Mariela and Turtle Dove
Muse: A person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.
Meet Mariela, my muse and spirit guide — not a flesh and blood person — more a force (and sometimes bully.) She is both someone I know and don’t know. She is me and not me. I feel like I have both just discovered her and have known her forever.
Mariela is also the name of the main character in an ongoing work of fiction, poetry and art I have been creating for the last few years (perhaps for my whole life!).
I have an art show in December 2023 at Rogue Gallery in Medford introducing some of this work. The overall project is titled: Turtle Dreams: A History of Love & Magic.
As to Mariela, she has but one mission – to get her story told. And I have been charged with telling it.
Is this an honor or a curse? I’m not sure. I am probably the least likely person to follow the guidance of a spirit — or to be put in charge of a story about magic and love. But there it is. I’ve lived long enough to know I don’t have all the answers. Truly, all is a mystery and sometimes magic.
Everything I have done or experienced my whole life has led to this moment in time where I might just have the depth and complexity to do justice to Mariela’s story. Mariela wants me to do it, so I
must. There’s no turning back.
Like it or not, I have succumbed to enchantment.