There is always more to my work than what meets the eye. Like nature and life, messages are often there to inspire and encourage us. What can be viewed as simply a painting of a broken shell for example, is really much more.
“Shell Spiral” pictured here, is a 24 x 24″ oil on canvas. The shell is lying on the sand in the light of the morning sun. I chose as my subject the beauty of a broken shell with two whole, smaller shells by its side.
Most people by the time they reach middle age and often before, have had to suffer through several hardships and challenges. Our hearts have been broken. Yet if we choose to move through the suffering, we can find a deeper meaning to our pain. There is a silver lining, there is a dawn. We are broken and enlightened at the same time. Our lives become fuller as a result. We are capable of loving more deeply, giving more generously, living more fully.
This is not to say we will not continue to have our setbacks and sadness. That is part of what defines life. Yet if we so choose, we will learn to move through the pain more quickly, we will grow in wisdom, we will bounce back more readily. In so doing we will have a greater capacity to give of ourselves to this beautiful and ailing world.