Friday Findings and Framed Thoughts
Archived Paintings, New Perspectives
Man Of Many Moods
Everyone has a story. We spend so much energy fueling our judgments and perceptions of people, those near and dear, and even those we know nothing about. With each passing day, I develop a softer, kinder set of lens' to look through. This painting is In honor of the good days and the bad days.
Looking Again, 20 Years Later
When I first painted Man of Many Moods, I think I was trying to make sense of all the emotions I didn’t yet have words for. Trying to be gentle towards people’s behaviors that I couldn’t possibly always know the ins and outs of.
That figure clutching a heart in the middle of a firestorm, it felt instinctive and honest. Messy, even. But true.
Now, nearly two decades later, I see it through a different lens. Not because the emotions have faded, but because I’ve learned how to sit with them. I’ve lived through more experience, more fire and more stillness. I’ve watched myself evolve.
What once felt like chaos now reads more like balance. The painting still speaks to the extremes, the good days,the bad days, but it also hums quietly about the in-betweens: the pauses, the reckonings, the rebuilding. And the forgiving.
The forgiving of others when they don’t live up to your expectations, when they don’t fit into your mood triangle of the day. The forgiveness of yourself for an occasional shitty mood, an over emotional response to something that probably wasn’t that big of a deal to begin with. Forgiveness for jumping to conclusions- that’s a big one for me- historically I really love playing out scenarios and assuming things…. I’ll save that for another Substack post 🤣
In the painting, what strikes me most now isn’t the heat it almost literally emanates, or the slushy of colors that might come off as a whirlwind of uncertainty- It’s the act of holding the heart. Not perfectly. Perhaps not even proudly. But bravely.
Because that’s what we do, isn’t it?
We hold on.
We keep showing up, with all of our moods, our contradictions, with all of our color.
And that, too, is a kind of love.
Your friend ,
Alex
Always lead with your heart ❤️