The Soft Wild Part

The Soft Wild Part
oil on aquabord
9 x 12 inches
​This item is unframed

There is a soft wild part of me
that I abandoned somewhere along the way the way.

I found her again in the quiet hours
when everything hurt too much to pretend.

She came back smellling of rain
carrying stories I had locked away
telling me that the ache
was simply the map
leading me home
 - @shespeaksinmagic/instagram.com

Buy the art

I am learning to listen to the ache. To the hurt. To the sadness. To listen, to feel and to let that soft wildness loose into the world. 

Sometimes that looks like painting. Other days it is hiking or beachcombing for hours. Listening to wind, surf, birds and my boots crunching over trails littered with debris loosens the knots and dread - the big and the small.

Recently, this listening and setting loose has taken the form of writing. The last eighteen months, particularly, because an enchanted being in a publishing castle sent me on a quest and gave me free rein. (And free reign over the writing domain). The soft wildness of that quest is now itself set loose upon the world in the form of a book. 

I'll talk more about this in the coming weeks. For now I am just basking in the smell of rain released by the words and art contained within this treasure of a book. Oh my.

Framing ideas for this piece

​About the art: an intuitive abstract landscape - working with brush and palette knife, I roughed in a basic composition based on hikes we've taken into mountainous areas. The layers of hills and ravines and rocks; the hugeness of the sky. Resisting the urge to get overly detailed or "precious" about the piece, I worked quickly to capture light and shadow, big shapes and highlights. Is that water? Is it snow? Is that the smell of rain off in the distance?

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New release from WayWord Books is clawing its way into the world.

​PREORDER MONSTROUS

it's COMING!

clawing and shredding!

nearly here!

Release date June 30

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