I have to admit that I am really enjoying revisiting the stories behind these drawings. They were made over 5 years ago and it sort of feels like a guilty pleasure to remember those times. I mean, can you imagine if we could go back to 2015? Even if we could, what choices would we make differently?
If we can get to a place where we become aware of our own power to choose the future out of all the possibilities we can imagine, the future that we hope for, then it really becomes important for us to learn to make the best choices we can in the moment not only for ourselves but for the greater good that will hold all of us in balance. So infinite possibility, choice, balance and harmony, all feel like connected themes.
This drawing was inspired by a musical performance of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden by the New Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco. I was floored by the performance. It was in a small space where you almost feel like you are seated next to the musicians. And then the music... I’ve always had a strange reverence for late Schubert works. He made the most beautiful music in the last years of his young life. How could he create such beauty while his health was declining AND while knowing his life was coming to an end? When I got home and tried to think of what my daily drawing would be, I did an Internet search for flowers and devotion - because I was trying to find a flower that could capture the devotion I felt Schubert must have had in those final years of his life. Instead, I came across a description of the delphinium and it’s association with the concept of infinite possibility.
And that was the moment that I realized that what I admire the most about artists like Schubert - really, artists like each one of us has within us - is that when we are willing to go to the places that no one imagines is possible - those places that you can only get to when you are willing to accept and even explore the uncertainty that surrounds us, we end up expanding what is possible for everyone. Because we made something that was once out of reach or incomprehensible, possible.
And so I found an image of a delphinium flower and I’m not exaggerating - it flowed freely out of my hands and I drew it in less than 15 minutes. It makes me think of this quote by Joseph Campbell about following your bliss.
"If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living."
- Joseph Campbell
This is a special drawing for me because it was made from a place of bliss. And I often see it when I see your reaction to it. It’s like something was captured in it that reaches beyond our individual experiences. It creates a moment where we know and sense the beauty and power of what is really possible in our lives. That truth is revealed to us and we share the experience even if it’s only for a fleeting moment.
- December 12, 2020
