Aligned with AUM – the painting & practice

“Aligned with AUM” (16″ X 20″) – SOLD

Are there moments in your creative process where you feel discouraged…
where nothing is working, everything feels muddy, and you know you should step away—but you don’t… until you have no choice?

Aligned with AUM (16″ x 20″) moved through exactly that.

There was a stage where this painting felt forced. Overworked. Off. I could feel I wasn’t creating from inspiration, but from a sense that I should. And still, I kept going… until it became clear I needed to pause and reset.

That “messy” phase—the one that can feel like failure—isn’t the end of the process. It’s often where the real shift begins.

At the same time, I was deep in my preparation for Kriya meditation class, learning new techniques… and getting caught in my thinking mind trying to do them “right.” The parallel was impossible to miss.

In both cases, the breakthrough came with a simple shift:

From effort… to allowing.
From doing… to inviting.

Instead of trying to meditate, I began asking the Divine to meditate with me.
Instead of trying to fix the painting, I returned to listening.

And slowly, everything changed.

What had felt like mud became necessary contrast. 
What felt like wasted time and paint became foundation.

Wiping it up with paper towels added texture.

When I came back to that canvas 2 weeks later, the painting revealed itself as a flow of energy rising through the chakras—moving upward through each gateway, focusing at the spiritual eye, and opening into the crown. A reminder of where we’re heading: clarity, expansion, union with Source.

Keeping that “end” in mind helped me not give up.

Even the lotus holds a teaching. Its surface was created intentionally to shift with light—appearing soft white from one angle and luminous violet from another. The painting itself doesn’t change… only the way it’s seen.

Just like those moments in your process.

What looks like failure…
may simply be a different angle waiting to reveal something more.

And then—before this piece was even finished—it was chosen.

Not varnished. Still becoming.
Recognized anyway.

That, to me, felt like a nod from the Universe, thanks to an earth angel who listened to her own intuition and said “I want this one!”. So it came with me on my trip to Newfoundland, to be received by its person.

You don’t have to have it all figured out.
You don’t have to wait until it feels perfect.

Stay with it.
Trust the process—even the uncomfortable parts.
Keep the end in mind.

Because what’s unfolding… in your art, in your practice, in your life…
may already be more aligned than it seems.

P.S. In two weeks, you’ll see another painting with a similar meditator design. I’m completely taken with it, and I may explore it again in a few variations…

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