Many moons ago I had an art show in an actual gallery. Truth be told, one of my very dear professors from college opened their own gallery. Me? But I’m not…The opportunity felt like a gracious, encouraging favor. This professor also helped me realize my career and gave me hypnotherapy to overcome my fear of driving. I finally got my license when I was 29. How many gifts can one person give? I’ll always be grateful.

The show was called Vessels of Light; a concept inspired by pottery I’d made in college and art therapy I’d been doing with clients at a partial hospital. I watched people bravely battle their shadows to re-emerge and share their authentic selves with the world. Society labeled us broken, cracked pots, damaged goods, and other horrible stuff. I say we because, I’ve always known the only difference between my self and the people I’ve had the privilege to walk alongside as they healed, is a degree of external separation. I kept my wounds hidden for most of my life. My clients were much braver.

Each painting featured a single vessel representing someone I knew or imagined. Some were long and tall, others womb-like and full. The palette of each composition was equally inspired by what I knew about the challenges and gifts a particular person had faced; an homage to the miraculous alchemy of the human spirit.

So today, I painted a new one. I’ve been thinking of reviving the series for years and even though I’d planned on a completely different piece when I stood at my easel this afternoon, this woman, ala vase, showed up. I could tell you all her secrets, but I’ll leave you to your own interpretations.

If you were a vessel of light, what would your colors be? What secrets would be hidden in your shadows? Where would your light come from? What gifts would it reveal?

xo

ps: four day weekends are the dream! Can’t I just paint, read, write and sleep for a living?

11 thoughts on “Vessels of Light”

  2. I’m not sure what my colors would be. I pray none that cause others harm.

    I like the rays beaming upwards in your painting. The yellow and green heart and the black edges make me wonder, but there are those pleasant rays beaming outward.

    Liked by 1 person

      • Can colors cause harm? Sure they can. Each colour has a wavelength. Red can be very dangerous because the wavelength is so short. Red associated with warmth (rather nice), to the earth, some more nice, to blood, beginning to get a bit, like, you know … depends on the amount of it in which context together with other hues (or values – not the moral sort). Equal amounts of red and green in an artwork can cause great mental disturbance.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I used to have a superstition about red but I agree with you on the importance of context. Culture, context, proximity and associations all matter.

        Like

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