Art Every Day - Day 22 - 'Patience'

Finished my first big detailed canvas painting tonight.

'Patience'

30x40 acrylic on canvas

The Heron is significant for me in that it is my spirit animal. I learned about spirit animals in May of 2014, a month that began the current path of awakening for me - finding my voice and listening to my soul, as a person and as an artist. I was going thru a lot of emotional stress and frustration that particular week, and the Heron showed up for the first time in a huge way. It flew up out of the median of the freeway I was driving on (what in the world was it doing in the median of a freeway?!) - almost hitting the car in front of me. My breath stopped in that moment. And then I watched as this bird used everything in its being to lift itself up and over not only that car - but the semi truck in the lane next to me - and fly away.  It was an unbelievable, yet deep soul reaching experience to watch unfold. The messages there were profound for me.  However, even though I recognized it might be my spirit animal - as I drove on, the doubt and negativity crept in, and I brushed the Heron away - not believing it was speaking to me. After all, I have seen herons many times in the past and they'd never spoke to me before. In hindsight though I realize I was not open to the messages, to the signs - I was not in a spiritual place of acceptance back then. My awakening had only just begun that week.

Anyway, a half hour later, 30 miles further down the road - another Heron flew in front of my car again (this time higher up away from cars) - as if to confirm that yes - It was a sign meant for me. This time I accepted it and thanked it, and couldn't wait to get home and look up what the Heron meant. You see every animal has a meaning, a message they are trying to convey to us when they show up in our lives. Sometimes the message doesn't make sense and may not be meant for us. But most times there is a message - if we are open to the idea of it, and accepting of it. Most animals have several meanings you may need to filter thru to figure out what the right one is for you at that time in your life when it appears.

The Heron's main meaning is patience. If you have ever watched a Heron, it will stand in the water in one spot, for a long period of time. Watching. Learning. Waiting, for the right moment to grab its dinner and be on its way. The Heron is also a big bird standing on long skinny legs -  meaning you can still be strong and powerful even if the legs you are standing on seem weak. It is a pillar of strength.

Patience is the main lesson I have learned from the heron. That particular week as I said, I was going thru a lot, I was frustrated because my soul had been awakened for the first time, maybe ever, and I wanted to go in one direction but life circumstances were forcing me to go in other directions. I was angry, I was falling apart. I was fighting myself internally, constantly, and I was miserable. That first day the Heron showed twice. I read and learned about it meaning, accepting the message. Or trying to.So I thought. I evidently wasn't doing a very job of it though because the heron showed itself again to me a day later. Then again 2 days later. And again the day after that. 5 times in a week the Heron made itself known to me. At that point I finally calmed down, accepted things in my life as they were at the time, because it was all I could do, and learned to be patient.

A few days later I had to go out of town for the next 6 weeks on a job (part of my frustration) and I never saw the heron once while I was away, despite being near the ocean. The day I came home, I felt the frustrations begin to return. The anger begin to seep back in. I hadn't even been home a day when standing out my driveway, I look up.......and a heron flies over my house. It was if it KNEW I needed it. The universe could FEEL that I was beginning to lose myself again and let the stress in, and it knew I needed my spirit guide to reassure me that I needed to be patient. That things will unfold when they are meant to.

This is also when I adopted my mantra that - if something is meant to happen for me, it will happen when the time is right. That has gotten me thru a lot of trying times. I have seen the Heron several times since then but not as often as that first week. Not since I learned its lesson.  Now it is just a reassurance that I am on the right path, and to be calm.

So last week as I was frustratingly trying to figure out what to paint for over 2 hours, and nothing felt right, I stopped and turned around in my chair in my studio. I was looking around and noticed the picture of  Heron I have on my bulletin board - a reminder of my spirit guide. And the painting that I needed to manifest finally came into focus. I have been trying to force these ideas in my head onto canvas before they are ready. When I do try to paint them, I am trying to rush through them so I can move onto the next one, and I get frustrated because they aren't turning out right. Even doing the color studies I started with at the beginning of the month - I rushed thru them so I could get my art done for the day and could move onto the next and get closer to finding my voice.

But the Heron once again stepped in and said - be patient. Take your time. Your paintings are not working because you're going to fast. You are not ready for them yet. Slow down and put the time in.

So that's what I did. It was only right that my first slow detailed painting be one that honors my spirit guide. It has not steered me wrong yet. I am the one fighting me. The universe is guiding me, I just need to slow down and listen.

Be Patient.

And so "Patience" was manifested. I felt very calm doing this painting for the most part. Yesterday my energy was off and I struggled to get very much done, but today I finished it well, and I am happy with the result. I have always been a fairly patient person, but the lessons Heron has taught me in patience have been lifesaving.

Next time an animal crosses your path, even if its in a magazine or on TV, pay attention - it might be trying to tell you something, especially if you see it more then once. If you are open to it. You can have more than one animal guide too. I have several including donkey, hawk, and ferret. I saw a ferret 3 times this summer at the park I walk at. It was very strange to see a ferret there - just running across the path ahead of me. One time though, it ran right towards me on the side of path and passed right on by next to me, not a foot away from where I stood, before turning into the brush. It wasn't scared or anything, I just stopped and watched it. I knew then it was meant for me. What is even more strange is that weeks later I filled out one of those online questionnaire's (just for fun one day) that will tell you what your animal totem is. It came back as the Marten. I didn't even know what a Marten was - but in doing further research on it - guess what? It is a cousin of......the Ferret!! How crazy is that!  So the ferret had messages for me this summer too.

Animals will come and go in our lives but there is always a message they want you to know - if you are willing to listen.