The Making of "Out of the Fire II"
 
It's interesting. The original painting that led to this multi-media piece was not one of my favorites aesthetically. In fact, it was more of an experiment. I wanted to paint something large, so got a piece of white poster board and played around with some tempera paints I'd had in the closet for a while. I enjoyed the process of painting the woman in flames. I liked what it represented, but again, it didn't look as attractive as I wanted it to be. My flames didn't quite right and there were parts of the woman's body that didn't feel proportional. I still liked the message of dancing in the flames.

About a year later when I began playing with digital art I took a photo of the painting and thought it'd be interesting to pull the woman out of the flames. It was a cathartic experiment as I was experiencing a freedom that I had not felt the year before. I was also able to digitally play with the fire and the shape of the woman's body.

Now this piece, "Out of the Fire" is one of my favorites.

Sometimes I'm in a season of dancing in the fire. There's a beauty to dancing while in difficult times. But there are also seasons where I step out of the fire and just dance. Some fires I have stayed in for a long time - maybe longer than necessary. People I've met, including me, who took on a lot of responsibility - material or psychic or emotional - at a very young age have a tendency to see everything as a fire. We learned to be on guard. As an adult I'm learning that everything is not an emergency. I now know that I don't have to control everything in my world and can enjoy the dance. It's interesting how that fire can begin to feel familiar, but so will peace as I relax and allow myself to spend more and more time there.

Here's to all of us stepping or being graced "Out of the Fire."

This piece has a plain background. I also have another version of this piece with a stylized background. I've named that "Out of the Fire."

~Tracy Rae Clark, November, 2015