My family was deep in a Harry Potter phase, when I began to whine to myself, “I want to go to Hogwarts. I want MY life to be magical.” Thankfully, I happened to be cracking eggs at the time.

And as I cracked an egg, I took a quick in-breath because I was immediately struck by how magical it was. An egg. It’s pretty damn magical. I still remember the first time I had retrieved an egg from a chicken I had raised. I was so excited, you would have thought I had won the lottery. Seriously, it’s still a highlight of my life.

“Look kids! It’s a magic wand,” I said as I lifted up a hairbrush that I kept in the car. “Just wave it over your head, cast a spell, and your hair will immediately be transformed.” The kids bought into it and we started putting the word “magic” in front of everything, until the magic hairbrush eventually gave us all magic lice. Turns out, hairbrushes, like all wands, work best if you use your own.

So, now, one of my mantras is, “Life is beautiful. I just have to pay attention.”

Of course, sometimes that is easier than at other times. And this painting "However the Light Comes" was inspired by one of those times. My daughter, Amelia, had just come home from school and took this pose, and I had another one of those quick in-breaths.

I also have been known to cry to while picking up my oldest from soccer practice—not because after 10 years I still don’t know the rules, but because I’m overcome by how beautiful all the girls are.

And that’s why I’m a painter. Because I’ve been deeply feeling and crying my whole life. Except now, I mostly cry because the beauty is so overwhelming, and I try and capture it in a totem I call a painting.

A totem to remind you of the beauty during the moments you can’t see it.

So, have a magical day and a magical week, because I think you are a pretty damn magical. Gotta go, I’m starting to cry.

Much love, 

Mary