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By admin, December 16, 2009 1:34 pm

A few years ago I had a dream – a native woman (native to where, I am not sure) sat atop the world getting information from ‘above’ about how she was a protector of the Earth and her equine ancestors were going to help her. I saw tree roots growing from her feet, encircling the planet as horses rushed to surround her, offering their help in the form of energy.

Yes, well… I agree, that was a very strange dream! I awoke the next morning and sketched the memory so it wouldn’t fade over time, documenting exactly how I saw the details of the woman’s posture, the light beam from above taking the shape of a star, and even the coloring of some of the horses. It was almost a year later when using the drawings I had made that morning, I sketched out the whole composition onto a canvas. That canvas rested on an easel in my house in New York for two more years while I traveled and relocated to Denver.

I brought the unfinished canvas to Denver almost a year ago and rested it against a wall with a stack of other empty canvases and one or two finished ones, and then promptly forgot about it. I had completed a few paintings in the interim and when I was taking inventory of canvases I had and canvases yet needed for the multitudes of ideas pouring into my head when there appeared the dream painting canvas. At first it seemed to quietly suggest to me that I might want to finish. I put it at the front of the stack then went about my business for a few days.

From the corner of the room where the canvases rested I could have sworn I heard, “Ahem…” a few times. I would look up from my computer very quickly and catch site of the native woman still in her peaceful, trance-like position, the horses frozen in time looking at her.

“I guess that wasn’t you,” I would say, responding in the painting’s direction.

Time passed and I became busily engaged in writing, finishing one or two other works which just seemed simpler to me. Sometimes I would awake in the night and the dream painting would enter my thoughts. I would begin to imagine how I might represent the earth in the dream, or how that beam of light would be as luminescent as it was in the dream. I guess you could say the painting just wouldn’t stay out of my mind for long.

You would think that after all that time the actual mechanics of completing the painting would be simple enough. I mean, for Heaven’s sake! How much time does an artist have to ‘imagine’ painting something before she can just sit down and do it? It felt like an eternity. The horses are always the most complicated part of a painting for me. Not because of their difficulty necessarily, but rather because I like to make them so detailed that I can almost feel the personality of each animal. That takes time and I do a good portion of them (especially their faces) with a very fine brush. It is a process of love. I never get overly frustrated when painting horses. The people and backgrounds – well, that’s another story. I guess I don’t have the same ‘affinity’ for people as I do horses! I finished the horses, each taking at least a day, maybe 4-5 hours of painting, and then I would stop for several days leaving the painting in full view in my studio, calling to me to not forget it yet again!

Eventually portion by portion, day after day, the painting came together until I could call it ‘probably complete’. As it is with almost all of my paintings, I can imagine I might add a little here and there, change this or that, but that is well in the future – if ever. I feel I have given birth to this work I call “Equine Ancestors” with plenty of labor pains but also, always with the happy expectation of the final blessed event when I could introduce my ‘baby’ to the world like a proud parent… well, almost…

Sometime soon I will make this painting available as a limited edition canvas print, but for now you can have a look at it here at my blog.

Now on to the next!

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By admin, December 4, 2009 3:08 pm

Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons inspires young readers with its message of hope and importance of positive thinking.

by Thersa Sen

 If you think philosophy is exclusive for the entertainment of adults faced with the questions of mortality and those immersed in depression, think again. Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons, the third book in the popular series of Angels and Horses written by Kimberly Wickham, successfully infuses fantasy and philosophy in an engaging plot that thrills young readers with its inimitable storyline. The entire series devoid of the staples of current trend in children’s literature- the monstrous, the mythical and the Para normal- has succeeded in creating a new trend in children’s literature, by the way it artfully blends in fantasy and philosophy with downright realism.

 The Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons follows Tina as she becomes more responsible and mature enough to uncover and find meaning in the “mysteries of life”. In this series, Tina begins her journey as an anxious young middle school girl, who along with the growing pains is faced with many challenges that she can not endure on her own and cannot turn to adults around her for support. Her mother’s failing health and the domineering nature of her grandmother force her to find comfort in fantasy. In dark times, her pet horse Dancer offers her comfort and reassurance and together with the help of Marguerite, they transcend this disappointing earthly world through the cosmic lattice for more adventures in a parallel universe.  

 The common thread running through all the books in the series Angels and Horses is the “Law of attraction” – namely, positive thinking can affect the universe on a quantum level. In this book, Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons, Tina once again embraces the real world concept of “Law of Attraction” to affect the way the world works for her – or to put it rather simply, her positive attitude changes her life for the better. Learning to navigate the Cosmic Lattice, Tina and her friends Chucky and Polly, escape the boredom of a mundane school day and find fulfillment in their adventure “off world”. Yet, these “off world” experiences help them deal a difficult friendship which they finally make work using strategies they learned in a parallel universe.

 Writing philosophy is tough and writing philosophy for children is even tougher. The “Other Worldly Lessons” offered by Kimberly Wickham are presented in an endearing manner and the readers enjoy every minute of their stay in the parallel universe.

Tina’s transcending the cosmic lattice to explore nether world rather has symbolic and philosophical connotations. The author prompts the young readers to scrutinize their own subjective experience identical to that of Tina. As with the other two books in the series, Angels and Horses and Summer of Magic Horses, the Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons is accompanied by Kimberly Wickham’s unforgettable illustrations.  

 To read more about the series or to purchase Wickham’s books and prints, visit http://www.kimberlywickham.com/

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By admin, November 23, 2009 4:13 pm

I wonder why that is?

Sometimes when an artist creates it’s as if the messages of angels seem to flow through the fingertips – and then… well, then there are the ‘other times’! Sometimes it is a struggle! Not because the ideas aren’t there and the plan not in place, it’s the execution of said plan that’s a bit illusive.

OK. All the paints are globbed onto the palette ready for action, the water or solvent is ready, the brushes selected and the ‘canvas stare’ commences. After several minutes the brush is dipped and the application is inevitable… brrrrriiiiinggg… oh! Telephone interruption… long chat about absolutely nothing of importance. Several minutes later it’s back to the ‘canvas stare’.

Tic toc, tic toc… it’s too quiet in here, maybe some music… there, that’s better. Canvas stare resumes… hmmm… some tea will help! Yes that’s it, some tea! Tea is made, ‘canvas stare’ resumes… Then finally after several feeble attempts at encouraging the visions in the brain to translate through fingers to canvas the entire effort is abandoned, at least for the day.

“Maybe,” the artist says to herself, “tomorrow will be a better day to paint… I wonder what’s on TV…”

(At least that’s what my giving birth experience was, labor stopped a few times until the final delivery of the creation was enjoyed, although not without a fair amount of pain!)

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By KimberlyWickham, October 28, 2009 11:14 am

So if it is true that on a sub-atomic level, that invisible quantum creational plane, we are creating all that we experience, whose is the reality we need to pay attention to? What if we are experiencing different things? Is reality really and truly a fact or is it subjective?

In my reality it is snowing in Denver today. I have all the physical proof I need of that because I can see it, feel it and begrudgingly shovel its effects. What if someone across the street is looking out of their window at this very moment and is looking as a sunny, summer day? I turn on the news and I see the weather people talking about the snow so they must be experiencing the same thing I am. Is it our collective belief in this snow ‘fact’ that is creating this reality for a majority of people in Denver today? Or… am I making it all up? I am ‘believing’ it is snowing today, therefore it is.

Let’s go a little deeper… if the person across the street is seeing that sunny day he is ‘believing’ that, right? How do I know that on his news station the weather people aren’t reporting a sunny, summer day? Could both be happening at the same time? What??? Is there a parallel universe just over there in that other dimensional plane that I, in my current physical, low (dense) vibrational state, cannot access?

I actually like to think so. As a child I remember staring up at the clouds from my prone position on the grass, hands behind my head, one knee flopped over the other, imagining things like this. I even had a counter-ego, ‘make-believe’ friend whom I used to imagine living an opposite kind of life. She was having a winter day while I was dozing in the afternoon summer sun. She was bigger than I was and stronger, too as I remember. I imagined her as being part of me in a way, yet living in an alternate universe, not exactly a parallel one. Her world didn’t reflect mine exactly by any means and there were lots of times I was relieved to be living in my own world. I really believed in her. So, did she exist? How do we know?

I’ll tell you one thing, even though I can’t answer any of these questions with certainty I do know that my imaginary friend sure came in handy when I had to blame that broken dish on someone! For some reason my mother didn’t buy it…