Week 156

I stared slack-jawed as he wiped away the face. The sinking stone in my belly was warring with the large lump forming in my throat and the spreading redness in my ears. This painting we had to come back to. It actually was the source of a big fight, well actually a fight we have often; when one of us paints over something the other one has done. It is hard to maintain a state of humility in which you can allow someone else to obliterate your creation or say it needs to be better. Sometimes you have a tolerance for it, and other times you won’t. There are times when you’re too close to something to see its shortcomings. That’s when another person can be helpful. But allowing them in that space and the ability to speak into your creating is next-level soul work indeed.

While purchasing our weekly bananas and cucumbers, I perused the fresh flowers. Standing over the array of fragrant buds was a promise of goodness to come. I touched a few. Their tiny heads bumped back up with sunny faces. Finding a selection of snowy white baby’s breath, I thought about a friend who always said they were one of her favorites, and always overlooked. They seemed the most like what I would find in nature and I pulled out 3 wild, dripping bunches to bring with us. We were camping along a marshy waterway. My sister-in-law, our model, slipped into the light gown we provided. She patiently and somehow serenely found the poses we were looking for in spite of the 9 young and wild cousins running along the muddy path to throw stones in the water. Her expression of peace seemed to transcend the unstable ground, chilled air, and wild surrounds. Instead of being pulled in, she seems to gather that wild into her, welcoming it and in turn, it becomes beauty in her arms.

As we finish the new face, we also finish the third series of paintings. I cannot believe it! It has been a huge season of growth and beauty. It has been wild and chaotic, vulnerable and unbelievably strong. As we gather all those wild moments creating together, it becomes a serene, yet mightily inspiring force filling our arms, our faces, and hearts. - K