The Waterlily rises out of the water each and every day to greet the morning sun.  Associated with many cultures as the triumph of light over darkness, they represent rebirth and renewal. They bloom for the bees and beetles and their pads offer shade and protection to the fish below. When the day is done, they recede back into the water and dream. 

In oil painting, there is a fear on the canvas where you work the pigment too much and it all becomes "Mud." It usually happens when one does not respect the drying process and everything just ends up as a cloudy beige. No matter what color you add in this moment,  you just push it further into the muck. You have to step back and wait for it to dry,. Only then can you begin the next layer and pull the painting out of the mud. 

This was one of my first pieces during a time when I had not learned the patience you need with oil. By the end of the first day, it had all gone to mud. A cloudy and beige swamp of frustration. The more I tried to save it, the deeper it went into what I came to call my biggest mess. In that angst, I tossed the painting aside and there it sat for a long time. 

Fast forward five years, having just moved into a new studio in a warehouse on the south side of Atlanta, an artist friend came to visit and respecting their critique I asked them if they would like to see this mess in which I strangely had developed a sense of pride. With a nod, I brought out the painting and placed it on my center easel. It still had not told me its name. 

Now in this artist space, we had 3 black kittens all named Wednesday, though from different languages. Wednesday had become to hold a special meaning for us in the warehouse and we considered it part of the weekend. As I placed this piece on the easel, one of the kittens grabbed an old silk flower that had once been my mother's and they both rolled through the base and dropped a waterlily. In that moment, out of the mud, like waterlilies always do, the painting bloomed. It was done by the end of the week.
For me, Waterlily came to represent that no matter how stuck you are, how deep in the mud, creation takes time to gestate. When it's ready, it bursts out onto the world in a song of beauty. Sometimes blooming takes a while and in patience we have to let it be.  It will reveal itself in its own time and when it does we need to be ready to run with it.