window of the soul: susan's sunflowers.

i was contracted by a friend of a friend to create a special painting for our shared friend: susan.  yes!  after discussing options, i saw the painting fairly quickly. 

this 24x24x2 inch canvas mixed media is a part of my "window of the soul" series.  

susan is pure light and life and love.  

she loves sunflowers.

she is a hospice chaplain giving so fully of herself. 

those of us who know her are given a gift. 

she is light and life and love. 

so each stroke needed to have just that: light and life and love. 

when my friend casey joined me in the studio a couple weeks ago with this piece waiting to be mailed, she caught her breath, touching her chest saying she could feel it there.  i knew that susan would feel the love.  the life.  the light.  i knew that she would know it was a gift for her.  the quote featured is a favorite of the friend of a friend who contracted with me.  i've grown to love it, too.  you do that when you spend weeks musing about such words.

human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

i love, love, love this call.  this soul work i'm called to create.  love.  

infinitely valuable. a wisdom original.

a word of wisdom received by a dear one.  

a friend of hers who is a friend of mine asked me to create 

a custom wisdom original honoring the word she received.

i love the unexpected blending of colors as it was created.  as it turns out, it's just right.  

wisdom.  pure wisdom.  

i practice wisdom by listening each day.

 i love the unexpected.  a good word.  a kind note.  a gift. 

 a smile shared.  tea poured. stories spoken.

 all of the above. 

packaged for the dear one.  

in the garden: the helleboros are in bloom!

story plants abound in my garden.  i love these so!  

this purple helleboros or lenten rose was a gift from the gardener & owner 

of the helleboros stand i purchsed all of these from years ago.  

the gifted plant is the largest and strongest of them all.

and i adore the white.  you'll see more photos. 

 i love capturing images of these beautiful plans during their blooming cycle.  

what story plants are in your garden?