I am working on a new piece partly inspired by a couple I know and that inspiration has grown to encompass part of my own dual nature and questions of how seemingly disparate things can be in balance. The first seed for the piece was when we were discussing a piece of my work that most people don't seem to like as much as the others (Centralia's Guardian pictured somewhere here). Both she and I are healers and spend a great deal of time with people in suffering. She said she liked the piece because she walks in dark places. And we briefly discussed the role of healers in transforming darkness. And I began to think too of the cycles in our lives where we must walk through the darkness, bad times and suffering to again be transformed and reach the good times. People often love images of bright guardians, angels, bright fairies, but they have the easier job. It is the guardians that walk with us in our darkness carrying our hope when we think it lost, those who must drive us onward through a thorny path that make the most difference to us.

I have a base for what will be this 2 figure set already done...ironically it too has gold mushrooms on it! These were growing in the yard today. More in progress pics on my facebook fan page here: [link]