april 2020

Thoughts about jellyfish. And art.

They have good boundaries. They represent aspects of the divine feminine: receiving, grace, surrender, acceptance, trust, and flow. They are transparent. They take in nourishment wherever they go. They are guided by instincts and intuition. They can be deadly if not respected.

​Do they know they are in water? What would it be like to be a jellyfish? To relinquish control to the currents in the ocean, the flow of life? What can we learn from spending time with jellyfish?

When I first started painting jellyfish, I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone and sent them to friends and family in a text. One of my friends joked that perhaps I was missing the beach and wanted to bring the ocean with to me. A spiritual teacher pointed out that jellyfish are very similar to the cells in our bodies. Perhaps I was painting self-portraits, he suggested.
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Is it possible to learn to shine from the inside out? To learn to not be in a rush, to pay attention, be sensitive to others and our own emotions, and to float. To trust that everything we need to survive will be provided. To feel at home wherever we are?
 
I love their colors. I love their organic swoop of tentacles. I imagine them in an infinite dance between effort and surrender. And when I paint them, in some way I find myself in the current of my own life, belonging to this world.