Light Between Shadows

Personal Present Moment

This week has been a tangle of emotions, each thread leading somewhere different but all woven together in the same moment. It was my father’s birthday; he would have been 88. My friend Joni passed away in a sudden car crash just one day after her wedding anniversary, right before she and her family were to move into their newly purchased dream home. I had the honor of helping the Waikato Herald write a tribute article about her life and legacy, which you can read [here].

One of my children underwent an “easy” surgery that has led to a much harder recovery than we imagined. I am still healing from my own surgery.

It all hurt, yet somehow I was not overwhelmed. For the first time in a long while, I felt a kind of balance inside the chaos; a rhythm I could walk to. That feeling brought me back to A Walk in the Woods.

Flashback

When I was caring for my father, A Walk in the Woods was the height of our unspoken understanding. We were walking side by side, imperfect yet in sync. It was a mix of doctor visits and squeezing in every bucket list moment we could manage, finding ways to balance joy and difficulty while staying just ahead of the stress of it all.

A year ago, we took one last great adventure together. We worked with his doctors to make sure he was as healthy as possible, then left our home in Asheville for a trip of discovery. My father, who had always loved the outdoors, had four wishes: to see Yellowstone, to return to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in California, to visit Oregon, and to walk in the Pacific Ocean.

I made certain he experienced everything I could make happen. While I knew what was coming, I do not believe in mourning people before they are gone.

Emotional Connection to the Artwork

This drawing mirrors that rare and fragile harmony, the layered paths, the turns and crossings, the moments where different routes run side by side. It reflects the feeling of moving through life imperfectly yet together.

You may not have walked my exact road, but you may know what it is to hold joy in one hand and pain in the other; to be in a season where challenge and beauty coexist. Perhaps you have faced an illness, navigated a loved one’s final chapter, celebrated a milestone shadowed by loss, or simply carried the quiet weight of the unknown.

It is a reminder that, like Joni, you never know when the universe will call you home; or like my child, who faced surgery with bravery in the hope of future joy; or like my father, who used the time he had left to say yes to adventure. However, our stories differ; there is a shared rhythm in how we keep moving, seeking connection, seeking peace, and finding balance in the spaces between.

Why This Work Matters

Green in my work represents Harmony.
Blue represents Peace.
Black is what is hidden.
Life is always a play of shadows and light. We cannot control time, but we can choose how we move through it. We can seek ways to remain in rhythm with one another, even when the path is uncertain.

About the Series – Holding Pattern

This drawing is part of Holding Pattern, a series of eight original works made in the wake of caregiving, loss, and emotional recalibration.
The series moves backward through my story, tracing the thresholds where joy and grief exist side by side. Each piece is a record of a moment, sometimes balanced, sometimes fractured, but always honest.

A Note for You

If you are navigating your own layered path right now, I hope you find moments of rhythm inside the uncertainty. Whether in nature, in conversation, or in the quiet space you carve for yourself, there is beauty in the imperfect balance.

Artwork Details

“A Walk in the Woods” – 6x6 abstract ink drawing on paper featuring layered greens, blues, and black linework (2024), part of the Holding Pattern series.

6 x 6 inches

Ink on archival paper artist tile

Original drawing on paper

$295

This piece reflects a rare moment of harmony within uncertainty. The layered paths move alongside one another, meeting and parting, mirroring the balance found before everything changes.

If you have ever navigated a time when joy and difficulty coexisted—when you found a steady rhythm despite shifting ground—this work may speak to you.

It is not about perfection.
It is about staying in step, even when the terrain is uneven.

[Click here to view or purchase the artwork.]
[Explore the full Holding Pattern series.]