For Rena

“For Rena” Oil on wood. 24″ x 24″ varnished and nestled in a XL wide 4.5″ elegant floating frame. This piece is in honor of one of my sweetest clients and long time acquaintance Rena Aker.  On  May 20,  2019  Rena  left this  world  far too  soon, leaving behind family  and friends mourning  her loss. Rena was the youngest of 4, she was a creative, outgoing soul…  a lover of tattoos, essential oils, especially lavender. She started up her own company , and  gifted me  some of her favorite  blends.  These sweet little  Black bottles of comfort.  For  bottling oils,  dark  glass is  a protectant.  The  darker and more opaque the glass, the more protection it offers against oxidation.  I loved the mate Black Rena  chose  for her  bottles.   She   also  loved  feathers,  moths, poppies, gold,  and above all deeply rooted into her  being,  Mt. Shasta. A  lover of the outdoors,  all the same things as me….  I could relate to her,  we  had  spend many  tattoo sessions together.  Client /artist relationships  can be  very  special.   And this was one of them.   The sorrow I felt when I learned of her passing was unique unto itself, If only I  knew the struggles she dealt with, within all  of our  time together,  wish  she would have opened  up  to me more about  her  struggles.  What it  is to  feel  bound  by   our emotions,  hopeless and helpless. Those left behind feel Helpless, maybe  carrying some guilt,  that  we could have  done more.  Rena  reached out to  me when she learned of a female Northern Flicker migrant  bird that hit  my window  of  my home. I  found her  lifeless body lying  outside  of the  garage door. Rena encouraged  me to look up  its meaning,  and  she  beat me to  it…the “flicker demonstrates a new rhythm and cycle of growth. She shows the importance of healing love and the power of forgiveness. Insights and intuitions are activated and perceptions are changing. She teaches us how to connect with the earth and how to ground ourselves in nature with a vibrate vitality. Flicker aids in our ability to find deeper meanings and hidden qualities of patterns and coincidences. She teaches balance and harmony in the spiritual and mental realms.”

You  are missed Rena.