Closer to my miracle: Why I paint

“Closer to My Miracle” hung on the living room wall all last year. On Sunday, it was wrapped and sent to grace the home of a new collector, my long-time friend Ed.

It’s a small abstract, fluid in red with yellow and a bit of blue. A scribbled ladder on the right leads up.

During my art show/open house, Ed discovered “Miracle” and led me to where it hung. “I really like this piece of art, tell me about it,” he said.

I beamed, “This one is special.” It’s inspired by the belief that each of us has a special gift or miracle inside, and the closer you get to realizing your miracle the more the Universe conspires to make it happen. There are several versions of this thought…

“Everybody carries a miracle inside, and that purpose is promised to one person alone,” says the character Beverly Penn, Winter’s Tale.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” writes Paul Coelho, in the Alchemist.

“Everyone has a gift, and one of our callings is to find it,” says Mark Nepo, author of Book of Awakening.

I had not yet come across these beautiful words a few years ago when, at age 50, I woke up to the realization that the miracle in my life, that calling, that light was so dim I could no longer feel it’s presence. It was my unfolding.

Since then, I remade my life. I left an empty marriage. I made a new home moving from the farm into the city. I connected with warm and wonderful people who shared their joy of life. And, best of all, I began to paint with great energy. Great urgency. Great passion. Great joy.

Creating itself is the reward. That is the thing that makes me happy. And then it grows. The gift of creating multiplies when it is shared with others.

Living is wonder – spiritual, romantic, awe-inspiring, transformative. There is the Grand Canyon wonder. There is walking-quietly-in-the-woods wonder. It is this wonder I capture in my art then share back with the viewer. I share what it has taken me a lifetime to understand. Life is art. It moves us in the deepest and most unconscious way.

What inspires me to create is using art as a translation in color, shape, form and story-telling. It is painting how life feels.

I am blessed that people resonate with my work. My job is to speak authentically from my center, and then I connect with you. It’s dipping into the well of all people, who respond to their own authenticity and potential to realize the unique gift within.

Our work as humans is to exist on this planet in a way that lights ourselves, and lights others up as well. Each of us has our gifts. People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

Ed asked if that was my miracle at age 50. Maybe... my miracle is just around the corner waiting for me. Every painting I create has a piece of this “miracle” within it.

Your miracle, your calling is waiting for you too. It’s opening the door for you. Now walk through. There is nowhere else but to go forward.