Deep Cauldron of Emotions: Lighting the Way through Personal Expression

When we dare to connect with and share our feelings, we light the way for others to do the same. This is the gift of writing and the glory of words. Have you ever read someone’s insights and felt the pouring of warm wax over the candle of understanding hidden within your soul? The writer’s …

Why I Create Art

“I love your art work…it is truly an expression of your soul at this time.” My friend Donna’s words expressed one of the many reasons why I create art. When the soul rumbles so deeply inside that I can’t express feelings with mere words, I disappear into my art room and make something. Sometimes I …

Immeasurable Love

Have you ever loved someone so much that your heart hurts when you part? You know they need to be free and immeasurable love asks you to release them so your own pain does not hamper their joy. I took my daughter to the airport early yesterday morning so she could travel throughout China and …

Vintage Purse Strings

A small, worn travel suitcase with the silver strings of a vintage purse draped over the side appeared in my dream as if a photo shoot. The image captivated me—camera shot hugged up close and angled towards a vanishing point. I rolled over in the dark and groggily sketched a crude reproduction onto journal pages. …

My Funny Valentine

It is rare in one’s lifetime to meet someone with whom your soul feels safe; someone who enlarges your heart and diminishes your fears and makes you laugh until your sides ache. We are two imperfect people, my Valentine and I, stumbling along life’s path with clasped hands. Sometimes we wrangle over home décor (both …

How to Make a Vintage Masquerade Mask

Soft and feminine yet brazen and bold; Hardly descriptors seeming to go together, except when you’re making a vintage, mixed media masquerade mask. I’d envisioned a vintage mask for weeks. In fact, the concept captivated me because I love all things vintage—aged colors of yellow ochre and burnt sienna with a splash of aqua green; …

Creative Gifts for Any Occasion

Here are some of the creative Christmas gifts my family and I received that I thought blog visitors might want to tuck away as a possible gift idea for any time of the year. One special treat was having my daughters spent some extra time with me. We went to see a movie together and …

A Recipe for Creativity

The rumbling inside bubbles; a brook of new beginnings beckons. Creativity’s call to contemplate and create. Newness surges, rushes over obstacles I’ve allowed to stymie me, to close my art room door, when I’m on the wrong side. So I wrestle with all of my realities, I’m too busy…need to go to the gym…fix up the house …

Deborah Keily Hanson: Pianist, Composer, Teacher

Meet the multi-talented Deborah Keily Hanson: pianist, composer, teacher and so much more! I play her music while creating because her unique arrangements inspire my creative muse. I first met Deborah almost twenty years ago when I returned from living in Europe. My children attended El Dorado where Deborah produced and directed over 20 musicals. I choreographed …