There is peaceful. There is wild. I am both at the same time. A quote that brought me much confusion until I painted this painting. Read the story below.
(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Derivative work created with permission of photographer
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
There’s a framed quote standing on a shelf in my studio.
“There is peaceful. There is wild. I am both at the same time.”
.
I used to read this as ‘we all have a peaceful centre and a wild storm within us simultaneously and the lesson comes in having the will to choose which to give credence to’. It gnawed at me though because by that definition, ‘wild’ felt undesirable, and my heart so desired to connect with the meaning of ‘wild’.
.
But today’s miniature opened up a new insight in my heart.
.
For a while now I’ve observed my painting style transforming. My first response was sheer panic. I couldn’t paint them the same way I used to! I was losing my vivid edge, that ability I had to recreate rock for rock, cloudline for cloudline.
.
But try as I may, attempting to paint that way again just frustrated me. Eventually, I gave up on the internal battle, allowing my hand to paint the way my heart was now seeing these landscapes. Loose and fluid and moving. Somehow, less concrete. While my eye saw the paintings now as ram-shackle and unrefined, the child within was having fun. She could feel the ground’s gravel, the rough reed, the turbulent clouds and wisps of crisp wind. She could feel the wild.
.
I looked up to see that quote staring back at me. I swear it winked at me.
.
To let go of the need to control the outcome is where I now understand the freedom in this quote. The release is peaceful, the creation is wild. In this painting, I found how to be both at the same time.
.
.
.
.
.Thank you @wj400m for capturing a moment that inspired this unfolding within. Always loving your work.
.