Is this the right time to rise up and shine? You may, or may not, have noticed a long silence on my part, as an artist, as a presence in the global community. Given the nature of things of late it feels like this is exactly the right time for me to rise up and greet you once again.
Immediately after I posted my previous blog, life as I knew it changed. A family member was stricken with a life threatening illness, so I traveled across the sea to offer support . After a month I came home. The day I arrived back in Canada my own father, the man whose knee I sat on a thousand times as a child, took ill. He passed away within the month. In an attempt to process all of this I went to a spa for two days of solitude and soulful replenishment. I promptly broke my foot whilst there. A month later I went traveling. My recovering foot and heart touched down upon England, the Isle of Man, Ireland, Wales, Malta, Jersey and India.
Lets talk about India, India is an amazing country, particularly its people. My soul has been touched, and my eyes have seen life and color like never before. I saw poverty, I got rashes, I was touched by sadness, but I also had endless encounters of beauty. I saw a magnificent strength and grace in the women that I am in awe of. I saw love and faith in the faces of children, and I saw smiles in the eyes of men who had a sense of calm amid the chaos. In a nutshell, I was inspired.
Two months later I picked up a pain brush for the first time in seven months. ( that was a typo, or maybe it was a Freudian slip). It was supposed to say paint. But perhaps it was a pain brush I picked up, so I’m going with it.
On the large canvas walks a woman. A bright, strong, beautiful woman. You can’t see her face, I think perhaps she is every woman, not just one. She is buried beneath a bounty of leaves that she carries to who knows where, to feed her children, to pay her rent, to do the best she can. Every woman. Beautiful, strong, determined.
On the second canvas walks two women and a small child. The radiant colors glow off each figure, the tender connection between them is palpable, the message is clear. It is but three simple things: Together we stand, together with love, together we go forward.
Is this not the message we need for today? As we, every one of us, is faced with this thing that does not care who we are, where we are, or give a single thought to our well being. i think this is the perfect TIME TO RISE, TO LOVE, TO GO FORWARD, TOGETHER, as we do it from our places of solitude, as we do it to honor one another. Together we rise
I wish you all peace of heart, good health, and a state of calm as we walk through this, alone, but together.
PLEASE SHARE THIS BLOG with your friends and family and lets spread this simple reminder that we are all in this together. Thank you .
My work can be viewed on my website and at Tutt Street Gallery (At the time of publishing these new works were on the easel and in their process of completion)