Deliberateness

The Deliberate Artist by Barbara Helvey Hughes
 
I love a deliberate artist.  An artist, who speaks to us with each brush stroke, each choice of colour and whether they whisper or scream, we understand they care.  They CARE.  They aren’t afraid to show us their passion.  They are comfortable in their own skin and they don’t need, or want, to be in any other. They emit a boundless sincerity and we, those who are blessed with their presence or who know them, benefit greatly from them.  Maybe I should say we benefit deeply, because it DOES feel as if some magic wave of energy washes over me, when they are close.
 
I appreciate deliberate people.  Those who give us their genuineness ~ those who are warriors about life and who are unafraid to BE.  Or, even if they ARE afraid, they continue to show up, and try, anyhow.  They are here, now. 
 
Those Human Tribe members fill me with awe.  I have the immense privilege of being friends with a wide circle of vastly talented people.  It doesn’t matter if they are artists, writers, retired or active CEO’s, people in the arts, government, industry/commerce, the altruistic among us, thinkers, doers ~ you get my drift.  Our small island seems a magnet for passionate people from all walks of life.  I met a Poet, last season, and he just brought me two of his books as a gift.  I almost cried.  I DID cry, when I read them.  What a Blessing!  What amazing talent we humans possess!  And how wonderful when someone decides to use it and share it with the world.
 
But, here’s the secret:  we ALL have talent(s) and that just might be our “reason” for existing ~ to discover it!  Maybe that’s all God, or whatever energy we believe in, asks of us: for each of us to bless the world with what we are blessed WITH.  Of course, it varies person to person.  Of course, there is no measure ~ we must all be whom we are and that is enough.  Because comparisons offer nothing except insecurity or a false sense of ego to those being compared.  So, it truly IS enough to just BE.
 
This season, Hughes Gallery has hosted a broad range of talent.  We began with my Dear Friend, Daniel Ambrose and we wound through (Dear Friends, ALL) Bill Farnsworth, Lois Griffel, Tony D’Amico, Diane Mannion, Kim Abernethy, Susan Shaw, Karen Ann Hitt, Del-Bourree Bach, Michael Budden, Neal Hughes and we are just now exhibiting the Tonalist works of my Dear Friend, Kevin Fitzgerald.  I’ve known many of these talents for several years ~ they have ALL had a profound affect upon me ~ they are deliberate artists.  Deliberate people. They do not rush, they do not give us their least, but always their best.  It is an honour to represent all the artists I’ve had the opportunity to represent, whether they are still actively in the gallery or have moved on in their lives.
 
I awakened this morning with a visceral sense of gratitude for the path my life has taken.  No, I did not become the oratorical attorney of my high school dreams; no, I did not become the powerful publishing magnate, nor the first woman president of the United States ~ I am not Teilhard de Chardin nor Mahatma Gandhi nor Albert Schweitzer nor Mother Teresa ~ but, you see, I do not need to BE those humans, for they have already existed and I would then be redundant!  So, most days I don’t dwell on what I am NOT.  I simply try my very best to be grateful for whom and what I AM.  It may not be much more than a passionate lover of other passionate people, but that is enough.  For me, it IS enough to speak with deliberateness, to exist with deliberateness, to accept, with grace, my Blessings and to have Faith and Hope that they will continue.
 
So, to all YOU deliberate members of this, our Human Tribe ~ walk in Light and Love.
Shine your Light and Love.
You are enough.
Always.
Thank you for Blessing my life.
 
Barbara Helvey Hughes, 3-28-2018/5-2-2020