IF I HAD WINGS – 21X36 – ACRYLIC ON BOARD
My concept of “old” was much different when I was 12. I remember hearing about a college student who was killed in a car accident. He was 28 yrs. old. My thought, at that time, was at least he had lived a long time and it wasn’t as sad as it could have been, had he been young. It has taken years, wisdom, and awareness to remove the concept of “other” from older people. I am one of them now. Now, I want to paint a brighter picture of what aging is. Denial is pointless. With the invention of mirrors and the changes in my body, I would have to be a little crazy to think I am young. But, with that being said, my navel gazing has revealed to me the brighter colors in my attitude. I know my life is steadily, day by day, marching toward “old” and beyond. I have begun, more often, to see myself as “eternal”. This is better.
There is beauty in us all. My artistic self leans into perceiving what is not necessarily obvious in other human beings. We have all sorts of lovely things built into us that can be observed with only a little effort. We can see the spiritual in another when we try. Love, and joy, and peace, and trust are all quite visible. Of course, this takes faith. But, there is enough faith in us to adopt a more positive approach to getting older, and everything else while we are at it. My inner life is in many ways, at the beginning of a new leg of this journey. The best IS still ahead of us. When we think and believe this, we experience less stress. More inner peace is available. We love ourselves and others better. We laugh more. Lets have a party! Share a meal, listen to music. Take a few moments to be honest with ourselves, eliminate excuses for self-pity, comparisons, or complaints. Lets be thankful one moment at a time. It is in this moment, with the wisdom we have acquired so far, we become our finest art.