Some years ago, after I had been living by myself for some time, I created a series of 13 large watercolor paintings which explored the theme of the attitudes we take towards our lives as women.

I visualized each woman as a single rose. As I painted, working through the feelings and ideas evoked by the different images and expressing those feelings in the paintings, I realized that my choice of a single rose had been more profound than I knew at the time.

The essential relationship we have is with ourselves. Like any relationship, one can choose to develop it to greater and greater depth, or one can pass by that opportunity.

I named the series “Single Women," not to denote marital status, but in recognition of the importance of that internal connection, and with gratitude for the freedom that living alone had given me to follow my own rhythms to the discoveries I made.

Years later, after being in relationship again, I found myself living alone once more. I was in that kind of painful crucible of aloneness which finally led to real discoveries about what I am like when no one is watching, when I am not pleasing anyone or compromising for the benefit of the relationship. As I rediscovered on a deeper level that wonderful place of solitude and self-sufficiency, I began to understand the degree to which tradition and cultural stereotypes can deny women this delicious freedom.

When I designed this website, I went back to that "Single Woman" series of paintings, 5 of which had since been made into large prints. The website is based on a detail of the rose painting entitled “Yes!”

UnconventionalWoman reflects my life-long interest in self-development outside the prescriptions of ideology. It is aimed at women who are curious and open-minded, who want to explore new ideas and find the solutions for our lives that will maximize our opportunities and help us deal with the difficulties we have now. It is in no way opposed to partner relationships, but it does not see them as a solution to the challenge we each face of defining our individual purposes.

Why might you want my ideas about how to do this? After all, I’m not a spiritual guide, a doctor, a psychotherapist, or a coach.

Well, that’s exactly the reason. I’m a woman living these issues daily, just like you are. I've overcome fear about my ability to support myself well, and moved from needing to seek validation from a partner to cherishing my relationships with myself and my friends. Our single/partnered status now is no longer a life-sentence. We all move in and out of intimacy in relationships with parters, friends, family, animals. I find enormous value in the state of being single once we embrace it. There are much-needed lessons to be learned wherever we are, once we embrace our situation and begin to look inward instead of outward for the answers.

I have no commercial bias in selecting the information presented here, nor am I affiliated with any religion.  Art is my vocation, and I have run my own business first as a computer trainer, then as a graphic artist and web designer, for the last 25 years. I have definitely experienced the challenges of trying to make it on my own! The Single Woman prints are the first items available on the site, and I hope to sponsor appropriate art of members as well.

For me, basic good health is fundamental for an active, productive, and even an introspective life. My failure to find help in conventional medicine for health problems which impaired my ability to function effectively fueled a large amount of research into all kinds of alternative health options. I have been interested in holistic health since my mother-in-law gave me Adelle Davis when I was 20, and I've been actively researching traditional approaches and new developments since 2004. I solved the physical problems - but more important, I emerged with a whole new paradigm of what is possible for healing, which is reflected in the Resources on the site.  

I like to study and to share what I learn, and my University degree in English, and my graduate degree in 1971 from the then newly-founded Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Menlo Park, CA, plus massive reading, interviews and conversations with many women, have contributed to my work on UnconventionalWoman.com.

My goal is to create a safe and stimulating place where you can find the resources you need and, if you choose, you can join a larger community. In 2008 I plan to add a paid (and private) membership component to the site. There will be an online forum where we can share ideas, a secure way to find out about and meet other members, the option of publishing your own reviews and articles on the site, and facilitated teleseminars where you can actually work to resolve whatever issues are holding you back. 

To receive a newsletter and be notified when the Membership site is active, sign up in the DOWNLOAD FREE REPORTS box which you can find on every page.   

Many thanks to the people who have helped me make this website a reality: the many women who gave me feedback on the UnconventionalWoman.com website and those who were beta-testers, my business Mastermind group, 360OnDemand Web technicians, and especially my client Helio Fred Garcia of Logos Consulting Group, who arranged my work for him in such a way that I was able to spend the time necessary to develop this website. 

I hope you find the ideas stimulating, and I look forward to your contributions to the site in the future!

Lisa Wagner
 

lisawagnerartist.com
arttechweb.com

Yes!