Resolute Vessels
THE STORY IN THE LAYERS
BEHIND THE TITLE OF "Resolute Vessels"
Definition of "resolute"ˈrɛzəluːt/
adjective
Definition of "vessel" \ve-sal\ noun
Source: Merriam-webster.com
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WORDS
I wrote the following quote by Howard Thurman on our huge blackboard. Every day, as I walked past the black board I read it. I think I read it every day for more than a year, " Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Every day I asked myself, "What makes me come alive?" I waited for a big revelation, some epiphany, some answer as to what I could do that would make me feel truly alive. I was always disappointed with my answer, it was so small in the big scheme of things, it was always "PAINTING". Even though I've always wanted to paint, I was never interested in taking painting classes, learning how to paint fruit bowls and horses.
So when I found an intuitive painting course online I knew that was how I wanted to paint. I wanted no rules and guidelines other than to let go, breathe, be brave and free.
It is those words that went into the painting - breathe, let go, be brave, free.
I can clearly remember at the time of painting "Resolute Vessels" I did feel a bit like an empty vessel myself. I wanted to be "resolute" but I felt far from it. A big part of it was from working hard for many many years, always giving to everything and everyone else first, putting myself last.
In hindsight, five years after quiting my job to stay at home with my daughter, I see that the gift in painting was to teach me that intuition is very real and if I trust and follow it, it will take me to places I only could not have imagined before.
Every time I finish a painting I get a rush because I could never have planned the end result.
I'm learning to just keep painting, to take risks, to do something new, to paint through the resistance. My process is still slow and there are many hard and frustrating periods throughout but the surprise I get at the end makes it worth it, every single time.
Every day I asked myself, "What makes me come alive?" I waited for a big revelation, some epiphany, some answer as to what I could do that would make me feel truly alive. I was always disappointed with my answer, it was so small in the big scheme of things, it was always "PAINTING". Even though I've always wanted to paint, I was never interested in taking painting classes, learning how to paint fruit bowls and horses.
So when I found an intuitive painting course online I knew that was how I wanted to paint. I wanted no rules and guidelines other than to let go, breathe, be brave and free.
It is those words that went into the painting - breathe, let go, be brave, free.
I can clearly remember at the time of painting "Resolute Vessels" I did feel a bit like an empty vessel myself. I wanted to be "resolute" but I felt far from it. A big part of it was from working hard for many many years, always giving to everything and everyone else first, putting myself last.
In hindsight, five years after quiting my job to stay at home with my daughter, I see that the gift in painting was to teach me that intuition is very real and if I trust and follow it, it will take me to places I only could not have imagined before.
Every time I finish a painting I get a rush because I could never have planned the end result.
I'm learning to just keep painting, to take risks, to do something new, to paint through the resistance. My process is still slow and there are many hard and frustrating periods throughout but the surprise I get at the end makes it worth it, every single time.
IMAGES
THEMES
Imperfection, purpose, determination.