art (with attached quote) by my guardian angel: Geri Kelly

Channel your artistic guardian angels, today.

Do you have that special someone, or maybe it’s someones, who noticed your potential?

Maybe they took that potential, not only as a sign to blossom you into the artist that you have become, but also, they sat still with you – dug their heels in with you – as you grew, popping from the mud; sprouting the roots and leaves and flowers you were meant to sprout?

I have been blessed by a few amazing special someones. They have felt larger-to-me than my ordinary small-town lifestyle or point of view. They noticed my seed and propelled me forward, whispering (and at times jerking me forward) to GROW! GROW!

There was Roy Kaiser, my patron saint, who told me I had big city potential. By early teen years, he opened that door to me – letting me know that city artistic life was mine to grab, if I believed in myself, and worked very hard. He had a favorite expression, “no pain, no gain,” which I have come to question in my adult life. I’ve tweaked the expression, internally, to accommodate my feminine core values. My mantra sounds more like, “embrace the discomforts of growing pains.” Roy would go on to become Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Ballet not long after his mentorship of me. His own artistic sparkle allowed my adolescent self to believe that  – I too – was capable of great artistic things.

Then, there’s my dear husband – a far better writer regarding grammar and character development and pace than myself. Michael Gross has led an extraordinary life without telling many people about it (so far), except those patient and literate enough to read his words. To say that his majestic nature stems from being son of a kind, talented MLB talent, is like saying what makes him interesting is one particular constellation in the vibrant night sky. Michael’s mind is vast, like the sky, and unassuming or at times taken for granted, as a steady introvert over our hurried humdrum of footprints upon Earth. It’s the sky and the way he looks at it that is most compelling. During a tough period in my life, those almost-thirtysomething-question-everything days, he reappeared in my life via that clumsy world of Facebook. He has inspired my adulthood, journeying alongside his sky – a personal universe to securely explore new galaxies.

And – the inspiration for this post, she’s a petite female figure who deserves big credit in fine-tuning my view of artistry and humanity. I met her when I was fourteen, and if lucky, I still get to visit her every other week at my ripe age of forty. Geri Kelly. Simply, she is my therapist. But more exactly, she taught me how to view my circumstances, my connection to others, and connection to true fulfillment – as a mere seed that will forever grow, whenever or if ever I am ready.

Geri is with me in every therapy session that I now host, with every dear client I try to fully see in the way I have long felt fully seen by her. Geri is in every chapter of Reframe Your Artistry, the book I woke to write for two years – mornings when I could afford to rise before dear husband and daughter. She is fuel to my purpose and authentic voice. And Geri dances throughout most precious material items in my home: like the painting SHE painted (displayed here, hanging beside my daughter’s bed). Gifted to me with a special quote on the backside, it was intended to honor of my daughter’s birth. And Geri lingers as the most radiant of my guardian angels, just as her selected quote implies…”Grow! Grow!”

To say that I have artistic guardian angels, it negates the full expanse of who they are to me – they are, in reality, great artists and angelic inspiration in how best to live my days: honoring discomforts, celebrating the most precious parts of life, and eternally committed to growth…ever. so. gently.