~ ‘heART’~

Acrylic on Canvas– © Reina Cottier and Reina Cottier NZ Artist, 2011.

I swore i would never paint a heart, to cliche for me i said, lol! But, well, ……….hmm, here it is.

not too shabby really, and i really like how plump and sexy it looks but sure, not bad for a first effort, maaayyyyybe i will do another in future creations, but dont quote me on that. Added the koru, or spiral of life rocketing out thru the leaves as a point of interest and something dynamic in the foreground.

Still loving my background colours of blues, greens, turquoises and indigos,.. shape & flow SO important to me, probably THE most important part of my work, getting the flow and movement right for what i am wanting to express.

Venus sky



Acrylic on Canvas board– © Reina Cottier and Reina Cottier NZ Artist, 2011.

LOVE this!!! Did the background months ago, and knew it wasn’t complete, but had to wait and feel the right thing to go with it, had no idea what it was going to be till it just happened. The cord flowed around on the canvas board like magic, it was painted and finshed after that, in about an hour.

There is a softness, yes strength i was attempting to convey, I hope i have achieved this. 🙂

Angelic flow


Acrylic on Canvas- © Reina Cottier and Reina Cottier NZ Artist, 2011.

Women Who Run with the Wolves….

The Venus of Willendorf.
Painted by Reina Cottier.

A healthy woman is much like a wolf ~ robust, inventive, loyal, fierce.
Yet separation from her wildish nature causes a woman to become
meager, ghostly, anxious about leaping, fearful to create new life.
With the wild nature as ally and teacher,
we see not through two eyes only,
but through the many eyes of intuition.
With intuition we are like the starry night;
we gaze at the world through a thousand eyes.
The archetype of the Wild Woman carries los bultos,
all the bundles for healing and meaning. She carries all the medicines
of stories, words and songs, and the mending tools of dances,
signs and symbols. She is both vehicle and destination.
She is the essence of the female soul.
No matter how many times she is cut back, called unsafe,
dangerous, useless or mad, she rises through the psyche regardless.
Even La Sombre,
the most restrained woman, keeps a secret place
for the wild nature. Even La Cautiva,
the most captured woman,
is waiting for an opportunity to hightail it to freedom.
All women are born gifted. To live close to the instinctual
nature does not mean to become undone. It means to establish one’s
creative territory, find one’s pack, be in one’s body with certainty and pride.
It means to act in one’s behalf, to find what one belongs to.
It means to rise with dignity,
to proceed as a powerful being
who is friendly but never tame.
The Wild Woman is the one who thunders in the face of injustice.
She is the one who keeps a woman going when she thinks she is done for.
The Wild Woman is fluent in the languages of dreams, images, passion and poetry.
No act of love or social justice occurs without her.
She lives in women everywhere;
in the barrios and in the boardroom,
in the prison and on the mountain at the fire,
in the penthouse suite and on the night bus to Brownsville.
She is the mother of El Duende, the goblin wind of creativity.
She leaves footprints behind for us to try on for size
Whether you are possessed of a simple heart or the ambitions
of an Amazon, whether you are trying to make it to the top
or just make it through tomorrow,
whether you be spicy or sombre,
regal or roughshod ~
the wild nature belongs to you.
She truly belongs to all. The issue is simple:

Without us Wild Woman dies.
Without Wild Woman, we die.

Para vida, for true life,
both must live.

from: Women Who Run with the Wolves- by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

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This is where i get most of my inspiration for life!