Even Dragons Have Their Endings

Even Dragons Have Their Endings

​

LISTEN to the blog by clicking the DOWNLOAD link above

​Even Dragons Have Their Endings
oil on Yupo
11 x 14 inches
This item is unmounted and unframed
(click on the image to purchase)

So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
J.R.R. Tolkien
​
​Last week's post on loss garnered a lot of wonderful reflection from readers and followers.  People letting go, people embracing empty spaces, people valuing connection and depth and eschewing non-reciprocal relationships and situations.  And for the most part, we all agreed that seeing our way past loss on a larger scale (the chaotic present world) was perhaps an unravelable tangle.

So when this piece appeared on the easel, and the Tolkien quote decided to become attached to it, I was struck by the concept of endings and finality, of moving past what our hearts desire an into a calm curiosity about what's next?

To use Tolkien's words as a launch pad, perhaps we are in the fire now, globally and also (some of us) personally.  It's hot, it's uncomfortable and dragons live a long, long time.  It is hard to think of snow when we're sitting in the fire.  But the snow will come, the dragons will have their endings and a new era will unfold.

That doesn't change the need to react to fire and dragons now, no no no!  We must!  And we do.  But it does mean we can also begin to allow our curiosity about what comes afterward to blossom and grow.  To make a space for something else​, even if that something may take a long time in coming.

---

About the art:  this piece emerged from a call-and-response moment in the studio - this color calls me, that color responds; this movement feels right, that movement feels next; this tool wants to be used, and that tool raises its hand and yells "me next!"  Maybe it is a response to all of the wildfires here in the PNW now, my heart sitting out there with the trees and creatures and willing them to safety.  The unpainted edges of white Yupo feel like cooling snow, which is coming, along with the rains.  Soon, so soon.

---

The August Reader Giveaway continues!  Not one but TWO lucky readers and commenters will receive a small landscape painting free!  To enter, subscribe and leave a comment on any post during the month of August.  The winners will be announced right here on September 1.  And thanks to everyone who reads, comments and shares this site - it warms my heart. xo