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THE LONGING IS THE RETURN

Through my tears I heard a message. I was crying out for my mother in a way I hadn’t done since she passed into the next life nearly eight years ago. Maybe in a way I never had. Even after all this time, the pain of her loss was as fresh as it ever was. And I heard the words, “I’m still here”. As I wept, she answered. My longing was the returned message, as Rumi described in his poem, Love Dogs. In the poem’s next line, he writes, the grief you cry out from draws you toward union. The union I was drawn toward that day wasn’t only a reunion with my mother. It was the certainty of a connection between the living and the dead, between all things– human, animal, plant, water, earth. Connection to my mother is connection to the earth. How could it not be? She was my first home, my first experience of life on this earth, my first country, as poet Nayyirah Waheed writes. She is now literally a part of that earth. As she returned to dust, so will I someday return. In that way, we are always here, never gone. These emotionally expressive landscape paintings recall not a specific place on this earth, but moments, however brief, in which I felt myself at the center of a confluence of connectivity. In which I felt the energy of the world around me flowing through me, the world that included and will always include my mother. The landscape moving toward me yet floating away into infinity. Drips and runs are reminiscent of the tears that continue, always, just under the surface. But also a gift, a reminder. The connection, forever existing, unseen yet heard, felt.

Artwork in THE LONGING IS THE RETURN

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  1. The Secret Cup by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    The Secret Cup, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    60 x 40 x 2 in

  2. All of Yesterday by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    All of Yesterday, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 40 x 2 in

  3. Vast Hinterlands by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Vast Hinterlands, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 60 x 2 in

  4. Breath of Evening (triptych) by Lesley Frenz, Image 2.

    Breath of Evening (triptych), 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    60 x 54 x 2 in

    $5,400

  5. Shadows and Silent Water by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Shadows and Silent Water, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 40 x 2 in

  6. That Leaping Stream by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    That Leaping Stream, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 40 x 2 in

  7. Inside This Globe by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Inside This Globe, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 40 x 2 in

  8. Trees of the Rain by Lesley Frenz, Image 2.

    Trees of the Rain, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    48 x 40 x 2 in

  9. Earth Freshly Washed by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Earth Freshly Washed, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    48 x 40 x 2 in

  10. Might Be Raining There Too by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Might Be Raining There Too, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 60 x 2 in

    $4,200

  11. Tinted by Love by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Tinted by Love, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 40 x 2 in

  12. What the Soft Rain Did by Lesley Frenz, Image 3.

    What the Soft Rain Did, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 30 x 2 in

    $2,200

  13. Dusts of Rain by Lesley Frenz, Image 2.

    Dusts of Rain, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 30 x 2 in

    $2,200

  14. Of Waterfalls and Lions by Lesley Frenz, Image 2.

    Of Waterfalls and Lions, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    40 x 60 x 2 in

  15. Wearing Water and Slowness by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Wearing Water and Slowness, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

    $600

  16. To Its Blue Limits by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    To Its Blue Limits, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

  17. Quick Stream Dropping by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    Quick Stream Dropping, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

  18. The Pines Speak I by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    The Pines Speak I, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

  19. The Pines Speak II by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    The Pines Speak II, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

    $600

  20. The Pines Speak III by Lesley Frenz, Image 1.

    The Pines Speak III, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    12 x 12 x 2 in

  21. Drawing Toward by Lesley Frenz, Image 2.

    Drawing Toward, 2023

    Acrylic on cradled wood panel

    60 x 18 x 2 in

    $1,800