Daughter :: 12"x12" mixed media

Maybe it was as simple as just needing the sun to come out after too many gray days.  Maybe it was sinking deeper into a place of accepting what I most need right now rather than trying to resist it, thinking I should be doing more or ought to be doing something else.  Maybe it was about letting go of worrying about what someone else is going to think completely – really letting go and not just saying I’m going to let go.  Maybe it was as simple as saying no.

The most profound epiphanies often come in the simplest of messages.  I laugh at myself to think of how long it sometimes takes me to figure out the most direct route to a clear conscious, an open heart and focus on the present.  Most of the time what I need most to get through a challenging situation or question comes when I’m not really paying attention.  Then for whatever reason something clicks into place in my mind and I see a connection I had never noticed, but once I see it I wonder how I could have possibly missed it before.

I created the piece above, entitled "Daughter", earlier this year.  The girl is standing above the fawn with her sword drawn.  To me this girl is someone who needs protection herself – who is vulnerable in her own way – but she is also prepared to do battle with anyone who dares harm the creature sitting quietly beside her.  She has a quiet strength in this piece, and every time I look at it I smile.  I recently had a dream and the fawn was a significant part of it.  This was the first time something I had created made its way into my dreams, and it was actually very exciting to wake up and realize that this fawn was significant enough to break out of my artwork and into my sleeping sub-conscious.  I took the dream as a message to keep working with the fawn to see where she takes me.

There are strange connections everywhere and messages waiting for us if only we take the time to pay attention and listen closely.  Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to take the quiet road and approach whatever task is before us – pleasant, unpleasant or otherwise – with gentle steps.  To be vulnerable like a fawn, trusting there is someone watching over us, trusting it is OK to lie still.