Compassion

a mixed media painting comes to life

The inspiration for this painting comes from the amazing experience of finding a group of like-minded women and artists through Kelly Rae Roberts' "Flying Lessons" e-course: within this group we create a safe and supportive environment for each other, where we can share anything from technical tips and everyday worries and joys to the most difficult struggles, fears and experiences (many have yet to recover from hurricane Sandy). Although this is a "virtual" place, it enables us to connect in a very real way across the planet, and to truly practice what Brené Brown speaks of in "The Gifts of Imperfection" (I can't recommend that book enough!). These gifts are Courage, Compassion and Connection. They mean that we can share our most authentic selves, our whole hearts, and truly be seen, heard and valued for who we are, where we are in our lives, without judgement of any kind.

This new painting is the result of the "work in progress" project that has been ongoing on my Facebook page for the past 3 weeks! I really want to thank all those of you who have followed this process day after day and participated with your comments! Below are all the different steps again, from the blank canvas to the finished piece.

The words "Coeurage", "Compassion" and "Connection" are written on the painting. I like that they all begin with the letter C, which reminds me of the moon crescent. So for the text on the 2 characters' faces I used en enlargement of a dictionary page with the definition and origin of that letter.