18" x 36"
Acrylic on Canvas
 
"Borrowed Eyes" is an emotional monument to a fleeting, life-altering moment of grace. In the transient, rushing chaos of an airport terminal—a place where people so often look past one another—I briefly connected with a young man. We sat together talking about art and life until our respective flights pulled us in opposite directions. Before parting, I shared my art website with him, a routine gesture. But as I sat down in my seat on the airplane, I opened a message from him that left me stunned. He told me I was "the most sweetest and beautiful woman he had ever met"  At a time when I couldn't see my own worth, his words became a mirror, allowing me to view myself through "borrowed eyes."
His words were a stunning, emotional shock. In that exact chapter of my life, I could not see or feel my own worth; my internal landscape felt shadowed, heavy, and weathered. To have a total stranger pierce through that armor with such unfiltered clarity was overwhelming. He didn't just see my surface; he somehow saw through to my soul and mirrored it back to me.
 
I want to paint a series of these captured moments …. Not sure where this will take me. This is the first in the series "After the Bloom.”  We tend to celebrate life at its peak—the moment the flower is perfectly open, vibrant, and flawless. But the truest, most vulnerable part of our story happens afterward.