I began this painting about a week after my grandma transitioned from this life to the next. Since then, we've been working together as a family to hold an estate sale and prepare her house for the market. But last week, I set aside the logistics for a few mornings to complete the painting, to…Read more Loss
Author: Fragments of Light
Shattering Into Light (2)
There is a tragedy that stalks me year after year. The precipitating event is over and done with, resounding in its finality; but the repercussions morph through time. It is a question with no answer, a terrible wrong that cannot be righted, a haunting that cannot be exorcised. Sometimes I am angry. Like Edvard Munch's…Read more Shattering Into Light (2)
Summer Will Come
My beloved Grandma, otherwise known as Gigi, always used to say, “This too shall pass.” Far more than a cliché to her, the phrase allowed her to laugh in the face of life's tragedies. Her Irish merriment, sprinkled liberally through the years, seasons me still. It broke her heart to send her husband off to…Read more Summer Will Come
A Prayer for My Country
Here in Colorado, I breathe thick orange haze of Western wildfires, even as Texans stumble through water-logged debris, and evacuees flee Florida. With all its warts and weaknesses, America is the country I love. Generations of my family fought for the freedoms I cherish today. I've traveled the world and witnessed first-hand the alternatives to…Read more A Prayer for My Country
Artist Process – All That’s Lost
I've been pondering an idea lately that what is “lost” does not actually cease to exist, but simply morphs into another form of equal (or perhaps greater) value. Of course this idea is not original, but is a basic principle of physics. Definition of conservation of energy (Merriam Webster) “a principle in physics: the total energy…Read more Artist Process – All That’s Lost
Fragments of Light Etsy Site Sale
Hi faithful friends! I appreciate my blog followers more than I can say. In addition to treasured friends and family I know personally, I've been blessed to become part of a wonderful community of people I've never actually met, but consider friends and mentors. In appreciation for you and in celebration of five years of…Read more Fragments of Light Etsy Site Sale
Summer Rain – A Photo Essay
My beautiful and talented young friend, Brittin Lane Morrell, and I were merrily working on a photo-shoot for Pamba Toto when storm clouds churned overhead and wind blustered down the little alley where we were composing shots. Both our eyes lit up. We love storms. We corralled the wind into a couple shots, then…Read more Summer Rain – A Photo Essay
All That’s Lost Will Be Restored
I said good-bye to one of my dearest friends, my Grandma, yesterday. As she became more ill and I knew the end was drawing near, I was painting this piece: trying to process grief and also my great hope and faith that, even though the end of her life on earth would come, we will…Read more All That’s Lost Will Be Restored
Shattering Into Light
Here, taunting dark, questions stab, backwards bend. Shutting down, like sifting sands closing in. Tender, firm command: “Ask.” Gentle touch: Unanswerable questions, open wounds. Eyes downcast, hesitant, unable to hold this claustrophobic space anymore, I ask. “Now, listen.” There, in quiet circle of sentinel trees, I hear: not a mighty wind, not an audible voice,…Read more Shattering Into Light
How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017
They were just exploring the wonders of being in a family, home less than a year. Some were learning to use utensils for the first time, riding in cars for the first time, trying to figure out why it was “raining” in the house and their new parents wanted them to stand in the “rain.”…Read more How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017