Freedom Art

I was driving home from Sydney this morning and decided to try something. I decided that my very next action in life would be me rolling down my window, taking a deep breath of warm Australian air and shouting at the top of my lungs. For as long as I needed to, in and out of intonation. (When I came up to robots, or stoplights for Americans, I think I transitioned into song just so I wouldn’t scare people). And then I started laughing and then I probably cried. I even threw some words (like FREEDOM!) into the mix. I was going to end with my friend Kmy’s bird call, but decided to save it for next time.

Freedom is this magical state that I long to live in 100% of the time. Not the sort of freedom that means I do whatever I want when I want to (as screaming out loud would not be acceptable in a business meeting or at 3am when my roommates are sleeping).

I’m after the sort of freedom that means I don’t walk around with invisible shackles. The freedom that says I am no longer condemned, that I am a new creation and that a really massive galaxy-eating God would invite me to his dinner table even if my shoes were muddy.

I should have thought about this a little more last weekend when I drove to the beach for some alone time. I sat there watching the scattered surfers, while everything in me was aching to get out of the car and just run around like a little kid. Kick up the waves with my feet, run into the water with my clothes on and drink one or two bottles of sugary (not diet) Coke. I wanted to swim out to the surfers and say, “Hi! Would you like to be my friend?” Instead I just got out of my car and walked pensively towards the water, trying to look like the deep thinking beach-wanderers I see in movies.

Freedom doesn’t mean without boundaries. It just means that next time I’m at that same beach, I’ll make some new friends. Oh, and it also means that I’m not remotely embarrassed about my loud drive home from the city this morning.

In honor of all of it, the working titles for my latest paintings will be a little less confining.

This one is called: AHHHHHHHHH!

freedom1.jpg

This one is called: WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

freedom2.jpg

And this one is called: sugary (not diet) Coke

freedom3.jpg

Posted August 3rd, 2008 by Leora in art |

3 Responses to “Freedom Art”

  1. Shelly Says:
    August 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 am

    I think we could all stand to live a little more in freedom. After all, we’ve got it. Now all we gotta do is live in it.

    Thanks for inspiring to be a bit more free. :0)

  2. Leora Says:
    August 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    Thanks for your comment Shelly! It’s head knowledge, but sometimes it takes a little more for it to become heart knowledge. For us to be willing to live it out. And it is so much bigger and more meaningful than a swim in the ocean and a Coke, but for me it often starts with simplicity.

  3. blown away « Says:
    August 4th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    […] August 5, 2008 by belove412 I’m constantly blown away by the people around me in so many ways.  My friend Leora is no exception.  She wrote something on freedom recently that I think is brilliant.  I love the way she thinks.  Check it out here. […]

Leave a Reply