Our prompt for week thirty-six in our fifty week challenge was John Neto (www.nietofineart.com). His use of color and Native American themes was a great inspiration to our group. My niece has bought her first house and I used the prompt to inspire me for a house warming gift. I asked her what poem and colors she wanted. She chose Invictus as the text and pastels with strong, bold blues as the colors. I actually began with a different idea and started over. I ended up writing the poem three times on the piece and building in a word study of the major words in the text. We will get it framed and send it her direction. This picture is not the finished product, still tweaking it.
I knew the poem Invictus as I saw the movie of the same name, and admired the poem. This was the text Nelson Mandela uttered aloud every day for the more than twenty years he was in prison for treason. It speaks about being unbeaten and choosing to not be a victim but victorious in all things through your attitude. As I wrote and wrote these words I could imagine the turmoil and strife Mandela must have felt as we wasted his life crushing rocks serving out a prison sentence that was a farce.
If anyone had a good reason to be be bitter and angry, it was Mandela. Instead he chose to be kind, thoughtful, cooperative and gained great wisdom. It serves as a great reminder to us all that no matter how dire the circumstances seem, no matter how down trodden or tortured our soul, we have the choice in how we will think and behave. We can choose to be victims or we can choose to be the master of our soul and make our own choices. We have the power to be Invictus, unconquerable in all things. All we have to do is decide then act.
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