Price – 3 for $15

Money is like love in that it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and it enlivens the other who turns it upon his fellow men. In other words, love is only real when it is shared. To be loved means to be recognized as existing. As such we find rest in those we love and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us. These are many of the sentiments I feel when I think of the person who inspired this painting.

Art, for me, is inspired by one of two things – love or pain. Verily they are suspended like two scales between joy and sorrow. They are ultimately inseparable, one provides contrast for the birth of the other. The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. This is where I feel it is possible to find Joy in Sorrow. Losing what ego you have left and being humbled to the point where all you are driven to live through is your spirit, allows for the contrast of joy and sorrow to become apparent, part of one’s consciousness, where the soul is drawn too, longs, and chooses to feel joy instead of sorrow. It is only during the hour of pain when the heart is purified by flaming sorrow that it can also be illuminated by the torch of love. We get dark, just to shine.

The only emotion I could feel when I thought of my dear friend who inspired this piece, was love, so I attempted to express it on canvas. As a new mother, a woman`s heart evolves to the fullest potential of its being; love that knows no boundaries, has no limits, is ready and willing to give up life itself, complete and ultimate sacrifice, willingly, a boundless and enduring source of infinite patience surfaces and becomes realized of which was once only waiting to be tapped into. This is for all my amazing, strong women, family and friends, mothers new and old who have been awakened by instinctual motherly love and AGAPE in the fullest meaning of the word.

If you BELIEVE it, and can CONCEIVE it…. YES YES YES, you can ACHIEVE IT!!!

As I began to watch my painting come to life, I began to realize that we must NEVER throw our wants or needs away, that we DESERVE the best life and that only we, ourselves, can define what our ‘best’ life is.

If you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands. I saw myself creating a masterpiece that was beyond what I ever thought I would be capable of. I wanted for everytime someone viewed my painting, to be empowered and inspired. Everytime I felt I was incapable, I went back to look at what I had created and what I am truly capable of. These were my intentions, my wants, my needs for this painting and each and every time I got feedback from it, the sentiment was exactly what I intended to manifest.

I realized through painting this, that one must:

ACT LIKE YOU KNOW THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS – no matter what is happening in your life, you are capable of being the HERO in your own story. In order to do so, first you must change your role in the story and become the protagonist and heroine.

KNOWING THE TRUTH IS GOING FOR THE JOY.

You have the right to be POWERFUL and GREAT, BOLD and BODACIOUS no matter what the circumstance. ACT like you KNOW the TRUTH, because you ARE THE TRUTH.

You are the director of your AUTHENTIC IDENTITY. In order to stand as your AUTHENTIC SELF, sometimes you have to be willing to STOP trying to please everyone in the process.

Goals need to scare and excite you at the same time. If they don’t, they are not always worthy of your efforts.

STEP INTO YOUR GREATNESS. IT’S WHO YOU REALLY ARE and what the WORLD TRULY REQUIRES OF YOU.

This painting reminded me of who I truly am and what i am capable of.

I hope it does the same for you.

Let us stop and think for a moment of the Lord’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross and all the pain He endured. If this did not happen, people would not think His story to be remarkable nor would there be what is known as ‘forgiveness’ and ‘repentance’. Thus, the purpose of pain in this context, is the eternal and inexhaustible source of therapeutic grace, rebirth and restoration of the soul. Indeed, “He has borne our griefs…” (Mat 8:19). How many hearts would be comforted, bitterness dissolved, patience strengthened, unbearable weights on our chests lifted, with this simple information.

If we can understand that we are being disciplined for our ‘profit’, then all the discouragement and mental weakness can be turned to courage and power. With this ultimate truth, consolation, comfort and peace will flood our souls. We all want to think that in our darkest hours, our pain is the worst, unbearable, impenetrable. That we don’t have the endurance to last through our struggle. That we will never be able to enjoy the warmth of the sun beating against our backs. In these hours, we have rebuked all logic, hope and faith from within our spirits. For, if we can rest all of our troubles on the assurance that God will not test us more than our endurance permits and that our discipline is for profit, we will be able to accept and endure the impossible. He will not permit disciplinary pain past our powers, He will follow the course of His children’s pain and if need be, He will intervene at the correct moment. His intervention is so convincing that we may see how unsubstantial our unbelief really is, how meaningless our complaints and how unnecessary our despair.

We must continue to kick, claw, climb, crawl… our way to freedom. For, we will triumph and be resurrected and transformed, more beautiful than before because we have suffered.

This painting is dedicated to all of those struggling with life-threatening illness and in the fight for their lives.

The choice of “Freedom or Death” is actually not a duality. Ultimately, there is only one choice and that is freedom. Metaphorically speaking, the only choice is wellness, taken to the extreme, this painting embodies the sentiment of our aim as patients – which is to obtain unsurpassed levels of health. Our aim, is to truly be RE-BORN.

The purpose of this painting is to serve to remind us all that – WE, CAN, DO, THIS.

How do I know? Because it has already been done. We are not the first or last.

Years of suffering and struggle may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

THIS, IS, OUR, TIME, TO HEAL.