SharedBliss: The Enchanted World of Artist Marcy Hall

Boddhisatvas: A Family Portrait
(Our cat & rabbit family before 2 deaths.)

Listening to: Marcy has hazel eyes, but this song is all about her.

Bliss: This life and being privileged to share it with such a powerful, silly, wise, whimsical soul.

It is a strange thing to construct an interview about the most important person in your life, but ever since I started writing about things that Marcy has taught me, people have been requesting that she be the subject of a SharedBliss. So, by popular demand...

Marcy and I just recently started watching Six Feet Under (yes, we're a little behind). In a recent episode, a main character asks a rabbi what it means when you say someone is your "soul mate," and she explains to him that a soul mate is the person who will most challenge your soul to grow and will support that growth.

I am blessed to have such a relationship. We not only endlessly entertain one another, but we challenge each other and push one another to express ourselves and explore all of our creative hopes and dreams.

I give Marcy a lot of credit for my own growth. Yes, I have to do the work, but what other person would give me the support and the space that she does?

Marcy, on the other hand, would tell you that I have taught her to assert herself. She would also say that no painting would have ever happened without me.

The second I met her and saw her "doodles," I started (gently!) pushing her to pick up a brush.

Thank god she eventually did.

A painting of me inspired by
a haiku I had written.

Two artists in one house, people ask? Yes, two artists in one house. And somehow we have a partnership that allows for constructive criticism that we would never accept from anyone else. And somehow it all ends up being so symbiotic -- we are often both thinking, thematically, about the same exact things.

A view of Marcy's studio space.
Hand-sewn, hand painted on silk elephant
by a dear friend.

Recently, Marcy has started blogging over at Ordinary Enchantment. The title of her blog says everything about how she sees and approaches life.

Her etsy store is filled with her most recent fascination, Ordinary Miracles.

One of Marcy's favorite things to paint is pet portraits. She enjoys the process of working with the animal's companion human to decide where to take each and every painting, trying to incorporate the pet's personality and the human's own spiritual and/or mystical view of their lives. You can, right now, find information about pet portraits here, though in the future, she'll be moving this line into an Etsy store also.

A second view of Marcy's studio space,
which she shares with the rabbit, Zoe.

Describe the PrimaryBliss of your life. How did you come to know that this was your PrimaryBliss?

There are many things that I would include in my definition of Bliss. If I think back on my life, I would have to say that music is a major source of Bliss for me. Listening to, playing, singing, drumming on the table (which drives a certain someone crazy!). Anything with music. It is essential to my cells, I think.

Also, part of my Bliss has always been found in writing, which I've started doing more and more while I work on a novel with our writing group and also in writing my fresh, new blog, Ordinary Enchantment. But, again, thinking back over my life, writing has always been an enjoyable part of it, and something I've always wanted to incorporate more into my everyday existence.

But, my Primary Bliss has to be art. Under the art umbrella, though, I include a lot of stuff. I love to create art-- anything from doodles, to pet portraits, to cityscapes, to cafe scenes, to (now) jewelry and the new milagros I've been working on. But I also love to look at art, to gaze at artful things. Artful things to me include pretty much anything from animals to people to trees to the Christmas tree lights, to birds, well... you get the idea. I find most things inspirational.

What types of choices and sacrifices did you make to be able to craft this bliss-filled life?

I don't feel like creating art is ever really a sacrifice. I guess I sacrifice some amount of leisure time. I wish I could read more and spend more time just walking round or lazing about, but overall, I feel so fulfilled by my life in all its parts that I don't feel like I'm sacrificing much of anything. Because I still have a full time job, I feel like I have to sometimes sacrifice time with you, Blisschick, in order to create. That's a sacrifice I feel sometimes very profoundly. Other than that, though, I'm good.

How does your PrimaryBliss radiate out into the rest of your life?

My philosophy on life is basically this: if I can be a happy person and do things that are fulfilling to me both creatively and spiritually, then I will send that out to the rest of the world. Practicing my Bliss is what makes that possible. This is, of course, true for each and every person. That's why I love these interviews so much and think they are so important-- practicing our Bliss IS how we radiate, and we need to be reminded of how realizing our Bliss IS REALLY POSSIBLE.

There are lots of hearts over at Ordinary
Miracles for Valentine's Day!

What are some other activities that also give you this sense of bliss? Things that make you lose track of time?

I've already mentioned them, but I'll be more specific. I recently started playing the guitar. I could lose myself in that for hours. Learning chords and listening to different combinations of them is magical to me. Petting animals. Taking pictures. Doing crossword puzzles while listening to music. Kneading and baking bread (well, baking anything really) is a joy. Watching my rabbit eat her lunchtime salad. Talking to my Blisschick, Christine. Sitting in the yard watching birdies with a glass of wine. I'm realizing as I write this that I lose myself in most every activity I to engage in. I guess that's OK. Everything is my happy place. :)

What is your daily or weekly spiritual practice?

I'm actively working on this. It's been a struggle for me, because I so want something more in my life, and I feel something more in my life, but it's been difficult to figure out what my actual spiritual practice is. A few months ago, after reading the Blisschick interview with Connie Bickman, I realized that everyday activities, if done mindfully and with a spiritual intention, can be a spiritual practice. That helped me to think differently about such things. I am a work in progress on this. I'll keep you posted.

What music is your bliss?

Everything. Right now, I'm listening to an On-the-Go list on my iPod that includes Weezer, KT Tunstall, Feist, Sara Barielles, and Death Cab For Cutie. Ask me tomorrow and I'll be listening to Niyaz, Natasha Atlas, Danu, Miles Davis, Beverly Sills, old school INXS, new Madonna, Justin Timberlake, the Smiths, Dressy Bessy, 10,000 Maniacs, Kate Bush, Oasis, U2, Dave Matthews, They Might Be Giants, the Indigo Girls, Miou Miou, Liz Phair, Bjork, and XTC. Really, I have no standards. I will listen to and enjoy anything.

Name books or authors/poets or people who are your bliss, who influenced your bliss.

Besides the Blisschick, you mean?

I find writing with heavy imagery to be inspirational. I enjoy word artists like Barbara Kingsolver, Neil Gaiman, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, etc. I enjoy a lot of children's/ YA literature, from Harold and the Purple Crayon and Bread and Jam for Frances to The Lord of the Rings to the Narnia books to Judy Blume and a million others. Poetry has always inspired me from Shel Silverstein to James Wright, ee cummings, William Carlos Williams, Anne Sexton, The Tao, James Dickey, etc. Reading and being read to was a big part of my upbringing. I was infused with it at every turn, so it's hard to be specific. My brain is a general compost pile.

What advice would you give to someone who feels they have not yet discovered their PrimaryBliss?

Keep looking. It's in there somewhere. It always is. And you always know what it is if you're honest with yourself. That's the hard part, though.

Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

As always, Yoda: "Do or do not. There is no try."

Now you see where all of the inspiration for this blog comes from!