I feel like this piece of art painted itself. On some level, all art is like that, for me in my experience anyway. I bet though, if you were to sit down a hundred artists of all ages, shapes and sizes, most of them would say that it’s not really “them” that is painting, it is not really “the person” that’s doing the creating. Maybe more accurately said would be, that the art comes through, that it’s coming from some other place that doesn’t necessarily live in the artist’s mind. This could send us off into another tangent about the collective consciousness and the power of myth and Jospeh Campbell, and all of that good stuff…all very interesting and thought provoking…back to the art…

This was a commissioned painting and the original vision for it came from one of my dearest river sisters. This was to be a gift for her Mother, to honor her husband’s life (my friend’s Father). I remember sitting on the back of the boats one starry evening, talking with my friend about how beautiful this painting would be. She asked me, “do you remember that place, where if you look up, the canyon walls make a shape of a giant eagle with its wings spread out?” That HAD to be in the painting, and also a full moon and somehow, even though you were looking up, the river HAD to be in there, of course. And no beautiful canyon night scene is complete without a big blooming Sacred Datura, Cassiopeia and Ursa Major and Minor. What else could we put in there!? These were all her ideas…and later, I learned that some of her Father’s ashes were going to be sent to the moon; her Father being a well respected and renown Astronomer in his professional life. How cool is that?! And, just another fun factoid, her Father gave her the middle name, Andromeda (the closest galaxy to the Milky Way and the only galaxy that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth), also SO very cool.

Once all the ideas were out and on sketch paper, I sat down to start the final composition and it flowed so freely. I didn’t even have to think about it…and I didn’t want to get up to leave it, “it” being the flow. I ended up finishing it in a few days. Sometimes paintings can take me weeks! Months! Meditating on the finished painting, I was pleased and only hoped for my friend and her Mother to be as pleased. It needed a title…which soon popped into my head as clear as could be. How could it be anything other than, “Fly Me to the Moon”?!

It was truly an honor to be a part of this process of co-creating and part of such an intimate, intentional gift and piece of art. I am grateful!

Original in private collection

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