The Trance of Scarcity

Abundant, Oil on wood panel, 8 x 8 inches, Lisa Kellner.

I’ve been a nomad for a few weeks. Getting out of the cold sunless winter and moving myself south. Just for awhile. Taking care of family and connecting along the way.

Like a tortoise, I picked up my most essentials items and carried them with me. It’s amazing how little I actually need.

Bare bones, simplified, essential. And yet abundant in every way.

A change in the routine is a very good thing. Getting outside of my normal is a must. I travel because I need to. I crave to see the world differently, to challenge my thinking and my perspective. These experiences infuse themselves in my work and so I rely on them to shake things up a bit.

I do a lot of thinking on the road; and not about the usual stuff. Clarity comes through when I’m not bogged down by the to dos of the day. The mindless highway is a good place to release old thoughts.

Thoughts of scarcity and not enough.

Thoughts of always needing and wanting more - when more is what I already possess.

All the going after and consuming ceases when you realize you are already going where you want to go (both literally and figuratively). When I realize I am already there.

And so I traveled thousands of miles, from one island to another, following the warmth of the sun and the call of fresh citrus and torquoise blue waters.

Here, i discovered a tortoise and I would watch him daily as he came out of his hole to bask in the sun - much like I was doing. He had everything he needed: his home, his hole, the sun and some green leaves. How beautiful simplicity is. How abundant.

I walked the beach daily - this coast line so different than my own - relishing the plentiful nature surrounding me. From the dolphins feeding to the ospreys nesting, to the T-rex dinosaur-like lizard thing that skittered by me. I realize life is bountiful. It always was and it always will be.

I just needed to stop and appreciate it’s bounty. Stop the doing for just a moment and look around at what’s already there.

Home now, back to painting in the studio with renewed energy. I release the trance of scarcity and all that comes with it. The notion that there is never enough and that there always has to be more.

What if there is more than enough always? What if bounty surrounds us but we just haven’t been looking through the right lense? What is the trance of scarcity were no longer?

Abundant, Installation view, Oil on wood panel, 8 x 8 inches, Lisa Kellner.