Huge snow day earlier this week in Portland – here’s a video from the Portland zoo. Watching polar bears roll around in that snow makes me smile. Have you ever had one of those moments, when something that seemed to be missing all along, just magically appears out of nowhere? “Oh man! This is amazing! This is it! This thing that I didn’t even know was missing, but it was, and now it’s here!” Polar bears smiling. Such Joy.
For project Oil Spill, there are a few paintings by Eli Halpin that I haven’t yet shared. Feels like the perfect time to share one more. Working with Eli’s artwork, I’ve had a chance to pour over these pieces looking closely at every detail. So for me, watching that video feels inseparable from reflecting on this painting of a polar bear that Eli created for project Oil Spill. Joy and Sorrow are inseparably linked. Sometimes polar bears smile. And sometimes, they don’t.
Painting – Polar Bear Oil Spill, by Eli Halpin. Oil on canvas. This is one of Eli’s pieces that will be featured on an upcoming bag by Badass Backpacks.
“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
…
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
…
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
…”
–Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, On Joy and Sorrow