Perhaps nothing in mythology describes my life better than the Phoenix. I have risen above life's abuses and a mental illness that nearly killed me, to live a passionate and delicious life. In all my professions, from rancher to therapist and firefighter to EMT, I called upon certain qualities of myself in order to do a good job. But I always felt chained, somehow, and never quite complete.
And then the winds changed, and the world of mosaics drifted in on a warm spring breeze through an open window in my soul. I have never been the same. In order to give flight to this passion I don't employ certain aspects of myself, but rather all of them. I create with a centeredness yet sense of other worldliness that I can not put into words, but that often brings tears to my eyes.
I create feeling whole, loved by my God, my family, and my friends. I create with an open heart and an untamed soul. I create with the certainty that I am among the luckiest people that lives, or indeed has ever lived. And like the Phoenix that rose from the ashes, whether I be in a state of angst or bliss, I am finally, utterly, free.
34" x 60" stained glass, smalti, on Joshua tree, backlit
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