Lost Possibilities

Meet Gwen.

This little photographer is the character I spent all of January designing. She travels the world photographing luscious landscapes, long-forgotten ruins, exotic creatures, and hidden sanctuaries. Armed with nothing more than a backpack and her trusty camera, every day is an opportunity for adventure.

Ever since I was an itty-bitty kid, I’ve dreamed of traveling. I want to dive in the Great Barrier Reef and make friends with the corals. I want to look out over the water on the cliffs of the Faroe Islands. I want to ride a gondola through Venice.

But the reality is, those dreams might never come true for me. Between the uncertainty of my health (and my lack of funds😅), these are places I may only ever see in photographs. Or are they?

Through art I’ve found the ability to see all the things I want to see, visit the places I want to go, be the characters I’ve always dreamed of being. Though I rarely paint myself in my illustrations, I do paint pieces of myself into them. My dream of having my own coffee shop was painted into this piece.

My dream of hiking a mountain was painted into this one.

My dream of working in an ice cream shop was painted into this one.

As I was reading “Starting Point” by the Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, I came across this quote of his “I like the expression ‘lost possibilities.’ To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, and a life. To exist here, now, means to lose the possibility of being countless other potential selves… And I think that’s exactly why the fantasy world of cartoon movies so strongly represents our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.”

I’ve discovered that this is a major portion of art for me. It’s my opportunity to explore my own “lost possibilities”.

Anyhoo, I’m excited to share more of Gwen’s adventures with you and begin to paint those lovely places I’ve dreamt of visiting. Whether or not I ever see them in person, I’m so blessed to visit them through brushes and paints.