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"In the most ordinary terms, egolessness is a flexible identity. It manifests as inquisitiveness, as adaptability, as humor, as playfulness. It is our capacity to relax with not knowing, not figuring everything out, with not being at all sure who we are, or who anyone else is, either." - Pema Chodron

Like the owl, crows and ravens hold a special place in my heart and soul. As a young girl, I spent hours and hours alone in the deep woods surrounding our home. I was never afraid there, for the crows and ravens kept guard over me; their conversational caws to each other let me know all was well.  Today's painting is really interesting to me, and I wish I had video to show you of where it started and how it got here. The only thing I knew before beginning was that it would be a 6x6, and I was going to work with a modified version of Zoltan Zorn's palette (I used payne's gray, cadmium red light, yellow ochre and white.  Near the end I added a touch of pthalo blue). Pema Chodron's explanation about egolessness is a good way to describe how painting happens when I am in a "flow state".   Even when the imagery showed up, this piece is more like a poem that is razor sharp in its meaning but wholly ambiguous in its expression. 

"I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.  Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day!" - Johnny Nash

I woke up this morning to a bright sun and not a cloud in the sky (at least not from my vantage point).  Despite all that is going on in the world, I felt a keen sense of hope for our future. Perhaps, as Pema Chodron says, “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” 

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” ― Pema Chödrön

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

Today's painting is perhaps fortuitous, being the first day of my 2023 Gratitude Project. When this powerful little painting showed up this morning, bold with it's red background and face forward stance, I knew it was an auspicious sign. It got me thinking about how little things can be powerful.  So many times we wonder what one person can do to make a difference.  One person multiplied by 10, 100, 1,000, 1,000,ooo.... each standing together, like a mighty herd of bison.