Hope on The Hill
Dear Friends,
A few months ago on my 40th birthday, I was standing in the spot where I made this new painting (pictured above), feeling like all hope was lost for my work. It was a deeply emotional experience of fear and loss. What do you do when you truly feel like you don’t know what to do?
I didn’t want to sideline this part of my life that makes up so much of who I am. For me painting is not a hobby, it is more than a profession, it is a lifeline to the sacred.
When I am painting, especially outside in nature, the feeling that I am ‘fulfilling my purpose in life’ is strongly present within me. It is not a proud or boastful feeling. It is quiet, unassuming, and gentle. This feeling grows steadily as I stand there layering the paint, the hours passing by in a timeless present moment.
While I worked on this particular painting I watched the wind blow softly through the trees. As the leaves made that familiar rustling sound I watched them dance. I felt as if that wind in the trees was flowing through me, as if I had become permeable to its cleansing current.
I painted the sun like a spotlight in the clouds. The light, the air, and the earth saturated me with a renewed sense of stability and wholeness. It felt like every cell in my body, for the first time, in a long time, was saying in unison, “yes!”. Yes to life, yes to this moment, yes to being here doing what I love. Yes to committing for one more day, to my true self.
For that is what nature does for us, isn’t it?
Nature is our friend and healer. She does not ask us to be anything other than who we truly are. She doesn’t care if we have done bad things or good things, only that we are true to our own nature.
She is the balance of graceful movement and profound stillness at the same time. When we immerse ourselves in her silent embrace she gently balances us as well. For it is only in a state of balance that we can hear the song in our heart, the song we know we want to be singing.
Nature does all of this, only asking that we listen, not to her, but to ourselves. Only asking that as we make contact with each passing moment of her unspeakable beauty we glimpse that beauty reflected in ourselves. For we are, each one of us, a part of her. We are nature. And our true, natural self is all we need ever be, to satisfy her hopes and her dreams for us.
Sincerely,
Dustin Neece
“Hope on The Hill”
Oil on herringbone linen
8 x 10 inches, 2023
Please see the Available Originals page for current availability.