Expand

This piece has gone through its various stages to end up in this beautiful place. I started it at our local art collective and it was one where the viewer was looking out an enormous modern window into a garden. There was an old door there so that there was a sense of connectedness to the outside. It transformed from that into the garden itself, and then into a mountain meadow where coniferous trees were growing up amongst the wildflowers. It had become a process piece documenting a journey that expressed coming into unending freedom after a space of confinement. And then, I wanted to paint over it again. At first I wanted to paint it pure white, to signify a clean slate, a new beginning. But the history, I wanted to keep some of the history of the work beyond the lovely texture that kept shining through despite all the changes. It had the working title of "Shining Through" which could very well be its alternate title. I decided to call it "Expand" though because of how I feel when I look at a never-ending sky on a warm day. There is so much hope that rises up in our hearts when we turn our faces up towards a sky in a moment like that. Even though we close our eyes we know it is still sunny as we feel the warmth of the sun on our skin. And we breathe, deep slow breaths that fill us with life.