Dancing with Courage

Dancing With Courage, like all paintings, is open to interpretation. Elephants are truly magical creatures with many symbolic meanings. For me, this painting is a story about facing, with grace and love, something that has been difficult to overcome.

“She saw him standing there again, that big beautiful elephant, full of colorful antics. Sometimes she spoke to him, mostly she spoke about him, but she rarely looked at him…usually she just tried to forget he was there.

Until this moment.

It was in this moment when she looked at him she realized she had given him her soul… She knew in her gut that she needed to be true to her heart and be courageous, not doing so had rendered her hopeless and powerless. She knew in this moment she could no longer ignore him and had to take action. She realized it is possible to be brave, be vulnerable and loving all in the face of no agreement. It was in this moment she was willing to risk everything because it was time to be free to dance and play the way her soul needed to be expressed. With her heart full of love, for herself and the elephant, she boldly danced up to him and looked him in the eye and asked for her soul back.”