Magic in How it Works
I think my good friends of Bill W. will especially appreciate this story.
I thought it was complete; the largest piece of art I’d ever painted. Then came the varnish, and too many brush strokes. By the time it dried there were large patches of cloudiness from over brushing. I was devastated. This piece I’d worked so hard on was ruined. In tears, I called a fellow artist and also a friend of Bill’s. She suggested that perhaps the art wasn’t quite finished. Maybe there was more to be added, and more to be revealed. She suggested prayer and meditation. She told me to ask the Divine Spirit of the Universe to help me, to work through me. I followed her direction, and with a refreshed sense of trust in the process, I dug into my bin of antique magazines. I tore pieces of copy out of an old Saturday Evening Post magazine and collaged them on top of the cloudy parts of the painting. I used my palette knife to scrape on additional layers of blues and greens...the art flowed from my hands. Within a few hours the piece evolved from my “perfect” painting into the art it was meant to be. At some point in the midst of being in that peaceful painting groove, I paused and looked closer at the text. I noticed the words, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” two of the most important words in my life today. I looked at the author, “Jack Alexander.” I froze with my hands out in front of me, looked up and thought, “Wow. Thank You.”