Jen Jovan Art Musings and Random Thoughts

The Queen Set Down Her Worries

7/8/2019

"The Queen Set Down Her Worries" - mixed media on repurposed wood. 18" x 7.5" x .75" . Ready to hang. Available here and at Artfinder.

Being queen is great when the kingdom is running smoothly and everyone is singing kumbaya. It is less great when there are murmurs and whispers of unrest among the citizens. And it outright sucks when a rebellion blasts the castle gates and leaves a herd of cows spilling out into the forest and a hole where there once was a wall. At that point, a smart queen will just set down her worries and go for a walk. Sometimes you have to clear your head before you know what's next.

And tumultuous times call for a little spirit balm, so I am back to Mark Nepo's The One Life We're Given , seeking answers as elusive as an introvert in a mosh pit. Today he gives us this:

"...when we dare to put down everything we carry and open ourselves to what we're born with, clarity is the tear of being that cleanses the heart."

The Queen Set Down Her Worries

Now clarity sounds like a pretty good thing today. And a good heart cleansing is probably past due. So I am channeling this savvy queen today, putting things down right and left, willy-nilly and hither and yon. I probably left a pile of stuff out by the sidewalk. And a mound over by the gate. As long as no one trips, I think this method may just be the ticket.

6 Comments

Carl

7/9/2019 10:23:58 am

Lovely painting and powerful words as always. Nepo's words ring true here and good advice for all especially in today's world where so much noise seems to be bouncing around the our castles. Three weeks among the massive trees, coastlines and vineyards of the Pacific Northwest had drowned out the cacophony of worry and the noise it can make in my head. Now my mission is to carry myself out of those forests and leave the worries there where I left them shedding them one by one with each click of my camera. I find it is impossible to really make a photograph and be worried at the same time. I have to give myself so completely to the exercise at hand the noises vanish and the more I do that the longer they stay away.

jen

7/9/2019 10:29:03 am

Being "in flow" with the creative process is a perfect balm for an angsty spirit! And I, for one, cannot wait to see all the beauty you captured with your camera out in the forests. :)

Dotty Seiter link

7/9/2019 10:32:41 am

Jen, thank you for the gift of you. You in the fullness of what you were born with.

7/9/2019 11:56:56 am

oh goodness Dotty, you are most welcome. It's what I do best. Me. Setting down all the rest. Ok, well not all the rest, but a heap load of it!

Carol Edan link

7/10/2019 12:39:40 am

Always enjoy your words of wisdom. In our world more leaders should put down their "wands" and do more reflection! Your queens are always so very wise. How lucky you are to be surrounded with them! She is so deep in thought! And that hair!

7/10/2019 09:23:36 am

Carol!!! Leaders putting down wands and reflecting....can you imagine the wonderful world that might create?

Indeed, I am fortunate to have the wise queens around me, doing deep thinking and sorting out the world's problems. I am pretty sure I create on them the hair I wish I had...wild and vibrant!

The Queen Set Down Her Worries

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