"The issues that confront us may seem so huge, so complicated, so difficult to deal with that it's hard to believe that anything we can do will have a meaningful impact. But there are a lot of us in the world. A lot of people doing a lot of little things could have a huge impact. And by doing something, we are also demonstrating that lots of people really do care." -- Michael Norton in 365 Ways to Change The World (Free Press)
About this piece of original art, "Puzzle." I started this blog a) to attract a publisher for my book, The Journey with Grace, a mother's reflections on raising a child with autism; b) to provide a Paypal account for my daughter's notecards, prints and original works, such as the above, viewable on www.GraceGoad.com; and c) to enter the age of social media. I titled this blog, obviously, "The Journey with Grace: Autism and the Rest of Life." In the few months I've been blogging, I've written more about the rest of life. Paying clients, life, it goes on. Paypal's not up, yet. I'm finding my way here, my intentions are good and will manifest over time. And, that is part of my premise for living a life challenged by disAbility: it goes on. There's still lush aromas to inhale, sunshine to grace the soul, precious life to celebrate. So, feeling a bit la-zy today, I scanned my unpublished posts and looked for something short, which I'm blowing the idea of to hell right now as I banter here. And, what, I thought, might illustrate this beautiful quote? And here it is.
This is a very special piece by my young teen daughter, Grace -- especially if one understands autism. The three dimensional aspect of this watercolor and acrylic is a gold leafed puzzle piece. The gold leafing continues on up into the painting via her hand prints. The puzzle piece is the universal symbolism of autism, signifying the many enigmatic aspects of the disorder. Some have interpreted this painting, now beautifully professionally framed and currently on exhibit at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, as hands rising from the earth and ascending to flame, not to mention the golden treasure. Grace does not have the vocabulary or the capacity to use it to explain these things to us. But despite her limited verbal skills, she's spoken volumes here in her own special language of art.
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