Skip's Light

Some people have told me how lucky I am to have my art, that it will help me get through the grief…WRONG!  The art distracts me, pulls me into “my other world” but nothing will help me get through this grief…I suspect now, that grief is necessary and it just something I have to do. Nothing relieves it, makes it feel better or makes it easier.  It just has to be lived and felt and eventually I will learn how to incorporate it with the life I knew and to incorporate it into the new life I have to create for myelf...  

My first step back into creating was this huge sculpted piece. It seems right that as I begin figuring out what this new life will look like, that I do not necessarily run back into the old comfortable things every time.  Safely pushing into the new and different has felt scary but good at the same time.  I collaborated with Maureen to create this piece, actually, it is the other way around, she taught, coached and directed me.  She has booted my fledgling sculptor leanings into high gear and kept me on task, which has not been easy, to enter the Casselberry “Illuminart” event.

So, on the right is our first “test lighting” of the 3 pillars, the tall one is 8 feet tall!  We still have some manipulating to do with the actual lights inside but that should be rather easy to figure out. The work has been officially titled and entered as “Skip’s Light”.  Other people will get to see how much light he brought into my life! How he guided and supported me without words or loud boisterous instruction, but always quietly lit my way.

I am also grateful for the peaceful, recognizable, sacred time of just creating.  You get to see the product, but I have experienced the magical process of creating that I love so dearly!

"Light On"  Mark Ballas