Lately I have been thinking a lot about how Life mimics Nature’s ever-changing Seasons. Sometimes there are storms and sometimes sun. Sometimes the flowers blossom and other times the leaves brown, fall and leave only barren branches in the cold Winter breeze.

Yet always, Life goes on. The sun comes out again, the clouds disperse and the cycles of our planet evolves and changes with every new season.

It’s the same with Us I think, and this is often the reason I paint ... To understand my Life better and to help me not just weather, but learn to embrace all my seasons.

So, these last few weeks I've been reworking an older painting I made back in 2013, called Sea Dream.

There was something about this piece that never really sat 'true' within me. It felt like a 'surface painting' ... One that looks pretty, but here's not much emotional connection to it. My inner landscape is becoming more and more rich these days with new understanding and acceptance, that this painting beckoned me to give it some more attention.

So I began to paint freely and intuitively with colour, allowing myself to get present and reconnect with the work ... Open to the journey we would go on together. Some things died (graciously buried under colourful paint) and some new Life began to sprout in the compost.

When I'm completely open to a new direction like this, ideas can come from so many places. This time, a conversation with an online friend led me to discover the beautiful mountains of St Lucia and I knew this would be my way forward.

I researched some images and found a whole website devoted to their beauty, perfect for my painting reference.

As I painted, I grew to sense a constant presence within me. Somehow, this huge transformation was taking place on my canvas, but I wasn't afraid of the unknown journey. Instead I felt plugged into a well of rich, vibrant stillness; aware of all this happening, yet indestructible to the changes going on within my experience.

A knowing whispered my way forward one step at a time ... Paint this colour here, this shape there, add shading here, allow rawness there. The dance was sublime and I felt a sense of home in the journey ...

I recognised this place as My Self.

As she unfolded, her richness only grew. It was like I was creating a beautiful sanctuary of a spirit. The image reference took on its own Life in my painting and I revelled in the vibrancy with each mark I made. An excited feeling came over me as I witnessed the making of magic. I felt so blessed to be in this moment.

I could have stopped here if I relied on my eyes only, but my intuition nudged for me to listen to my Inner Muse, who called me deeper into her treasures.

I sensed jewels and necklaces, lovingly draped. Feathers and breeze, caressing the air like wind chimes. Light and dark and caves and mountain tops. A time to rest and a time to expand. A place for all of me, here.

'Finding Paradise'. Acrylic, Paint Pen, Black Gesso and Neo Color Crayon on Canvas. 20" X 24" cms X 1" deep.

This painting helped me to understand and embody a new notion … That paradise isn’t a place I will find by hanging on desperately to the seasons I love most, whilst avoiding the rest.

Instead, Finding Paradise happens in each moment as I learn to Embrace all my Seasons ... From the light, sunny skies to the dark, stormy moments experienced within. As I learn to accept what IS, both within myself and my outer experiences, I have the power to choose Who I Want to Be.

This may take time to experience daily. I have old tapes that tell me I'm not worthy of Love, which lure me to grasp for security and control ... Yet new experiences like this painting that show me I am Worthy, just because I'm alive.

... And if I stumble?

I know I will and this is okay too ... Just another Season to embrace. I can just keep meeting my experience again and again, with a desire to be more kind, more compassionate and more loving to myself and those around me than I was yesterday, last year or the moment before.

This, I now know, is how I can find my own Paradise Within.

Own this Artwork: Original Artwork $450. Prints from $40 AVAILABLE HERE.

All my Love,

Chrissy xx