An Abundant Life - YES Blessings

A few weeks ago someone I know stopped by YES Gallery and said that he'd been wanting one of the paintings by Danilo Peguero that he had seen when I first opened in August 2022. He has been telling me for a while that he thinks I have some really wonderful work in the gallery, and when he stopped by he told me that the painting by Danilo had a very special meaning for him.

I love the stories that people share with me that I can share with the Artists about what their work means to someone else. It's really a beautiful thing to be able to share how their work has touched someone else in a powerful way, and it's lovely to be a part of sharing that story when it's someone they have never met and who has never seen their work before walking into YES Gallery. Art has a way of connecting people and bringing people together, in conversation, in emotion, in feeling and experiences of times and places. Each time someone walks into YES Gallery the stories that the Artists tell and the story that I tell through the gallery installation reach new people and begin to create more branches of the stories as they move and grow through new eyes, new experiences, and new responses.

Danilo Peguero is one of the Artists who I've written about in these pages before, and his work was the first focus when I opened the gallery. He painted a portrait of me live at the gallery, an experience that was truly a wonderful blessing, and I've regularly kept two more of his paintings in the gallery since that first grand opening show. People always respond so well to his work because it is so beautiful and so well done. His technique is of the highest excellence, and his intention is to make every painting one that will have lasting impact as work of museum quality. The piece that the Collector of his work chose is one that always has many admirers, and right around the same time that we began discussions about it, someone else arrived in the gallery who was looking for pieces for another Collector and she pointed out that same piece. As the timing worked out, it was the first person who was able to secure it, and the way it happened was such a beautiful experience for me that made it even more of a meaningful and lovely story to share with the Artist.

The painting is a beautiful one and I will miss seeing it, but knowing that it is going to a very happy new home where it will be cherished and loved and admired by even more new eyes who visit and see it is a blessing. This experience was a truly beautiful one, that brought people together in a very deeply meaningful way. It's a blessing that brought so many blessings to me, and also to so many, and helped remind me of how beautiful the world and people can be.

"Hair Coloring Beauty Parlor"

By Danilo Peguero

At YES Gallery

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Another Time

I had been thinking of writing about something else for this week, but then when I was on my way home on Friday night, I saw the Tribute Of Light in the night sky over Manhattan and I realized that with everything else that had been going on in my life, not only were we in September but we were coming up to September 11 and though I had definitely thought about it along with everything else, I hadn't really taken the time to reflect on that time and what had happened in 2001.

Tribute In Light is something that is so important as a reminder. It's been more than twenty years since the view of the skyline was forever changed and along with that view so many people were lost or deeply affected by what had happened. I was living in a neighborhood near the site at that time, and experienced the events of that day on the rooftop of my building, living through the days afterward in a city that was in shock and mourning. They key word that I thought about on Friday night when I walked up the hill and saw the Tribute In Light was life. I was living through the days afterward and I am living now, and even when life seems difficult or even frighteningly filled with worries and cares, I am alive and have my health, and that is a blessing that I need to always be thankful for.

In the twenty-three years that have passed, so many things have changed in the world and in my own life. There have been wonderful times and difficult times, celebrations, loss, renewal, uncertainty, joy, pain and growth, but the reminder of September 11 for me is that though I was nearby I was safe, and to remember that day in all its horror is to remember that being alive is a gift.

Tribute In Light

Viewed From

The Top Of One Hundred Steps

Jersey City Heights, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

     

An Abundant Life - Storehouse Blessings

Last week two people I know, Aima and Jean Pierre, set a time to come by YES Gallery and bring me dinner. It wasn't just any dinner, it was a homemade Ecuardorian specialty called Seco de Pollo that was made by a Chef who grew up in Ecuador. When they arrived at the gallery with the dinner, I saw them walking down the sidewalk with a suitcase and several bags, and I couldn't figure out what they were bringing or where they were going afterward with all those things until they arrived and said that everything they had carried with them was for me. The suitcase and bags were filled with food, pounds of rice and flour, potatoes, apples, bananas, pasta, a loaf of rye bread and cans of tomato paste, and there was more food too, chicken and kielbasa and ground Italian sausage that they kept in their apartment refrigerator and dropped off the next day when I could bring it home more quickly. 

It was such a beautiful surprise and blessing to have all this food arrive, and the dinner the Chef made and that we shared together was so wonderful. I'd never had that dish before, and he shared about the history of it and also the secret ingredient, something called naranjilla that I hadn't known about or heard of. It took me a few days to bring all the food home, and I had leftovers of the wonderful meal he made too. It's times like that when I am so grateful for the wonderful people who walk into my life and for the care and support and love they share.

As I've written before, there has been so much going on that sometimes it's difficult to schedule my regular events, and this past week was so filled with some very challenging logistical things that having this wonderful dinner brought to me and being surprised by all of this wonderful food and beautiful blessings made me feel like there was a space being made for me to just enjoy and relax and take in the goodness in life. It's wonderful when people surprise us with kindness, and to be blessed in this way is a miracle all of its own. As I look around my own kitchen now and see the jars and shelves filled with provision and my refrigerator and freezer filled to nearly overflowing, with the meals I am making nourishing my body, mind and spirit I feel like I am surrounded with caring love. When our storehouse is blessed we feel taken care of, and I am so grateful for that feeling and blessing that was shared by these beautiful friends.

A Wonderful Seco de Pollo

Made By The Marvelous Jean Pierre

And Served With Love

At YES Gallery

Blessings,

Jannie Susan