Category: life
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‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ (Inner calm in challenging times)
I took a deep breath and responded, “It’s okay. Everything is unfolding exactly as it will. Things are breaking and it’s hard, but things have to break to create something better. It’s uncomfortable, but the future is truly unknowable and full of possibility. More and more people are seeing that things aren’t working. And as […]
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Bath-time Rebellion & the Subtle Oppression of Self-Care Consumerism
Despite loving baths as a child, they lost interest and purpose into adulthood (like a lot of joyful childhood pleasures). As an adult baths lost their purpose–and as an adult, you should only do things that have purpose or financial viability, right? And with a bath–what do you do? What’s the point? I just sit there. In dirty water. Of ever-decreasing warmth. Then I shower, because I have to clean off my bath. I could just do the last step, showering, and BAM! Nailed it! I have a clean body.
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Spiritual Faith & Atheism (Psst…the secret ingredient is love)
I have faith that I’m capable of handling whatever unfolds in my life. This sense of faith is relatively new to me. Having lived with general anxiety and major depression for nearly two decades, as appealing as the concept sounded, I didn’t know how to just be mentally in the present moment. It was unimaginable. My lived experience and sense of reasoning couldn’t figure out how it was possible. So, I was stuck in a loop of self-awareness logically knowing it’s a complete waste of mental and emotional energy to anticipate every conceivable bad possibility or over-analyzing past interactions, but unable to fully untangle myself from overthinking. We don’t know the tools we don’t know.
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bloodwork: two hundred individuals (artist interpretation)
This piece was really difficult piece to finish. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the portraiture that was challenging (although, I’ve never considered portraiture an artistic strength of mine). The hard part was the research. As an empath, researching the names of people whose lives were needlessly taken from them takes a lot of emotional energy. This portrait […]
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july sales donation
Learn more or donate directly to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute here. Visit my online shop here, or check out a large album of available artwork on Facebook here. Last month‘s total donation to Minnesota Freedom Fund was $100. [Updated 8/3/2020]
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about the blood: part III • feminist anger
Generally speaking, I’m an intuitive acrylic artist. Over the years, intuitive painting became my sanity–as I left my emotionally abusive marriage and through the subsequent fallout, learning to cope with my anxiety and depression. During those transitional times creating was calming; the heaviness of life momentarily lifted. Art is healing, something reliable when everything else […]
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Say His Name.
Like most of the US, I didn’t know this man existed until his life was tragically cut short, further highlighting the alarming history of police violence against people of color. George Floyd. I love his name and I love his image. I love that it’s everywhere–in art, memes, news cycles, posters, magazines, newspapers, murals, chalk […]
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june sales donation
Visit my online shop here. Or check out a large album of available artwork on Facebook here. [Update: 7/4/2020]
Carly Swenson • Intuitive Artist 
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