Wild and Earned

We rarely know the whole path when we begin. We see the next place we want to reach and find our way toward it.

Wild and Earned is about moving forward one step at a time, knowing that every place we reach gives us a new view and sometimes a completely different way forward.

Artwork Story

Shark Fin Cove sits just north of Santa Cruz, tucked below the cliffs along Highway 1. When I imagined this painting, I thought about a boy arriving there on his bike and looking down at the college students on the beach below.

Maybe one day he'll be one of them. Maybe he'll go to UC Santa Cruz. For now, he's made it this far.

But the bicycle that brought him here can't take him down the cliff.

He'll have to stop, look around, and figure out another way. Maybe there's an easy path. Maybe there isn't. And once he reaches the beach, what looked like the destination from above may simply become another starting point. From there, he'll see the ocean differently. He might climb the rock, find a boat, swim, stay awhile, or discover something he couldn't possibly see from where he stands now.

I think life works that way.

We don't all begin with the same advantages, and we don't all have the same path. Sometimes there are stairs. Sometimes there are bushes. Sometimes someone gives us a boat, and sometimes we have to swim. What matters is what we do with what we have and whether we're willing to keep figuring out the next way forward.

Be willing to change how you get there.