creativenachos.com Blog

It is Christmas Eve.

I always feel a deep sense of warmth and quiet reverence for this night because it somehow feels slightly magical to me. Late tonight, when Santa is making his way across the sky I will stand beneath the stars -looking for the brightest one – and send my wishes and prayers sailing along the Milky Way. Silently, I will look at my life and feel a deep sense of gratitude for my family despite all their craziness and my friends, friends like you.

Thank you to friends both old and new for having traveled this road with me this year. Thank you for the comments, the thoughtfulness, the laughter, the tears, the comfort, the adventure and all the love you shared with me. Thank you for being so honest and helping me to learn the greatest lesson in life thus far and that has been that opening my heart is to truly live.

If you have a moment, I invite you to slow down or stop, look upon the face of heaven and feel all the love I am sending to you today, tonight and always.

Merry Christmas to all of you beautiful souls and your families. May you be surrounded by more good than you ever imagined.

I have a really beautiful friend named Margot. She lives in Romania and yet she touches my heart on a daily basis. Margot is a beautiful artist but she is far more than that – she is love. Sound cliche? It might but that doesn’t matter because it is the absolute truth. I have never met someone who moves through the world on a solid foundation of love and yet she does. She shares her love so deeply that you *feel* in her words so strongly that she becomes a presence in the room, in your life and in your heart. The way that Margot gives of herself inspires me to live my life more from my heart than from my head. She is love and when she asked me to be a part of her series, The Love Gift, I was incredibly honored. Throughout this series she has spotlighted other artists who use love as a foundation of their practice and each one has taught me something about living and loving.

I would like to invite you to visit her site and read my piece, “What Makes the World Go Round?” and the pieces of all the people who have shared. When you finish reading and experiencing her work, I promise you, you will feel like you just received the greatest hug in the world.

Love to each of you, always.

Original Painting by Natasha Reilly, Copyright 2011

When I created this work, I was thinking about how we *see* one another. One of the most powerful moments in any relationship is that pivotal time when you are opening yourself to another, allowing them to see the light and dark colors the live in your soul. It is the most vulnerable moment filled with risk and yet nothing in this life brings more growth on every level of your life.

When was the last time you let someone see you?

When was the last time you really saw someone?

Original Painting by Natasha Reilly 2011

I firmly believe that when we hold people in our thoughts and surround them in love you can create pure beauty. That’s what happened when I created this work for someone.

Do you hold intentions when you create?

Original Teased Painting by Natasha Reilly 2011

Angry. That’s what I was when I first teased this image out of my painting. Why did it not look like the image I had in my head of the woman dancing behind this large, flowing feather?? After a few minutes, I need to be honest. My anger gave way to a huge fit of giggles. I mean, tell me does this “woman” not look terribly masculine?? It looks like a guy masquerading as a woman dancing with this huge feather thing and it makes me laugh HARD!!!

I was overjoyed when my anger gave way to laughter because honestly it let this recovering perfectionist do two things. The first was to let go of perfection …again. I needed to understand that much like not really seeing your face in a mirror because as the beautiful John O’Donoghue pointed out mirrors can lie the vision our brain *sees* and the vision our hands and body hold are often two very different things. The second was that I’m new to this teasing things out of the painting and I need to be kind to myself. That means I need to trust that what comes to life is what is supposed to be there. Trust – ah the word that surfaces time and again. So while I saw the fish and flowers and all sorts of things, this is what came to life in my hands and in true Tasha fashion, it was funny enough to make me laugh!

What word presents itself again and again in your work??

Original painting by Natasha Reilly Copyright 2011

Tracie Hanson, exceptionally talented artist and creator of My Blooming Life, opened up y entire way of seeing the world when she showed me how there are images that live inside the paint – all we need to do is tease them out. This is my latest and greatest. Now, the perfectionist in me says, “Leave it alone. It’s fine as is..” but the wild fiery soul inside screams, “Tease it, tease it, tease it out!”

Original Painting by Natasha Reilly Copyright 2011

So, before I unveil what I found I want to ask you – look close….do you see anything in the paint?? I’ve already gotten some cool images from family. I want to hear YOU!