There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
- Albert Einstein
A recent Heron Dance book
Meditations on Gratitude, Beauty and Mystery
and an upcoming book
Creativity as a Way of Life.
Example Post: Journal Meditations of a Working Artist
Painting: Seascape
Journal Meditations of a Working Artist
(online publication)
An exploration of the inner work underlying creative work.
Journal Meditations of a Working Artist excerpts the journals of artist Roderick MacIver as his work evolves from impressionistic to abstract. The entries are taken from his actual personal journal — the thoughts of his own and others — that guide and inspire his work.
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Online journal
(Free — twice a month)
Members (two to four times a week)
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I didn't trust it for a moment
but I drank it anyway
The wine of my own poetry
It gave me the daring
to take hold of the darkness
and tear it into little pieces.
- Lalla Ded, poetess of 14th century India.
A person’s life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened.
- Albert Camus
There are many pathways in this life and it doesn't matter which one you take, for they all have a common destination, and that is the grave. But some paths give you energy and some take it away.
- Cervantes
Some paths, some work, some people give you energy, and some take it away.
. . .
For the website of Rod’s new studio and gallery in Hilton Head, visit here:
My name is Roderick MacIver. I am the founder of Heron Dance. I have been a full-time artist and author for thirty years.
Our lives are a brief spark between two eternities. We live surrounded by incredible natural beauty and mystery. A central message in this work is living with gratitude, and the richness that adds to a life.
This work is an expression of gratitude for the gift of life,
for the beauty and mystery of wild nature
and for the peace that can be found there.
Achieving a degree of inner peace through our relationship with our inner world, and the beauty and mystery of wild nature, is a supreme accomplishment in a human life.
For my background, visit here.
Heron Dance published books, journals and diaries in 2024.
The Nurturing the Song Within Art Journal and the related Diary
Meditations on Beauty and Mystery, A Gratitude Art Journal
The Pausing for Beauty Poetry Journal
Early in 2025, Heron Dance will publish:
Creativity as a Way of Life
. . .
Heron Dance Books published by Heron Dance Press and other publishers can be viewed here.
The Heron Dance Book Of Love And Gratitude
Meditations on Nature, Meditations On Silence
Art As A Way Of Life
Thoreau And The Art Of Life
The Man Who Planted Trees
Wild Waters And The Tao
Simplicity Is Profound
The Song I Came To Sing
Art Is About The Mystery
Earth My Likeness, The Nature Poetry Of Walt Whitman
Pausing For Beauty, The Heron Dance Poetry Diary
More here.
Reader Reviews
Three Heron Dance books about living a life of beauty, creating work of beauty.
Published In 2024
. . . the devotion required to construct such a work is inspirational in itself. A multifaceted and heartfelt exploration of creative life.
- Kirkus Review of Nurturing the Song Within
Nurturing The Song Within Art Journal And Diary / Planner
Nurturing The Song Within Art Journal: We have a few copies of the first edition left, and don’t plan to print more. 190 pages of paintings and reflections on the beauty and mystery of wild nature, of life. The book explores the inner work that underlies creative work and creating a life. This is a hardcover book printed by a high quality art book printer on premium paper with Smyth sewn layflat binding — the highest standard in art book printing. Less expensive PDF editions are also available.
Nurturing The Song Within Diary Planner: Designed to work with the Art Journal, it provides room for notes, objectives, plans, appointments and an exploration of the underlying current, individual to you, that is guiding you perhaps without your full awareness. It has dates for the second quarter of the year, but these can be ignored and used anytime during the year. Two pages per day including a painting.
More here.
All that matters is what you love
and what you love is who you are . . .
- John Squadra, This Ecstasy
One’s art goes as far and as deep as one’s love goes,
and there is no reason for painting but that.
- Andrew Wyeth
The Heron Dance Book Of Love And Gratitude
Meditations on Nature, Meditations On Silence
Art As A Way Of Life
Thoreau And The Art Of Life
The Man Who Planted Trees
Wild Waters And The Tao
Simplicity Is Profound
The Song I Came To Sing
Art Is About The Mystery
Earth My Likeness, The Nature Poetry Of Walt Whitman
Pausing For Beauty, The Heron Dance Poetry Diary
More here.
Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature,
but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
