Sometimes, a painting just needs to be revisited and addressed further. This happens to me more than I readily admit but this painting was an obvious case. The first attempt was a piece called Speechless that I painted for my solo show Journey to Bliss (at Arts on Douglas Gallery in New Smyrna.) The peaceful woman on the left represented how I try to live my life; completely calm and in the present moment, absorbing and cherishing every moment for the gift that it is. The woman on the right represented how I could freeze, become speechless and loose my voice when confronted with anger, hostility and non-acceptance by a certain person from my past. This was yet another classic example of my art as therapy!

The more I stared at Speechless, once it was back in my studio, the more I wanted to change it. Was it because it was about being passive or feeling helpless? Or was it because the painting itself just didn't work. What would I say about the piece if it was a student or a fellow artist? The composition is split in half down the middle, leaving it too awkward, too clumsy, too bright, too this, too that. After a solid hour of staring at it, I figured it out. I broke my own rule about components in odd numbers. You can't divide a piece down the middle with only two fragments! So that was the solution; when in doubt, add a third eye.

In the traditions of the chakras, the third eye is the center of intuition and foresight. The function of the third eye chakra is driven by the principle of openness and imagination. This third eye may not have been on her forehead, but it symbolizes the reflection and the awareness that both my painting and my predicament were missing! I love this painting so much more now. Fixed and that much closer to healed!