Soulful Voices and the Pandemic Journey

Soulful Voices, Jessel Miller

Each night when she would slip to sleep
The spirits would arrive
Every species on the earth
Cried "Please keep us alive."
Protect us from the darkness near
That threatens to extinct
The very core of who we are,
Don't take us to the brink!

December 2019 a voice from within woke me and I wrote a new book called Soulful Voices.

For the past 35 years I have devoted my daily life to supporting 40 artists in my gallery. Jessel Gallery is the oldest and largest gallery in the Napa Valley. It has been my good fortune and honor to align with some of the most amazing creators. I had painted through these years, yet my first priority has always been keeping the lights on in my beautiful 100 year old building and supporting the art community of Napa and beyond.

Something happened to change the course of my life and it began with writing and painting images for Soulful Voices.  

Many nights I was literally awakened from a deep sleep and I rushed to my painting space. Images flew out of me. I had never experienced anything like this in my 70 years as an artist. I simply got out of the way and let the messages come through.

At first I thought this whole process was about the concerns I have over the changes in Global Warming and Extinction of Living Creatures. All the words from the book were pleading to the planet and proclaimed that the children will save us. We are leaving the planet to the children. They are the upcoming stewards.

From December to March, I was obsessed with getting this book out and had everything in place to go to press the beginning of April.

March 2020, the Pandemic invaded our planet and our whole world changed.

Pandemic 1
Painted the day the pandemic was announced.

Pandemic 2
Recent thoughts about the Pandemic. Colors are changing and so is the world I could not find anything realistic in either of these pieces.

Suddenly, my mission changed course and the light bulb went off in my head. My planetary plea became a universal cry for help.

The world became one in its common crisis. The images and words I had written made sense. I became a conduit for the cries of the world and opened my heart to the messages I received allowing spirit to guide my course and paint brush.

Please Love One Another
Painted March 26th. The angels at the bottom formed the word Nuit (I did not paint this intentionally, it means Night in French).

Close Up

Over the course of the last eight months, I have completed over 300 pieces dedicated to the cause of Saving the Planet. Some are super realistic and some completely abstract, yet each one is guided by an internal force that twists and turns with the ebbing and flowing of the universal tide moving the world today.

I have painted all my life and feel that because I was classically trained, I am able to express all the styles and languages found in art.
 
This chronicle started even before the word Pandemic crossed our minds. My Prayer is that this will be a historic biography of the earth for future generation to see in images, the course we are on even today.
Art is a cathartic experience for me.  It allows me a place to put a face to the phases of this crisis and hopefully will give beauty and uplifting words to my soul's visions.  

This Story was written by Sasha Paulson in April and it covers a lot of the journey I am on.