3.   Get your self in a good space mentally. Minimize distractions and any reasons for you to have to get up. Please be prepared for a good session of about 30-45 min.  

4.  Take your light pencil and lightly sketch 2-4 blocks of space in the rectangle. It doesn't matter how or where. Let spirit guide you. Think about if you want thick or thin borders in between the sections.

5.  Once you feel ready, pay attention with your third eye and notice what symbols, animals, plants etc... pop into your consciousness. This is the most challenging part of the lesson and it deserves your time, so don’t rush it. Begin to draw botanical, animal, and abstract motifs also with the white pencil. Connect the symbols and motifs with vines or a repeating pattern. Keep drawing lightly, as it is difficult to erase on this paper without seeing the marks. Its fine if you will keep coloring over it, but if you want to incorporate negative space, you want to keep the paper in a clean condition. 

6.    Keeping adding images. If you run out of steam, (and this happens when you over think what you should draw) remember this is an exercise to tap into your intuition. Your human brain has no place here.  Feel free to take a break from coming up with images and start coloring in what you already have drawn. This switches the part of your brain you are using, so your third eye can start again to do its work without over thinking and judging.

** A note here***

Please PLEASE be careful of censoring or judging yourself. Try not to let self doubt and your inner critic have a loud voice in this exercise.  This does not have to ever be seen by another pair of eyes. 

7.    Begin to fill in your drawn areas with gel pen and color pencil.  View this part as a meditation and lightly fill in the areas you have drawn out. You may need to go over certain parts several times. Think about how you want this to feel. If Calm and soothing, use colors that are adjacent on the color wheel(analogous) Pink/red/orange...pick one to be dominant and the other two play a supporting role. Do you want an excitement and pulsation of energy? Use colors opposite on the wheel(Complementary)  such as Reds & Teals. Purple & Green, Blue & yellow.  Really mellow and other worldly? Choose a more or less monochromatic scheme, shades and tints of one color. 

But again, there are no real rules, this is your piece, this is a reflection of your soul or what your soul wants you to know at this particular moment. Feel free to also use any and all the colors you want!

8. As you go back and forth with images and colors. You may start to feel a pull to a certain area of your piece. Pay attention to what that symbol is telling you. What color does it want to be?  What does it want to play with next to it? Flowers? Water drops? Or abstract spirals denoting the universality of us all?

19. If you are not sure when your piece is done. You may want to take a break from it. Walk away, do something fun and then come back to it. Later today or tomorrow should give you a fresh perspective on if it is complete.

11. Last, but definitely not least, sign your creation. This could become a focal point on your alter, or the alter in your kitchen, your fridge! Sit with the symbols that came through for you. Are there a lot of water features? You may want to look at the amount of emotion in your life right now and how you are reacting or processing it. Did a moon or a sun make an appearance? Look at how masculine and feminine energy play a role in your situation right now. I have included a basic list of the universal signs that come up a lot in my readings. If you want to go even deeper, hit the internet or your local library. Joseph Campbell is a favorite author/resource of mine. 

**A note on mating and framing. If you buy a standard mat, a white mat will set off the black of the paper and the vivid colors of the materials used nicely. When you put the image in the mat, you only need to use one piece of acid free tape in the middle of the top. Two if it is a larger size. This acts as a hinge, but allows the piece to hang freely and in this way you will avoid any wrinkles or buckling of the paper. **

Some common symbols:

Birds - Messengers from the spirit realm

Plants -  Mother earth. Look into the meanings of certain plants and flowers

Sun -  Masculine Energy

Moon - Feminine Energy

Spirals - The universe and our souls place in it

Bird tracks/ feathers - messages from loved ones who have passed on 

Water -  emotions

Phoenix - re birth

Lotus - ascension

Infinity sign -  the immortality of the soul

ying/yang -  Duality, good/bad, dark/light feminine/masculine

Heart - Love/peace

Heron - independence

Koi - abundance

This is just a small sampling of all the different symbols, elements, plants and animals out there available to you to use in your personal oracle card. 

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