Stray Dog Arts

A spontaneous photo taken a moment ago after my computer's display went into "slide show" mode. I rarely use that old laptop and so the images it contains always catch me by surprise. The computer happened to be sitting on a stool in front of the easel--an accidental magic space where it is easy to imagine the translation from photograph to painting. For the past two years I've been working on a series of large scale wild horse paintings that will eventually culminate into a solo exhibition, "Wild Horse Heart." I've gotten quiet about this project, gone a bit underground with it, because I am realizing that there is a lot of inner work going on as these paintings slowly come into being. I guess you could say that this is my Spirit Work.

Looking at this image, my heart feels like it might leap out of my chest. I find myself needing to look away, if only for a moment. I walk across the room and look at it from far away because it feels easier. I love it when this happens. It is the feeling of joy, of expansiveness, of purpose.

I continue to paint myself into being. Recording my journey along the way in the form of photos and words. Every day a new part of myself seems to unravel, to open, to unfurl. Already, I am looking forward to returning to the remote mountains of Wyoming this summer. To spend more time with those wild horses. To saturate myself in the wildness of my own heart.

This life...it is such a mystery. Pulling me forward...
and forward...
...and forward.

with wild horse love,
Jessie
♥

:: Northerly Painting Retreat 2012/13 ::