Another waterlily from the south side of Kauai, but not just another painting.
When I took the photo that inspired this painting, I was drenched. While out for a morning walk, it just poured rain. And then, as it does in the tropics, the clouds broke up, andthe sunlight made everything postively sparkle!
I thought “look at all those water drops and small puddles all over this lily!” How remarkable its reflection was so clear – drops and all – in the pond.
As I was working on the shadow-y reflection of the lily,my husband and I had a “marriage moment.” All stirred up from the conflict, I asked myself how I was to make art – attempt to make beauty – from this place inside?
It hit me – the shadow is part of this piece, it’s part of relationship, of each of us, of life in this universe.
This painting reminds me of our inerhent wholeness. Wisdom says to include it all: the bright, sun-lit part that’s easy to embrace, and the dark stuff, too.
John Lennon’s Imagine played in my ears as I painted and gave me this painting’s name.. I’m a dreamer and and an eternal optimist. In the sacred world to come we all will live as one . This will require we end our battles with the shadow in all its forms.
Imagine helped me hold on my vision for this piece. There was still plenty to paint and I was anxious about getting it done in time for the Sausalito festival that summer. All those water drops! All that detail! Would I ever get it done? I kept imaging it – picturing it in my mind’s eye – all finished.
Here it is, light, shadow and all.
August 2013 – 40″x40″ – Watercolor on paper
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