Oh, snow!

It snowed again. A whopping 3 inches. With all the reports raving about the WINTER STORM HEADING FOR CHICAGO, I mildly pondered if I should have shopped for the groceries I’ve been neglecting to go get for the past week, before the snow comes. But then I fell asleep.

I happened to have experienced the Snowpocalypse of 2011 when I’d been living in Chicago for just 4 months at the time. I had just gotten a new job, and even though every place was closed, somehow my mind tried to convince me, “Where is your dedication to your job?! You still have to show up!” So when I couldn’t access my car or public transportation to get to work, I tried calling the store (no one picked up) and I panicked my way through the day, hoping I won’t get fired. By the next day I had to work, most of the streets have been cleaned and, of course, it was just a regular day. I found out that the day of the Snowpocalypse, the store was closed because no employees could make it in. And there was no one at the store to take calls for people calling off work! Duh. I’d been panicking for no reason.

Ah, those were the good, old, anxiety-ridden days. Since identifying as an introvert and reading a little here and there about introversion, I learned that anxiety is just a part of the personality. Well, no wonder, since introversion is looked upon as a weakness! A weakness deemed by who? Extroverts? SOME extroverts? Introphobes?

Whatever. Introverts know themselves better than anyone else does.  Some things are not worth getting worked up about. Most introverts are chill and stay true-blue, like these Brrrds of a feather who chill together 🙂

What better day to reveal this new piece than Valentine’s Day. It may have been labeled as a Hallmark holiday, but to me, it’s a day that celebrates love & passions.

I created this in watercolor & ink and it’s 20×30 inches, largest I’ve painted so far. I even changed the title a few times, deciding to stick with “Glow,” because it rhymes with the word ‘go’. A big painting with a little reminder that you are the light at the end of the tunnel.

You may have heard the quotes, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” And, “The light at the end of the tunnel.” And then, Aerosmith said, “There’s something wrong with the world today, the light bulb is getting dim.”

Imagine that we, the humanity as a whole, are that light bulb. Each one of us is a little ball of energy contributing to the brightness. Each one wants something to happen.

But hoping, wishing, waiting, talking, and thinking about what we want doesn’t make anything happen. Any change that we want to happen begins within ourselves first. The only way the light bulb can be brighter is if each one of us becomes a little brighter. It’s a lifelong process.

The best part of all is that you get to decide what all of this means and you get to decide what works for you.

Created this for an art jam with my friend, Joshua Dixon. He chose the topic for us: “Quirky & detailed house guarded by a significantly large creature/animal, attached to the house as a guard.”