Letting Go, Welcoming Change

 Alchemist of Change

Freedom From Within

Last week I took the painting Alchemist of Change that I had painted six years ago and transformed it. It even got a new name: Freedom From Within.

My style and color palette has changed over the years, and I felt it was time for this piece to change too. One of the things that is hard to do, in life and in painting, is let go. There were several elements in this painting I was very attached to - the birdcage, the bird, and the words embedded in the bottom right corner. These were two quotes that really resonated with me at the time that I painted the original piece:

Let your history be the alchemist of change

and

A diamond is a piece of coal made clear under pressure

It was very difficult for me to let go of those words. I struggled with working around them for hours, but in the end I let them go, and welcomed the changes that letting go brought to the newly transformed piece. Besides, they are still there, just hidden, which pleases me.

Creamy and dreamy now where it was formerly colourful and exuberantly busy, the piece feels fresh and new. The bird and the birdcage still feature, as they are the essence of the painting, as is the cluster of houses that I debated painting over but decided to keep.

Letting go of what is no longer working, and welcoming change, even if you have resistance. As a former student once remarked to me "Intuitive painting is like a metaphor for life."

Yep.