The Soft Underside of Experience

The Soft Underside of Experience

"The Soft Underside of Experience" - mixed media on cradled aquabord, 24 x 18 x 1.5.  Ready to hang.  Available here and at Artfinder.

There are some things you can't prepare for.  You just have to dive in.  All the way in, head first, not just toes and ankles.

"And so I learned that holding nothing back unlocks the wonder and the soft underside of experience we briefly know as joy."  MARK NEPO, The Exquisite Risk

Once you begin unfettered diving in one area of life, it makes the next one a little less unnerving.  And perhaps the one after that becomes just another dive.  Until you aren't holding anything back anymore.  

"This holding nothing back centers on the perpetual risk to break and reframe our ways of seeing and being in the world."  NEPO

​Perhaps seeing  and being differently in the world is as terrifying as a deep dive off a cliff, dear reader, but Nepo promises wonder  and joy as a result.

It is a small thing, but this past week I was forced experience a different way of being in the world.  An injured shoulder  required me to stop using my left arm for the week.  I am left-handed, so that made everything a bit awkward.  Including painting. But I often draw wrong-handed to keep things loose, so the opportunity to paint an entire piece that way was too good to pass up.
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This painting, created entirely wrong-handedly, does bring me both wonder and joy.   And the realization that maybe, just maybe, the way I usually do things isn't the only or best way to do them.   Apparently, it is never too late in life to become a diver. :)