Welcome to Waterlight Mosaics! This is a space to share what I make with the world, to offer my artwork and quilts, and to spark your own creativity.

February 4, 2022: I saw Torn yesterday, Max Lowe’s film about his father’s life and death. Alex Lowe died in a Himalayan avalanche in 1999 along with cameraman David Bridges. Fellow climber Conrad Anker survived, and eldest son Max’s movie is a love letter to his father, and, I think, to Conrad. You see, after Alex’s death, Conrad and Alex’s widow Jennifer married, and Conrad became a father to Alex’s three young sons.

How do you keep your heart open to love after profound loss? How do you make something real and alive, when death has torn you apart? Max made this beautiful film out of what he had in the wake of Alex’s death: memories, deep feelings, and film and video images. Conrad made a life with Jennifer and Max, Sam, and Isaac, bringing meaning and purpose out of tragedy.

The image above is from a time in my life when I had decided I would not have children of my own—not become pregnant and give birth. Adoption was still an open question. In the end, my life unfolded differently and—long, long story for another day—I did have a child come into my life (the lovely, old soul M!). This poem and its illustration share sentiments that resonate today on many levels: Who is to say what life we should bear? This vessel holds not flesh, but fire and a singing river.

We make with what we have.

So…what are you making these days…with what you have, whether it’s materials, an idea, or just a yearning to create?