The Wheel of Life

​This painting came through me half a lifetime ago. I’m fairly certain it’s what led to the scholarships that opened the doorway to my college education.

At the time, I thought what I was painting was simply a dented, damaged bike wheel that was in need of a lot of repair. I was excited about all of the exploration and nuanced problem solving that I could employ in collapsing this mind-boggling 3D still-life into 2D form. The more I slowed down to observe, the more wonder and perfection I saw within the brokenness. I was completely captivated. Awestruck. 

It mesmerized me the the way the angle of the sun in the sky outside the brick building of the school could influence even the most tarnished expressions of color reflected back from the aluminum frame.
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Wheel of Life - 24"x36" Acrylic on Canvas, 2003

Like the impressionists, I would sit for hours and observe the colors- fleetingly shifting and dancing across the wheel day after day. It was as though the sun itself was providing the rhythm, the response of light reflected was the melody, and the weather was the channel through which light expressed its potential: some days it was clear, other days cloudy.

Looking back, I can see how what came through in this painting was a transmission from my soul: it was showing me a snapshot of my inner landscape- shiny and beautiful, but in need of alignment and some serious TLC. In both process and form, the painting was asking for me to slow down and tend to the alignment of my inner being with the same sense of persistence, patience, and openness to learning that I was giving to the painting itself.

Age 17, at the Scholastic Art Awards with my mentor and teacher Phil Conrad.

Half a lifetime later, I feel like that I finally got the memo:

We don’t need to wait another half of a lifetime for the next big breakthrough, healing, or ah-ha moment. Our souls are constantly looking for ways to speak to us and guide us back into alignment with who we truly are.

Slowing down to become present to the channel of intelligence that is flowing through all of life, and developing a habit of consistently tuning our antenna to listen and receive, is all that’s needed for the next great shift.

The messages speak in as many languages as there are people on this planet.