Since my Dad passed away, I've been seeing a lot of parallels between the creative process and the grieving process. I'm not sure if it's because they really are connected, or if it's just because I presently have a foot in both worlds. Or maybe it's just because I inherited my dear father's gene for metaphorical thinking. At any rate, I'm seeing them everywhere.

The concept of peeling back layers is one of them. I am finding that I am going through so many different emotional shifts these days, it's almost as if every day I become a bit more exposed to myself. As soon as I think I've "been there, done that" with a particular type of emotion, it comes up again, but in a different way. Who would have thought that a single day could have so many layers?

Good art and writing are full of layers, too. Like life, the multi-layered creations are interesting, dynamic, and continue to cast different shadows as different surfaces peak through.

I remember being a little girl in the hot Dallas summers, and thinking that I liked winter rather than summer because "you can layer up, but you can't layer off."

And I guess that's what I'm getting at...in both art and life, we CAN layer off. We just have to be willing to put ourselves out there. Willing to take the heat...bare souls and all.

"it is not enough to find your passion...you must dive straight into the fire of your fear ~ where you can grab it and hold it until it transforms you." -- terri st. cloud