Experiencing Change

It is the season of change.  Weather goes from cool to hot.  Animals go from egg to chick, or pup to adult. And some insects go from larvae to pupa to butterfly. Change seems to be constant.  In fact the thing that never changes is that there is always change.  Likewise, in our lives, change is inevitable.  We age, grow grumpier or happier, healthier or more sick, more active, or more sedentary.  In all this, much of how we change is up to us.

Recently I did a couple of envelopes for people that are being asked to go through some intense amount of change.  One, who is suffering the stark reality that their body is changing, is infected with a life threatening disease, and may end the life as they currently know it.

Another was for an individual who, after already undergoing extremely invasive surgery to remove a tumor, is about to undergo yet another surgery to continue to cut away at the growth deep inside of her her brain.

I can't imagine how each of them are feeling, how they will react to their circumstances, how they will grow through these challenges.  I trust that they will let the change happen, and come out on the other side a stronger, more beautiful, wise, and capable individual because of the transformation that occurs during difficult times.  At least, this is my hope for them both.

Both are done in gouache.

Everything is Blooming and Flying

Alas, the winter season has retreated (at least in some parts of the U.S.), and we are beginning to see the brilliant life that bursts through the earth every spring.  Seeds that sat dormant and plants that seemed dead are reaching colorfully past a season of dormancy.  The Easter Season is upon us and nature is a wonderful reminder that things that appear dead, gone, destroyed are able to rebound.  Things that are broken are able to be mended and flourish.  We need that reminder.
Here's an envelope that I did for an individual that recently lost her mother to cancer.  I thought a gentle sympathy of spring flowers and a message of a "perfect brightness of hope" would be appropriate in her time of sadness.

This is done with gouache, acrylic, prismacolor and bit of pen and ink.

I also recently did another envelope for a friend going through a difficult time, and who needed to be reminded that we are not forgotten in our struggles.  Here's the envelope that I sent to him: