Falling

Falling is loosely inspired by the story of Icarus, the Greek myth about a young man who flew too close to the sun. The interpretations I have read about this myth say that it is a cautionary tale about aspiring for too much, leading to negative consequences.

I painted Falling after receiving a diagnosis of stage 3B abdominal cancer. The unexpected news of my physical frailty and potentially imminent mortality gave me a sense of the floor coming out from under my feet, sending me tumbling through a reality I once thought of as solid.

Icarus is a young person with expectations, despite his father’s warnings about safety and caution, that everything will work out for him the way he thinks it will. All of us at one time in our lives thought of ourselves as immortal, and took for granted, or ignored, the many lessons and gifts we were given to help us along our way. We expect, in various ways, for the future to work out as we plan, and lose sight of the fact that all we really have is right now. Tomorrow could bring a collapse into the ocean.

I am ok now, btw. #cancersurvivor

Falling is a reminder to be present and appreciative of today’s gifts. 

18″ x 24″ oil on cradled birch. Available in my studio.