Last night I faced the question I mostly dread these days. Sitting around the table at a fancy event with well-meaning, newly-met acquaintances, they asked innocently: “So what do you do?” I felt that moment of uncertainty, tinged with panic. A simple question, expressed with genuine interest. In America, we commonly inquire about a person’s…Read more Am I an Artist?
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Offering – Pondering the Lives of Mother Teresa Sisters
Kenya, 2001 (somewhere near Nairobi's second largest slum) Blinking in the transition from blazing equatorial sunlight to sacred shadows, we hesitate in the foyer. The sanctuary stretches before us, an ordination service for new Sisters already in progress. Rows of simple benches packed to capacity march along concrete floors. I spot an open space in…Read more Offering – Pondering the Lives of Mother Teresa Sisters
Sacred Center Holds
For weeks I watched its stems and leaves unfurl from soil and climb into a lanky silhouette, stretching for sunrise. It seemed to be a flower of some sort, and I was curious for its culminating shape and color to emerge. But when it did, I was surprised. Wispy white tendrils burst from the center. Not…Read more Sacred Center Holds
A Secret Garden That Changed My Life (In Vietnam)
We explore a silky summer evening, airbrushed with cool mountain air and golden sinking light. Newly arrived in Steamboat Springs, we wander west. The river is gift enough, flowing like laughter between us. One of those rare series of moments when you feel so alive, so present to where you are, so thankful to love…Read more A Secret Garden That Changed My Life (In Vietnam)
Alive, truly alive
Truly he was alive in a way that few attain. Many aspire, but only sweat, tears, and blood yield this type of alive-ness. It wasn’t his choice to lay it all down at the feet of suffering. But he did choose, by the grace of God, to keep living. When I was “stuck” in Kenya,…Read more Alive, truly alive
Room to Breathe
we wander moonlit cornfields in and out of shadows of living growing things taunting what we leave behind there is room to breathe here between the stalks in the stalks everything is breathing here and there is something large here larger than these fields flowing out in contoured rows so simple…Read more Room to Breathe
Summer Will Come
Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m enamored with a single dying weed. So far, it has inspired five paintings in as many months! Click the following links to view the paintings in their original blog entries: (left to right) Songs in the Valley, Reach, Always, Loving You Still. There’s something about it – the pathos as it…Read more Summer Will Come
Touch the Sky – Tree Parables
When my soul is lost and storm-tossed, there is a sacred space I love to go and pray. Amidst towering pines in the heart of Black Forest, I trace a pine needle-carpeted labyrinth to the center. Scent of sap and earth, breezes sifting treetops, glaze of sun on my face, peace settles silky like layers…Read more Touch the Sky – Tree Parables
Seeing clearly – Colorado fires
Dirty haze suspends a sinking sun, blazing orange. Massive flames lick the orb. People watch in disbelief, black silhouettes on a tempestuous rim. Smoke hovers like an ashen blanket. Beyond, proud mountains bow, at once victim and enabler, fuel for an angry monster. We see the creature kick up its first cloud of fury into…Read more Seeing clearly – Colorado fires
Go Deep – Progression of a Piece
Lately I've been digging into the past. It's almost like the last decade or so rolled over me too fast, like a crashing wave with my heart flailing in the tide. Seaweed and treasure alike tumbled by, and I landed on the shore dazed. Now, I find myself filtering through the debris, trying to make sense of it…Read more Go Deep – Progression of a Piece
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 