Using Your Wings Art Exhibit

Great news!  The first exhibit of Using Your Wings will be held at the Mark & Emily Turner Library's Akeley Gallery in Presque Isle!  The show runs from June 26th through August 6th, with an artist's reception to be held on Saturday July 16th from 11AM-2PM.  More exhibits are planned for central and Southern Maine in the fall of 2016.  Hope you can join the fun!

Thirsty

For what are you thirsty?  And with what do you quench your thirst?

Wings

Taking flight involves summoning up all the courage one's heart can contain, breathing deeply, and stepping forth in faith.  It is not always pretty.  There are bumps and bruises along the way.  Like the fledgling bird emerging from her nest, or the weak, damp butterfly freshly bourne from her cocoon.  Something Greater than this new creature guides and protects, leads and nourishes.  As the infant follows, strength is infused into her soul.  The act of flying builds on itself, fuels and delights.  The Joy is overwhelming.

Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie Eleison

...translated "God have mercy"...

The wind blows hard against this mountainside
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches in to where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road
My heart is old it holds my memories
This heart it burns a gem like flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again

Kyrie Elison down the road that I must travel
Kyrie Elison through the darkness of the night
Kyrie Elison where I go you will follow
Kyrie Elison on a highway in the light

When I was young I dreamed of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have traveled down my chosen road
Or only wish that I could be

Partners

The challenges of life seem easier when someone walks them with you.  This cardinal pair lives in our woods.  One is never seen without the other nearby...often heard but not visible.  They look out for each other...they share the tasks of building their home and feeding their young.  Our journey here on this earth is made brighter, even lighter, with the presence of someone who "has your back" so to speak.  I feel like God sent me my best friend, in the form of my husband, to be the one who travels these roads with me.  Who is your partner?

Journey

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.  You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land.”

― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Broken Treasures

Treasures live within.  Only when broken do they emerge;  free to be, free to fly.  The delicate sand dollar holds pieces within its structure that when split apart, and emptied out, resemble doves.  Can abundance be released in brokenness?
~~Using Your Wings 2016

Good Advice

"How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it."  
GK Chesterson  Orthodoxy p.19

Wisdom

There is light on the horizon.  Wisdom tells us to turn toward it, even on the darkest of nights.
~~Using Your Wings 2016

Late Ripeness

By Czeslaw Milosz

Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,   

I felt a door opening in me and I entered   

the clarity of early morning.   

One after another my former lives were departing,   

like ships, together with their sorrow.   

And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas   

assigned to my brush came closer,   

ready now to be described better than they were before.   

I was not separated from people,   

grief and pity joined us.   

We forget—I kept saying—that we are all children of the King.   

For where we come from there is no division   

into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.   

We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part   

of the gift we received for our long journey.   

Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago—   

a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror   

of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel   

staving its hull against a reef—they dwell in us,   

waiting for a fulfillment.   

I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,   

as are all men and women living at the same time,   

whether they are aware of it or not.  

Night Hawk

The night hawk witnesses the deep cold on this starry winter's night.  He's there, yet remains unseen in the image.  You know he's there because you're viewing the world through his eyes.  You can smell the frigid air, unscented, yet with distinction.  In the book of Esther, we witness divine intervention.  God is never mentioned, yet coincidence fails to explain the unraveling of  events...and the outcome that could never have been imagined by mortals of the day.  Ever experience something similar?  Ever wonder if a miracle is unfolding right before your eyes?
~~Using Your Wings 2016

Soaring alone upon a threatening wind

Just fix your eyes on the horizon

Cut off from everything

You've known or have been

I shouldn't think it's so surprisin'

Spiraling upward on a freshening lift 

Reaching the realms of fleet Apollo

You have been given the most sacred of gifts

You must be fearless now and follow

Don't look down

Though your heart may be weary

Don't look down

Though your wings are on fire

Don't look down

Though the night may seem endless

There's a reason you're flying

This fast and this far

Let your faith be your strength

And your love be your guiding star

Venturing further than

The length of your sight

Out past the reach of your beginnings

There is a gamble in each

Proud act of flight

But the losses pale before the winnings

Circling and diving with this

Freedom you've found

Illusion blows apart and scatters

There is no darkness in this place

That we're bound

Love is the only thing that matters

Icarus Ascending~~Dan Fogelberg 

From the "Full Circle" Album @2003

Mrs. C

This female cardinal is often found visiting our feeders in the front yard.  She is rather shy and timid, but one Winter's day, in the middle of a snowstorm, she sat peacefully on the tree branch.  She was at rest while the storm swirled around her.  Her feathers were fluffed up to protect her from the cold.   I wanted to capture that stillness on canvas.  Oh that my soul would practice peace in the midst of storminess.  It takes just that...practice...through experiencing and engaging with life as it comes.  One day at a time, and sometimes simply one moment at a time.
~~Using Your Wings 2016

How did Using Your Wings get its start?

Six months prior to being diagnosed with cancer for the 4^th time, I noticed repeating patterns and shapes in the environment before me. Rivulets of water on the beach left imprints in the sand

 that reminded me of chickadee wings I had just captured with my camera. Clouds behind a sunset, and their reflections on the water, were shaped like a dragonfly. The more I opened my mind to this phenomenon of looking at things from another perspective, the more I saw, 

and the more inspired I became to build a body of work.

When faced with cancer yet again, I applied this notion to my situation: I had to adopt a different, new perspective or else find myself mired in self-pity and despair. I had to dig deep to see the gift of each day. I had to develop a habit of resilience. Spending time in the outdoors of our most beautiful state of Maine, watching and recording her flora, seasons, and beings, helped to foster fortitude in my heart and soul. From new patterns emerged new truths and choices. And if this pattern of human nature repeats, what does it accomplish? Is it not our duty to help others 

who are traveling just a few steps behind us on the same path?

"Birds on a Wire"

Sometimes, at first glance, we accept as truth that which is before us.  Truth as we know it at that very moment, with all the experiences we have had each day prior to the encounter.  But somewhere along the way we might have difficulty accepting, and trusting that truth.   And so begins the journey of examination, and perhaps we begin to consider a new, different perspective.  With art, the artist can use the title of the piece to suggest that new point of view.  When I put the finishing touches on this pieces, I burst out laughing as I stepped back to see not three pears, but rather three birds, with the leaves and stems of the pears hinting at beaks and tufted crowns, all in a row on a wire.  Can you see them?
~~Using Your Wings 2016

The Mission of Using Your Wings

Who will benefit from this project? Anyone who engages in viewing the paintings! My plan is to donate several paintings to Maine agencies in locations where the painting can be viewed publically, and perhaps, for a few moments, the beholder can consider a different perspective in the midst of troubles. Included, but not limited to, are treatment rooms in cancer wings of hospitals, Hospice houses, community centers involved in healing, and similar locales. Others will be purchased by individuals and corporations who are moved to do so by the concept or the painting itself.

"Flight II"

One of the first pieces from my newest body of work, this painting was inspired by an up close look at the center of a pansy bloom.  When viewed from another perspective, the element of flight and wings appears, carrying a bird up and away from the viewer into the violet expanse of sky.  10"x12" matted and framed with a soft gold frame.  $250
~~Using Your Wings 2016

"Departure"

Introducing  Using Your Wings!   May the words written here, and the images shared within, bless your soul toward healing as you are lifted to envision a new perspective in order to cultivate resilience during seasons of trial.
~~Using Your Wings 2016

Why Using Your Wings?

My newest body of work is one that interprets and reflect the repetition of patterns found in nature, with an emphasis on winged creatures, flight, and the element of uplift. By studying these patterns, my goal is to create artwork that require the viewer to take on another perspective. Is it a tulip, or a bird in its nest feeding her young? A point of light in a shadowy cleft, or the stamen of an iris? And how does this relate to the human notion of resilience? What if “okay” is not at all what one imagined it to be? One is never the same person once returned from a difficult journey. What tools are needed, and how does one find them? How do you learn about Using Your Wings?