Red… the colour of passion

Everything in nature is a vibration and every colour and tone of colours have their own frequency and wavelength as well. Our eyes perceive colours that vibrate with a wavelength of 400-750 nanometers and that fits right into the middle of the spectrum of light. The visible colours from lowest to highest frequency (longest to shortest wavelength) are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.

RedFlower

However, our body absorbs colour not only through our eyes but also through our skin, aura and energy field. The vibrations are subtle yet powerful as we simply by visualizing a colour can change how we feel about a situation.

Take the colour red, some people literally see red when they notice this colour… no wonder as it actually increases the pulse and heart rate AND raises our blood pressure. Oh yes, there’s proper research behind this statement! So beware of what you wear if you suffer from high blood pressure…

Red also increases our appetite by increasing our metabolism. This makes it easy to understand why a number of restaurants use this colour including what I think of as junk food corporations, such as McDonald and KFC!

Red is generally a colour of life, vitality and strength. It stimulates and vitalizes the body and it promotes heat as it increases the heart rate so it’s great for tiredness and depression. It also stimulates the will power and courage while it builds confidence and initiative. Just think of what a red sports car would mean or do to a lot of people!

Red is the color of blood and fire and is associated with meanings of love, passion, desire, heat, longing, lust, sexuality, sensitivity, romance and joy. Then of course there are what is normally known as masculine traits such as strength, leadership, courage, vigor and willpower which are also associated with red…  as is action, vibrance, radiance, and determination.

On the more negative side, rage, anger, danger, malice, wrath and stress are all red traits, which makes perfectly sense when we know that red actually increases the pulse! We even have expressions to that extent, for instance to be red with anger or seeing red, red flag being waved in front of us (warning of danger), being in the red (deficit on the account) and so on.

Red is a highly visible color and it seems to get people to make quick decisions. I suppose that’s why fire trucks and fire engines normally are painted red. In the same line, stop signs and lights are red to alert people about upcoming dangers while on the road.

This always makes me think of red as a bit of a paradox as it’s definitely means danger (fire) but then again it also means passion (fire) and sex and romance. I suppose romance and sex could be dangerous…?

For the Chinese, the colour red signifies good luck, joy, goodness and is normally used for happy occasions such as right now during Chinese New Year, at weddings and other celebrations. It also associated with good fortune. ChineseBride
Red can be a very useful colour as it can ward off evil… says the Chinese, as it’s also symbolic for fire, one of the important 5 elements on which they base their life and everything. And just so you know it: Evil spirits can not wear red. In short, red is the passion and pride of the Chinese!

In other cultures red means other things. For me, red is also associated with Christmas while I hear that in South Africa red is used for funerals.

Red is also used in politics where it is the colour used for socialist or communistic political views or for social democrat parties, in general.

So how to use red?

Wear it, surround yourself with if, look at it, hold it, eat it, drink it, think it… or breathe it!

Or buy a red painting like this one by me:

0110 Embrace

This painting is called “Embrace”, acrylic on canvas 81×81 cm and painted 2012 with this message:

Life is such a gentle creature yet we sometimes forget to pay attention to it. Sometimes we even take life for granted and completely ignore the beauty in the moments we experience. It is the small moments that makes our lives uniquely ours… whether we consider a particular moment good or bad, it’s still a moment and it has a meaning for us.

In reality there are no good or bad moments, they are all there for us to embrace because they shape us into who we are. It could be a child’s smile on a rainy day, the kindness of a stranger, the tear of an elder, the death of a friend. It could be a door opened… or a door shut… but it’s a moment and that moment could be our quantum leap in life.

Are you embracing the moments in your life? 

Use red if you feel cold, tired or lack energy. Play with it if you lack enthusiasm. Go to bed with it if you would like to feel sexy. Make it your companion if you feel insecure, fearful or anxious.

Have fun with red! It’s a great balancer of our sexual energy, our true life-force as well as creativity.

 

Workshop “Painting from your Heart”

Check out my next workshop in KL… it’s on 23-24 Feb 2013 from 9.30 am to 5 pm at my studio and garden.

This workshop is for you who would like to explore art as a tool to get in touch with yourself. It’s all about you and HOW you can let your feelings out on paper and canvas and what it means the stuff you’re creating. Suitable for both beginners and intermediate painters.

I will touch on WHY it is so important to be able to express the inner most feelings creatively. I will guide you through some exercises and meditations, which will help you create even if you haven’t painted before. And you will learn intuitive methods for painting and how to express yourself from the inside out through painting.

When you’ve created your artwork, I’ll help you analyse WHAT it really is that you painted.

Course fee includes 2 full days workshop, all materials, lunch and coffee/tea.

Standard price: RM600 per person
Early Birds before 5 Feb 13: RM450 per person
Fee must be paid in full latest 18 Feb 2013.

Book now… or call if you have any questions. For online bookings and more details:

www.paintingfromheart.eventbrite.com

Online sales of ArtT to Malaysia

As a start, we have managed to get up a page for people in Malaysia who wish to buy one or more of the colourful ArtTs online. Click the link ArtT catalogue at the top in the menu bar.

The team is still working on including the rest of the world… but of course we’ll sort it out anyway if you want an ArtT. Just let us know and we’ll organise it another way.

ArtTs arrived!!!

Today is a milestone… after dreaming about seing my artwork on clothing I finally received my first 4 boxes of ArtTs of high quality T-shirts with prints based on my art!

I’m ready to take orders!

Of course, as a typical artist (focusing more on fun than on systems) I have not yet set up an online payment gateway so you will have to mail me your order and do either a bank transfer or a PayPal transfer! Unless you live in KL of course… here we can do cash on delivery.

I actually already sold 10 ArtT to as many places as New Zealand, US, Australia, Singapore and the Netherlands… plus a few in KL.

Early Bird orders at 25% discount

I am (still) checking out shipping prices even though I’ve sold the first ArtTs. Typical me, I trust that everything will work out well even though I still don’t know how to handle this and online sales at the moment.

In the meantime, if you live in Kuala Lumpur we can just meet up if you want one of my ArtTs…. they come in all sizes by the way!

Price without shipping will be MYR199 per ArtT and for EARLY BIRDS for the first 1 month I will sell at MYR150 picked up at my studio (or meeting somewhere centrally in KL). That’s a whopping 25% you know! And that will be until end of Octobe 2012!

If you are from outside Malaysia (or Kuala Lumpur) we will just have find a shipping price and add that in mutual agreement.

Selling price is USD75, oh… a new idea, I tell you what… I’ll just go crazy and toss in the shipment as well in that price! But you better be fast then!

Donvang’s Walking Art Gallery

I would like to invite you to visit Donvang’s Walking Art Gallery which I have created on Facebook. The purpose of both this and the ArtT production is to spread joy and colourful vibes. I think that life should be fun and I believe that by wearing and surrounding ourselves with colours, we can help ourselves and others to lead a happier life!

Please help me spreading joy and colours by clicking LIKE on my Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/DonvangsWalkingArtGallery

Oh… and invite your friends too, please!

Launching my new ArtT in October

I am really excited about this… my first two T-shirts are being produced right now. I call it my ArtT and I am starting with two wonderful designs all based on my original artwork. Each ArtT is lovingly made in pre-washed 100% cotton… smoothly soft with a high quality print on both front and back and elegant finishing! Looking at the two pre-production samples, the quality is extremely high and could get almost anybody to wear a T-shirt!

This ArtT in a female cut is called “Waking Up”…

“We wake up every morning… but do we wake up enough? Just having our eyes open is not necessarily being awake; we could be sleeping away from who we are with our eyes wide open!
    We each have a gift that we are supposed to bring to the world. When we know what this gift is, we feel a deep satisfaction by giving exactly this to the world. Waking up to who we truly are is a process which takes a conscious effort…  and time! Thinking, contemplating, dreaming, searching… only then will the knowing come.
    Did you wake up enough to find your gift to the world?”

 

And this ArtT which is a unisex ArtT is called “Freedom”…

 

“We sometimes crave for freedom yet it can be a little frightening because with freedom we are free of conventions, expectations and limiting beliefs. Maybe it’s a little scary because we think it could look egoistic but truth is that when we are truly free we are also staying true to who we are as human beings… and people are attracted to that!
     Are you allowing yourself to be truly free? Free of conventions, of prejudice and limiting beliefs?
     Are you allowing yourself the freedom to be free? “

 

Early Bird orders at 25% discount

Right now I am checking out shipping prices as I already have had a number of overseas enquiries and I don’t really know how to handle this and online sales at the moment so please be patient but I will deal with individual requests. Just drop me an e-mail and we’ll figure out a delivery price.

In the meantime, if you live in Kuala Lumpur we can just meet up if you want one of my ArtTs…. they come in all sizes by the way!

Price without shipping will be MYR199 per ArtT and for EARLY BIRDS for the first 1 month I will sell at MYR150 picked up at my studio (or meeting somewhere centrally in KL). That’s a whopping 25% you know! And that will be until at least end of October… probably mid November 2012!

If you are from outside Malaysia (or Kuala Lumpur) we will just find a shipping price and add that in mutual agreement.

Donvang’s Walking Art Gallery

I would like to invite you to visit Donvang’s Walking Art Gallery which I have created on Facebook. The purpose of both this and the ArtT production is to spread joy and colourful vibes. I think that life should be fun and I believe that by wearing and surrounding ourselves with colours, we can help ourselves and others to lead a happier life!

Please help me spreading joy and colours by clicking LIKE on my Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/DonvangsWalkingArtGallery

 

My why…

I have wanted to start a blog for a long time. As a matter of fact, it has taken me almost 9 month to get going!

Why do I want to blog? I think it’s a great way of sharing a little of all the fascinating events, ideas and people that I fall over in my life. It also forces me to write more and as my primary focus at this moment of my life is expression through colour and creativity, this way I will also now be working on one more aspect of creativity.

My primary focus for creativity at the moment is painting. I’m an artist and am called a Flamboyantly Colourful Visionary. I simply LOVE colours! And I think that we are creative beings… we just need to find out how to unlock our abilities.

My mission is to help people realize that we all have immense creative capabilities and that by allowing ourselves to play and actively use colours and creativity in our lives, we can let go of stress and shift our state of being.

Send me a message if you want to know what I can do to help your creativity!

Can you paint a feeling?

Many people tell me that they would like to paint… and they often feel inspired to paint a flower, a view and more naturalistic motives but that they don’t have the technique to do so. That’s why they give up before they start and never get around to paint!

So my question to you is: Why not paint the feeling of the flower, of the view or whatever it is that you want to portray? If you paint the feeling instead of the image of your motive there will be no judgment. How can there because nobody knows what your feelings look like… only you know what it feels like and therefore what it should look like.

This also means that ANYBODY can paint… you need no skill to enjoy creative expression!

I know that this sounds a bit abstract to some people… because often we don’t even know HOW to express our feelings with words so then how can we express it with painting? Well, my best advice is stop the thinking and let the subconscious take control when just painting by using colours and shapes and forms that appear in front of you as you paint. Then I am sure that you will get very close to the feeling you want to express.

If you need a little help then see if you can find a piece of music to listen to while you paint !

If you need more help, let me know so I can inform you when my new complete training programme with DVDs and a workbook is available. Here I will step-by-step guide you to set yourself free in creative terms with painting… and many of the principles I teach can be used in other parts of life too! Sign up for my mailing list and you will be one of the first to know!

And here’s an example of me painting my feelings:

Here is the painting of my feelings of my upcoming birthday created to a freestyle rap by The Rapping Professor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together with The Rapping Professor www.rappingprofessor.com I decided to paint the feelings of my upcoming birthday and my planned birthday party while he did a freestyle rap. It was so much fun… and I personally think that my feelings came out nicely in the painting. Do you like the feelings I am displaying?

If you happen to like the painting it’s because you like the feelings of love, giving, seaside fun, togetherness, freedom and joy! There you have it… you can paint your feelings too!

Summer in Denmark 2012

I am now in Denmark and as a Dane I just have to comment on the weather as this is always one of the most talked about subjects in Denmark! Somewhat more chilly than hot and humid Kuala Lumpur, despite or maybe because of that, I am still enjoying my time here. So far at the time of writing I have experienced a lovely hot Summer’s day and a cold rainy day in Copenhagen.

Shortly I will be on the way to Jylland, more specifically to Fur where I have the most lovely artist home in an old house from 1885. It’s in the middle of nowhere (almost) with a wonderful view over fenne and fjord and a peek towards the old Vitskoel Kloster (monastery). It was bought when I was still in my Mum’s tummy by my artist Granddad as his Summerhouse… he bought it because the light is so special on Fur amongst others and it’s a great place to create art. I am so proud to be able to continue in his and my Mum’s footsteps! Please drop by if you are in the vicinity of Fur but do give me a buzz first.

This year I will be participating in 2 group exhibitions and you are invited to come and join at the opening party… or you can of course drop by any time at your convenience if you happen to be in Denmark. For both exhibitions I am joining the artist group Furkunst.dk

Vernisage in Kulturspinderiet, Silkeborg on 6 July!

The first exhibition I will be part of is in Kulturspinderiet in in the old Papirfabrikken (paper factory) in Silkeborg. It should be a rather big exhibition as it’s a spacious exhibition hall. I will bring several paintings for this exhibition but
how many exactly I still don’t know as the group of artists haven’t got the overview yet. But please come and join the fun:

Opening party:             Friday 6 July 2012  at 16.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs
Exhibition Duration:      6 July to 16 July 2012
Opening Hours:           10.00 hrs to 17.00 hrs daily
Address:                      Kulturspinderiet, Papirfabrikken 32, 8600 Silkeborg

See location on Google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/RzIn

If you can’t attend the opening party then feel free to come any othe day. Best to give me a buzz on my Danish mobile (please send a mail to get the no.) as I will only be there on some days… if you want to meet up and have a chat.

Vernisage in Fur Forsamlingshus on 15 July!

The second exhibition is the annual Furkunst.dk Summer Exhibition and as usual it will take place on the island itself. I will apparently only be allowed to show one piece of art but this should mean that it’s
a pretty exciting exhibition with a lot of variety. If you haven’t been to Fur yet, I highly recommend a visit and please do prepare to spend the whole day to go around on Fur to get the most our of your day on the island. It’s after dubbed the most beautiful island in Denmark!

Opening party:                 Sunday 15 July at 14.00 hrs
Exhibition Duration:         15 July to 3 August 2012
Opening Hours:               13.00 hrs to 17.00 hrs daily
Address:                          Fur Forsamlingshus, Nr. Madsbadvej, 7884 Fur

If you can’t attend the opening party then feel free to come any other day. Just give me a buzz on my Danish mobile (e-mail me to get the no) if you are coming before 18 July so we can meet up as my holiday in Denmark soon will come to an end by then.

Training DVD and workbook in the making…

Life is hectic and fun at the moment because not only am I participating on two exhibitions in Denmark over the Summer, I am also in the middle of producing my first training DVD and workbook! I am happy to work together with a good editor and from what I can see, the DVD will be very professionally made. The workbook is still in the making as well but I have also taken on board a graphic designer so the looks should be sleek! More news on this after my Summer break.

Preparing my first Art Ts!
I always saw my art on clothing, I think it’s a great way of spreading joyful and colourful energy. This vision of mine is now becoming a reality with the first two Art Ts in the making. I am very excitedabout this and I am awaiting the first samples soon… you will have to wait to see the designs I am afraid.

The Expat Art Exhibition is happening!

I am so happy to now have secured a collaboration with the Expat Magazine about making this exhibition a reality. It all started when I saw the most perfect space for an art exhibition but realistically I would not be able to fill it on my own… so why not create a large group exhibition?
I worked on the idea and realised that there has never been an expatriate art exhibition in Malaysia. The obvious was therefore to create the first exhibition in Malaysia with resident expatriate artists.
Since then I have been talking to a number of Ambassadors who all love the idea of cultural exchange in this format. Best of all, I have the Expat Magazine as my partner in organising this event. The magazine is the premier magazine in Malaysia targetting the expatriate market and they have always been into supporting up and coming local artists. For them it was the obvious expansion of horizons to collaborate on my project… and work is in progress, slowly but surely.
We are still trying to finalise the most perfect venue and a good date.We are hoping for November 2012. At the same time, we are working on locating resident expatriate artists so if you know of any living in
Malaysia who might be interested please let them contact me. I will let you know more as things progress.

In the meantime, enjoy life and may colour and creativity become a fabulous part of your life!