Shimmers and Shadows

I'm Meg Vellejos McCoy, artist and inner life wilderness guide. I live off-grid in a one room cabin with my husband and two dogs on 40 wild acres abutting the national forest in Eastern Washington. It’s a joy to be here with you in the exploration of the inner landscape and how we can create rich, meaningful work from imagery found within our inner fringes.

Shimmers and Shadows is a mixed media class exploring the inner shadowlands and the shimmers that guide our way. We’ll begin with a deep guided imagery journey into the inner landscape, inviting archetypal symbols and presences to reveal themselves as guides for our creative and spiritual journey. As we bring who and what we find on the journey to life, I’ll share techniques on creating a shadowy mess with stabilio pencil – and then reigning it in. I’ll also share how I paint without sketching, working with shapes abutting shapes to create definition while working swiftly to start a piece.

I love both of these approaches as a recovering perfectionist who has often gotten stuck in the beginning stages of a piece. This is an aspect of the shadow work we have the opportunity to navigate as artists: allowing ourselves to play, make a mess, not know where a piece is going and allow a piece to be as it is in it’s imperfections as proof of the journey.

Our final project will bring all (or some) of the pieces we created together in a gorgeous final mixed media project that can live on our altar, holding the potency of our encounter of the shimmers and shadows found within the inner world.

Within the “shadowlands”, that which is not fully known to our conscious selves, are gifts and Mystery. These are the “shimmers” we uncover by being willing to go within to encounter them. As we allow ourselves to touch base with what is just out of sight, we open to new depths of delight, pleasure, and fulfillment.

It's my delight to be your guide as we play in the realms of shimmers and shadows.