Laced with gold

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

I often refer to my art process as “alchemy.”

There are many phrases going around the spiritual and artistic communities right now that all have their avenues. I can appreciate them all - but none of them felt quite right. “Visionary Art” is, of course, the main title of this beautiful pocket of divine art. But what defines something as visionary? Don’t all artists want to create their vision of the future into the now, and isn’t this the very frame for creation?

“Lightworker” is an ill-fitting suit as well; I don’t see light as inherently better over dark, nor are they separate like we tell ourselves they are. I’m fine with the title of “energy worker” for my other modalities like reiki, tarot, and intuitive work, but it didn’t sit right with the artistic process. I believe “medicine worker” is a very specific field of work and while I absolutely adore many people who have studied these cultures with tremendous respect, I do not feel like I’ve earned that title, nor is it my path.

What better name, in that case, then to embrace the process of taking all of the processes of this life - all of the chemical reactions we create as we grow, experience, polish through grit, and come out transformed on the other side - and find the most authentic ways to find the gold that we make of it? I am an artist, a wizard, an alchemist.

“Alchemy” is an ongoing series that has arisen from little happenstances in my life that I have sifted through to find the gold. A weeklong illness could be the source of disdain and irritability - or it could be an opportunity to sink into stillness and focus on putting pencil to paper. Ordering paper that might be different than you anticipate for the medium you want - or it could be the opportunity to bring out the untouched materials in the back of the drawers and rekindle your love of the layers of color created.

There are many times in life that we have the opportunity to give in to the pessimism, the resentment, into downward spirals of the difference between what could have been and what is before us. Or we can plunge our hands into the mud and the furnace and dig out the gold waiting for us.

“Alchemy” will be an ongoing series that will possibly never be complete. Its own self-sustaining elixir of life. I continue to fall more in love with the shining moments of divine spark I see in people in the most difficult of times. The incredible grace I see from so many beautiful souls as they walk their path and gather their lessons. The shimmer on these drawings and paintings is a reminder of everything that makes us gold in our human journey. I will always be drawn towards each individual’s unique essence, and so I think this collection will expand the rest of my artistic career.

The photographs may not give the shimmer and sparkle their full beauty, much like seeing people from afar doesn’t always show us what their capabilities are. I hope you are able to catch that each of these creations shares their own burning from within, and it helps you remember the glow that is held within you, too. Come back often to see any new additions to this shining collection.