Listen, Bold Adventure, Feathered Hope
Today I was happy to be part of TEDxPortland. Along with 55 other artists, I was commissioned to make art for the show book… and painted 3 birds inspired by this year’s theme Tomorrows. So cool to be part of the TEDx energy. Ideas worth sharing. It was a day of listening, of heart opening, of laughing and crying.
It was interesting, like old art school days!, to work within an assignment for my painting (of course in my day job at CMD I work under project parameters every day). I do plenty of painting commissions, but for TEDx the specifications were even more particular – I had a topic under the theme (I chose nature) and a specific template I had to work within. 18 x 24 inches, with a circle shape placed precisely in the space.
My first thought for the TEDx Tomorrows commission was the bleakness and fear I have around our dear planet Earth. How can I paint bleakness? It is not the stuff of which I am made. Then I thought of our birds… how the small canary in the coal mine tells us when air is thin and danger is near. Our little feathered friends give me hope. This spring I hear the bird song around me, in my Backyard Habitat, and take the courage to hope, a little. If 3000 people can sit in an auditorium on a beautiful spring day to listen to ideas worth sharing, there is hope. If a little bird can make a nest in my backyard, there is hope. So I painted my birds listening, peeking, then flying into our tomorrows.
The title of this post comes from one of the many wonderful speakers from the day, Amber Sparks. She champions the notion that we are our own beautiful. In fact, the whole day sang this song loud and true. Thank you TEDx Portland. Shine on.