unfolding

 watercolor

on cold-pressed Kilimanjaro paper

“Live the life that unfolds before you- 

love goodness more than you fear evil.”

― Jonathan Rogers, The Bark of the Bog Owl

the posture of grace

 

watercolor

on cold-pressed Kilimanjaro paper

You must forgive in order to understand. 

Until you forgive, 

you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding...

 If you forgive... 

you may indeed still not understand, 

but you will be ready to understand, 

and that is the posture of grace.

-Marilynne Robinson, Home

to be whole...

 

acrylic

on streched canvas

“...until we allow not only elephants, 

but all living creatures 

their place in the sun, 

we can never be whole ourselves.”

― Lawrence Anthony, 

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

...the scales balance...

watercolor 

on cold pressed Kilimanjaro paper

“The Weighing”

by Jane Hirshfield

The heart's reasons

seen clearly,

even the hardest

will carry

its whip-marks and sadness

and must be forgiven.

As the drought-starved

eland forgives

the drought-starved lion

who finally takes her,

enters willingly then

the life she cannot refuse,

and is lion, is fed,

and does not remember the other.

So few grains of happiness

measured against all the dark

and still the scales balance.

The world asks of us

only the strength we have and we give it.

Then it asks more, and we give it.

...waiting...

acrylic on canvas

This waiting is messy, but one thing is clear: 

This waiting is not passive. 

This waiting invites us to hold the painful present 

and calibrate it with future hope. 

The waiting actively affirms the importance of life’s sorrows as 

the Man of Sorrows guides us through.

-Mike Ahn

you cannot ever leave completely... nor do you want to...

watercolor

'You cannot leave Africa, Africa said. 

It is always with you, there inside your head. 

Our rivers run in currents in the swirl of your thumbprints; 

our drumbeats counting out your pulse; 

our coastline the silhouette of your soul.' 

-Bridget Dore

from the poem Africa Smiled 

 

watch it...

watercolor on moleskin paper

Watch your thoughts, they become words.                         
Watch your words, they become actions.                          
 Watch your actions, they become habits.                          
 Watch your habits, they become your character.             
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw