“Water does not resist.

Water flows.

When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress.

Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you.

But water always goes where it wants to go,

and nothing, in the end, can stand against it.

Water is patient.

Dripping water wears away a stone.

Remember that, my child.

Remember you are half water.

If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it.

Water does.”

~ Margaret Atwood

Earlier this year, I started having reoccurring thoughts and images about water.  When this type of thing happens to me, I don't ascribe it to any particular religious or worldly source, but I do think that it guides me to pay attention to possible meanings as it relates to me.  As COVID was thoroughly integrating itself into my daily routine and thoughts, it was a nice distraction.  I'm not into astrology, but as a March baby, I was always made aware of how Pisces are supposedly creative, sensitive and intuitive.  To me,  listening to that gut feeling or repeated image has always been a natural way to go about my decision-making or feel connected to the spiritual and natural world around me.  So when water images started coming at me, I paid attention, and I went with it. 

It seems a little "woo-woo".  But it started with a house leak...water from a blocked A/C drain.  Then the next day, when we had terrible humidity and rain, condensation "tears" crying down an interior wall.  What the heck?  Waterfalls in my house...not so great.  Then, a  trip to the grocery store and there it was...

I couldn't ignore this. Out of curiosity, I researched a bit.  

According to the What's Your Sign website, "In Taoist tradition, water is considered an aspect of wisdom. The concept here is that water takes on the form in which it is held and moves in the path of least resistance. Here the symbolic meaning of water speaks of a higher wisdom we may all aspire to mimic.

The ever-observant ancient Greeks understood the power of transition water holds. From liquid, to solid, to vapor – water is the epitome of metamorphosis and philosophical recycling.

Among the first peoples of North America, water was considered a valuable commodity (particularly in the more arid plains and western regions) and the Native Americans considered water to be a symbol of life (further solidifying the symbol affixed in many creation myths). 

So it is also with the ancient Egyptians as we learn their beloved (and heavily relied upon) Nile river is akin to the birth canal of their existence." 

Traveling to the beach was not a possibility yet, but I felt the need to be near it.   So we started with a trip to Pilot Mountain, North Carolina and Hanging Rock State Park.  Hiking the trails, hearing the roaring waterfalls, and putting my feet in that cool water, made me feel as though I was forgetting the stresses of modern day and living the moments of centuries past, when Native people had probably walked these same trails and experienced these places to refresh and sustain themselves. 

I had a strong desire to paint water--waterfalls, streams, waves.  Cascades, flowing and still.  Finding the shadows in it, the "anatomy" of it, the light through it.  I painted a wandering stream and a rushing creek. Then a large still marsh.

Eventually, I had an opportunity to be at the Carolina coast for a week.  I felt blessed and grateful.  THAT'S the place that I had been longing for in my heart.  To connect to that primordial spot by just sitting a watching it, by smelling the salt in it, hearing the rhythmic roaring and feeling that refreshing coolness wash over me.  Here are a couple of paintings that have resulted in that trip, so far.  

What do I think all the water imagery meant for me?  I can go on and on philosophically about all its possible meanings, of course.  But I think that in this particular time of adaptation and change, it was a reminder that I can work around the whole COVID isolation issue.  To not fear the changes life brings to me right now.  That I can find a way, if I persist.  I like how writer Margaret Atwood suggests that we be like water, and go around an obstacle.  I'm OK.  I'm being patient and I'm still painting.  

Stay healthy.

Mary