Art

I am NOT an artist.  Far from it. 

But yesterday, somewhere between finishing up a school paper, cleaning up a dinner party and answering phones for public television, I spent some time with my art supplies. 

It was a curious hour and a half or so.  I started without inspiration – beyond the fact that I wanted to do something holiday related.  Picture me with an air of frustraton paging through holiday cookbooks and children’s books in a struggle to find something I might be able to work with.  I settled on Christmas stockings. 

Great.

And then, as I spent more time with the stockings, I realized I wanted to capture loss – and the unshakeable belief I have that death does not get the last word.  And in the process, for the first time, I understood art as meditation. 

Surprising.  Not planned.

A gift.