Be inspired to create art and explore your creativity. In this episode, Meilin Ehlke shares her story of how she overcame the shock of losing her art to a fire and found a way to paint again. She talks about how she built a staffelai and used plant pigment in watercolor to create her art. Tune in to hear her inspiring story and learn how to get more into the harmonic dance of creativity!
Your host Meilin Ehlke takes you on a journey of self-discovery and exploration. From the warm nights in Germany to the chirping of frogs and birds, Meilin invites you to explore the beauty of the environment and find yourself in the process. Tune in to this episode and experience the harmony of the inside and outside, and the co-creation of the world around you.
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In Love and Light,
Meilin
Moving to oneness. Nourishing curiosity, embracing differences. Becoming one.
00:39 - Meilin
The warm nights that are here now in Germany, I'm really enjoying. I don't know about you, do you also love warm nights? It gives me a special feeling of finding myself and going into action of doing what I love. And I will tell you what it is in a moment. So stay tuned to this episode of Moving to Oneness. I'm your host, Meilin Ehlke, greeting you from Germany.
All the windows and doors are open at the moment. I feel a light breeze coming in. I'm looking out to the trees. They got a little bit of a rough time because the temperatures are sometimes now over 30 degrees. But what they bring along are those wonderful warm nights. And I love those. I miss them. I've lived 20 years in Georgia. That trained my body a little bit to be accustomed to hot sun, weather, air. And so I'm in heaven. And it pulled out something new. Let me tell you about it.
So when the environment goes to sleep, I love to sit on my porch. I have a porch here that little bit of an American style. So, little bit of nostalgia is here. It's a wood deck. And I sit out there and I look at the stars, the moon or the clouds. Ah, I feel that air and hear those sounds of the chirping frogs, in a way, right? And birds and insects and those summer calls of OOH, I forgot that name of those, uh, they always remind me of summer. Right. It's this chirping of insects in the trees. Nah, that's life. Probably remembered just when I stopped the recording. Yeah.
And I sit there and really feel in tune in everything. And sometimes I just take a little nap out there too, before I go inside again, because you can just melt away. So, how do you like your evenings when they're warm? Do you sit outside? Talking about Georgia, hey had those porches where I could sit outside. There came these thunderstorms. And here we'll talk about the thunderstorms here too. Even though the days are hot, they bring refreshing air, energy. It's more of a cleansing. And there's such a strong, fast change of energies that this cleansing is needed. And in a way, sometimes I think this hot weather is evaporating away, stagnicity or what is not needed. And then the breeze of the wind just blows it away and dissolves it, what is lingering in the air.
And the other side, though, I love it because these warm nights, again, when everyone is sleeping, what also happens to me, and maybe the same thing you notice, I can go more into who I am. The energies are similar to the winter, when the snow covers the earth, the energies of others lay down when they go asleep. And I can go and create. I'm more creative. I write into my little booklet a few things that I start remembering and want to jot down.
And on the other side, what is to be created? Those ideas come as well. And for me, what was interesting, and maybe you noticed that as well, the surrounding brings you inputs, brings you actions when you're aligned to your vision. And many of you are. Right? All of you have also set precise intent, direction of what you want to create. And you also will notice, if you concentrate on that, that the outside is bringing you the input.
So, there is a meshing at the moment. It's almost like in this figure eight, right? For too long we have been talking about the interior of us and the exterior and the inside and the outside. It felt so segregated, separated, and not so much in harmony and balance. And that is what's happening now. It's going into this beautiful dance of me adjusting to the outside, the outside adjusting to me, to my inner. And it is this co-creation, that is happening. Not that we are not just also now co-creating with so many others on this beautiful planet and in this cosmos, but it is also us that is going into this harmonic dance. Notice that a little bit. And if you don't feel it and you don't notice, ask some questions. Where there is a little bit stagnation or where it's not, and what you can do to get more into that harmonic dance? Yeah.
06:33 - Meilin
So, I was asked to be part of an artist exhibition, or is called because my Art is hanging there. Spoiler alert. 'Soulful Women' of an international group. Twelve women of us got together to paint and exhibit. And the interesting part is I got information, that I found on the Internet. Suddenly, from Georgia. I went to University of Athens. And suddenly there was a woman, that was sharing her life of an artist and I could remember all the creativity and the art I had done in Georgia. It's really interesting. And it ignited something new in me.
So, the first thing I had to do, everyone, I had to build a new 'Staffelei' it is the German word. I have to think about it in English one. It's where you stand a painting art, so you can paint standing. So you don't lie it flat. It's like three wooden things. You put it on it. So, I built a huge one, that I could lean against the wall and I put behind it an almost two meter by 1.5 meter piece of wood. Against which I can lean those canvases against. So, when you have many paintings you can put them next to each other. But you can use it also and paste other things on it. I loved it. I don't know if the painters are under you? You creatives may love it. I had paper there where I could test my colors on the brush.
08:10 - Meilin
Because the interesting part was there's a whole story of me losing my art to a fire when we moved. Wow, that is now almost eleven years ago. We moved from Munich here to Erlangen. And on the way here the moving truck burned in the middle of the highway. It was even on the news.
And all my art supplies and all my paintings on photographs burned. I'd been in Georgia a lot, on exhibitions and exhibits, I should say was a better word, where I had stopped painting for many years. After that shock, I mean, it all disappeared in an instant. Boof.
I was ready to go to a gallery here in Germany. And I mean those paintings needed a long time to paint. They were three dimensional layered. At that time out of acrylic, paper, oil on top, and then many other things on mixed medium.
So, for many years I couldn't paint until I found plant pigment in watercolor and slowly that reestablished a way for me to paint with plants and flowers. You understand me? You've been listening a while and know, that I do and am very connected to the plant world. Yeah. And still I cannot paint with acrylics or oils at the moment. I wanted to paint. For years. I've painted symbols. I've painted energy. Now I had the determination, or there was a need, whatever you want to call it, for me to paint a human being, an animal. So, also for the first time, a little bit of a vision came what to paint for that show. And I did it.
But I tell you there was often a moment where I was afraid to put the brush on because I had to paint and learn in reverse. I don't know, if you know watercolor, but in watercolor you have to paint from light to dark. You build up the dark later and you have to, in a way, plan your drawing extremely because you can't really cover up and bring out the light parts in your painting. You can use maybe white or you can take color off, but it's a little bit more difficult. Now, an acrylic and oil for those, that are new to this painting, you can put layers over, each other. You just wait for it to dry and you can paint and paint and paint over it. Acrylic dries really fast within a few minutes, up to an hour. Where with oils you may have to wait for a few weeks, but you can paint over it.
So, I was sitting there some nights, and because it was so nice and warm downstairs in the cellar, I felt comfortable to try. But sometimes I was afraid to even put a brush stroke there. Luckily, beautiful music, that some others of you are creating in this world, I could link into and have in the background. And the trust of whatever I'm going to do is going to be right. And I've spoken about this often on the show, right? To trust yourself and also to think about the future of whoever is going to look at the painting. That they feel the love and energy I've not put into there. So, that helped me to think about that.
Maybe this is something that will help you in whatever you're going to create. And that it's. Okay! And if it had the moments where I couldn't paint or I noticed it, I got up and did maybe some housework, some washing or did something else and came back when all of me was in a beautiful relaxed state, positive state, and then it would work. And also in the moments when you're not afraid, what happens too? You're more loose. So, your brush strokes are also more like in a dance. And that was fun because I could stand, I could sit, I could kneel and I have this big space. You don't have to worry about pressure if something's going to fall over because you have the wall, something large holding you. That was also a nice feeling.
12:14 - Meilin
And also you can feel that now on this earth, that communities are building everywhere, that we are being held, that we have a support system going. Reconnections are happening, more and more people are opening to trust each other again and start co-creating. All of this I'm noticing. And I put this energy into those pictures and then you put color on and even when it drips, it would drip in a way that it would fit the painting. Like one time, I put hair down and it dripped and it created exactly the shoulder, how it should go. And I said, oh my God, look at that. Even the water drop is in sync. Synchronizing with my intention. There was something fascinating to observe. So, I got it down and I started with the easy parts, plants. I painted plants forever as a landscape architect. Right. When we did drawings for clients to see. And that face slowly developed. And there it helps to look at shades and shapes and shadows. Oh, you're giving here a whole teaching. But I had to learn that too. right? To be a little bit removed and to think in a larger setting and by overlaying and overlapping and you create this three dimensionality. What had to come out of the hair? It was a feline, a panther.
14:28 - Meilin
This image I'm talking about, this painting. I called 'Gentle Strength' that a woman carries. Yeah. And that was a whole big experiencing. Again, painting a panther and his wisdom. Right? Because I am supported so often by felines. The small ones, the felis catus. Right? That is house cat. But also synchronizing in whatever country and whatever continent I was on, the felines living there, the cats.
And another part, I wasn't even done with the painting and I brought it for the hanging. And I knew I would get a few extra days, I could take the painting back and have it ready for the opening of the exhibit. And that is so beautiful. And maybe you am noticing this as well, how the women were understanding me. And they knew, I'm this way, that I paint in the last moment. I need these energies of urgencies. Being really connected to what is present just before paintings are being seen. And they all said, "yes, take it back home, finish it". Otherwise I would have left it hanging. And I didn't worry, there was no worry anymore that of being perfect. And maybe that comes with age, but also I knew it would be accepted, so I didn't have to worry about acceptance. Do you understand that there's suddenly this dissolving The judgment was gone. Or how or would I be judged, if judgment is there? So, these things came up a little bit, even though I don't live it so much anymore, but I had experienced it so often. So, to see that, that it has disappeared showed me how times have changed. I love that.
16:31 - Meilin
You may have loved that too. You noticing that as well, how everything is going into this interplay with you. And then another story. I was recently in Amsterdam, meeting other shamans, sorceresses and sorcerers. Where there was a storm the day we arrived, a huge storm, but even there, no trains and buses were running and it was chaotic. But people helped each other.
And we got there a little later, but everyone came a little later and we were all so happy to be rejoiced or to be reconnect it. Beautiful rituals were done, ceremonies were held. And at the end, again, think about it, after five days of beautiful weather, doing rituals with water, with the star nations and with people from many different cultures and countries coming together.
At the end, when everything was done, the thunderstorm came again, a short one, but to cleanse. But I also see it that when the thunder appears and the lightning, that it's a way also to anchor what I have done, what you have done, what we have done, right?
Because we're all here for a certain purpose to create our magic and to act now and to bring it into this material world. Many of you are doing such great work. We can feel it now. We can notice it now. I can notice it. You can notice it. And I think, that is fantastic. This just makes my heart jump. It's beautiful. It's beautiful, it's beautiful.
So tonight, again, I will enjoy this beautiful, warm evening, sit outside and think about what I've been speaking today about and let that sink in and bring more creativity, let more grow. And again, this interplay of warmth and water, and that it's a little different. And it's all there for us to bring back in our lives, in our work, on this planet, in this cosmos, this harmonic, balanced way of being. It's just fascinating this balanced and harmonic way of being.
So, do share with me on our Facebook group or write me and tell me how you're bringing that into your life and how you're noticing outside in the world. So, come to the Moving to Oneness Facebook a group and share that with the group, with me, so we can celebrate it, that we feel connected, that we are not alone. There is this connectivity, collaboration, and community.
So, I wish you the best. I'm Meilin Ehlke, your host of the Moving to Oneness podcast show. Bye, bye. The best to you. Enjoy the summer. And if you live on the other side of this beautiful blue planet, you're feeling probably the similarity, but in the coolness. Bye, bye.