Jacquelyn Markham

Mother in the 40′s 

So often, we learn about ordinary folks who do extraordinary things in response to some personal experience.  My sister is among those who has been moved to do something out of the ordinary.   (more…)

sunflowers & chrysanthemums, acrylic on canvas, by Jacquelyn Markham

April is slipping by.  Earth Day has come and gone, but to me, every day is earth day.  And every month is poetry month!

Poet Ko On, blends earth and poetry beautifully in the poem… (more…)

Billie Holiday wearing her signature Gardenias

Lady Sings the Blues….

April 7 is the birthday of the legendary Billie Holiday who would have been 92 had she lived to celebrate her birthday today.  “Lady Sings the Blues,” a tune she wrote with Herbert Nichols, is on my music stand now, and I’m reading her autobiography of the same title.  In her spiritual presence, I’m continually reminded of the power and the resilience of the human spirit. 

And oh, Billie’s life was tragic and triumphant!   (more…)

March 1st! The first day of Women’s History Month! Are you celebrating?

I want to share some of the legacy of women that enriches my life. (more…)

          The first days of February can be much more celebratory than the dreary Ground Hog’s Day usually recognized at this cross quarter of the earth’s cycle.  Candlemas, celebrated on February 1 or 2, marks half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, opposite of Lammas as the wheel turns.  Candlemas, considered sacred to women and the Goddess of Love by early Romans, was celebrated among the Celts as the Feast of Imbolg.  Candlemas featured celebrations of fire, love, and taking omens to predict the new growing season (thus, the currently observed Ground Hog’s Day).
An old rhyme said:

“If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight: If Candlemas Day be shower and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again” (Hazlitt, W. Carew).

          The passionate fires of Candlemas… (more…)

           Interconnectedness is the key word in my philosophy on the creative process.  This view has emerged organically from my own experience in life and art.
            Like the ancient tradition of shamanism with the power to unify our lives through ceremony and pilgrimages to sacred places, a deep awareness of our interconnectedness can unify or help us recognize unity in the seemingly disparate elements of our lives.  That awareness has opened to me a way to learn and teach that centers not on hierarchical and linear methods, but on organic growth and development.

(more…)

How do we keep the dream of a creative life burning? How do we find moments to create amidst mortgages, bank accounts, work life, children, and the demands of everyday domesticity?

As I’ve discussed more on my Painting Page, creative expression in any form helps to keep the dream alive. 

Maybe I have only ten minutes to play my flute.  Then, I play my flute. Perhaps I can steal 30 minutes to make a sketch of the backyard or a pear from the fruit bowl.  It’s late at night, maybe even the wee morning hours, all asleep.  Could I apply magenta or prussian blue in a slow, meditative wash on a sheet of luscious Arches handmade paper to form a backdrop for a painting another time?  Simply the color and the craft of the handmade paper feeds the spirit.

(more…)