Together
As a person who loves the story of a story, intuitively feels frequencies of emotion, and viscerally experiences the unseen information of art in progress, I have struggled with the essence of together as I worked on my latest painting, Together.
It began when I pulled my art out of storage in 2019. Laying the blank canvas on a make-shift art table, I drew a large flower holding two entwined hearts in its folds. Immediately, a well-defined sense of being coerced by the hidden universe filled me, and it was clear my journey into together was not going to be a gentle one. After walking away a million times, I finally made friends with together and dove into the fun of it. Yesterday, Together became complete.
My acrylic paintings have been key teachers while learning about the unseen vibrations that run our lives. Strength and Courage delivered a tough phase, and drove home the value in choosing my thoughts, words, deeds and focus with more wisdom. I don’t have this experience with any other art form, which is why I love playing with watercolors. However, the deep sensory experience with acrylic and canvas is where I lose resistances that get in life’s way.
Stepping into the essence of Together was an extremely pleasant experience. Its two entwined hearts gently held within the folds of an ethereal white flower elicited senses of togetherness, inner resonance, divine support, kindness, love and more. You know, the stuff of romance, dreams, desires…and fairy tales. Before the first layer of paint had dried, all that personal fun stuff of joy stepped aside, and the outer world of not togetherness got really loud.
Together’s first evidence was the increase in awareness of the current partnerships in my life that (unknown to me) were working against what was in my best interest. This is normal with every energy set we work with. Whenever an intention is set or a goal is focused on, whatever is not resonant with the highest good surfaces to be noticed, navigated, chosen again, or cleared. Knowing what is being shown to make better choices is the game we play between our physical and non-physical environments — at every level. It can take a while to recognize something needs to change, that it’s time to make a change and what changes to make. Ugh!
With the frequency of together at work, taking care of the not together became a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ for a while. The pandemic took care of a huge chunk with several forced changes, which included a change of location. Setting up my new home, Together landed back on the art table, the outside world went crazy and my observer mode tuned in to the contrast between together and not together. I, of course, had a side and watched the ‘others’ do damage while I waited patiently for together to will itself out. Well, not patiently…more like…certain…mixed with impatience…irritation…indignation… Together was really working on me.
Painting with acrylic is a forgiving process. The canvas can take on many layers, iterations of images, softness or brilliance of colors — all on top of each other. Together has been all of these. From the base ethereal flower holding two hearts to the colorful field of flowers it is today, this painting morphed as I grew in the face of difficult and gentle messaging together showed to me through experience.
The whole divine messaging of Together was the first to go. I didn’t like it, didn’t feel like I chose it, it didn’t feel authentic to me, and — it certainly didn’t feel authentic to what was not coming together in our human landscape. Meditating, earnest certainty, conversations with like-minded and un-like-minded others — our togetherness was ripping further apart. Eventually, the painting Together was replaced by more than a year’s worth of watercolor paintings and a quieting in my heart.
A few months ago, I lovingly placed Together back on the art table. It sat for several weeks while I worked on other things in my studio. Occasionally, I would turn to the painting and consider together from the very center of my being. What does together mean? Who does this apply to? What layer of living is the essence of together conveying? My inner beingness? Our inner beingness? Lovers? Families? Communities? Countries? Our Collective?
It turns out, the beingness of together is not a simple and straightforward essence, act or consideration on any level. My own body, heart and mind could not agree on the clarity of depicting together in a single painting. Turning to the dictionary definition, I just laughed, feeling comforted by the complexity in the multiple ways to define together:
Together: (dictionary.com)
· adverb
- into or in one gathering, company, mass, place, or body: to call the people together.
- into or in union, proximity, contact, or collision, as two or more things: to sew things together.
- into or in relationship, association, business, or agreement, etc., as two or more persons: to bring strangers together.
- taken or considered collectively or conjointly: This one cost more than all the others together.
- (of a single thing) into or in a condition of unity, compactness, or coherence: to squeeze a thing together; The argument does not hold together well.
- at the same time; simultaneously: You cannot have both together.
- without intermission or interruption; continuously; uninterruptedly: for days together.
- in cooperation; with united action; conjointly: to undertake a task together.
- with mutual action; mutually; reciprocally: to confer together; to multiply two numbers together.
· adjective
- Slang. mentally and emotionally stable and well organized: a together person.
While painting Together during these last few months, the painting took on its multi-floral theme in light blues, lavender, pale peach and pink — all held within the background of the single white flower that can no longer be seen. Filling the space between the two hearts is their own unique bouquet of resonant commonalities.
Just as I felt ready to put the painting to rest, the energy of together pulled at me again. With the outside world still trying to rip itself apart with even deeper lines in the sands of separations, it became clear the soft colors of Together were an understatement.
The living of together is not simplistic. It is a complexity of undertones that requires introspection rather than expectation.
