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.

Insect Garden

Another lazy Saturday has found me with the options of either listening to all the innumerable talking heads spewing their rhetoric about how diabolical any political candidate currently is, or, enjoying a few hours of peace sketching and painting something that has nothing to do with any of that....consequently, I chose the later.
Inspired by the amazing work of Felicita Sala, I decided to do something a little simpler, and painting a bunch of different things and then cutting them out to add them to one composition.

Enjoy this little insect garden....done with gouache and a hint of prismacolor here and there.