Using Your Wings: February 2016

The Mission of 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?

Friday, February 12, 2016

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

Monday, February 8, 2016

Good Advice

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

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Wisdom

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

Thursday, February 4, 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.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

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

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.

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?

Using Your Wings