if I had as many lives
as the colorful little balloons
that man is holding captive
I'd be extravagant
I'd scatter them over the sky
and let them get tangled
in the wind and clouds
and in a bird's wing

for myself
I would put aside one
a green one
like leaves
like blades of grass
and like your eyes — from close up

if I had as many lives - Halina Poświatowska (9 May 1935 – 11 October 1967), from the book Indeed I love..., selected and translated into the English by Maya Peretz, afterword by Anna Nasiłowska. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1998, 2005, 233 pp.

I love this poem.

When I read about her short, illness-ridden life, the poem touched me even more deeply.

To wish that you have so many lives that you can be extravagant and scatter them over the sky, and let them get tangled in the wind and clouds, let a bird fly away with one of them tangled in its wings...

Except one, one life, in a color that has a special meaning for you.

I would choose a yellow one. Like the sun, like the petals of a dandelion, like an early morning in the forest, like seeing her smile...

And you, which color would you choose, and why?

General info on this artwork

The artwork 'Colorful Life' is a new work in my collection 'Secret Places'. It is a digital transformation of a photograph. Printed on order with high-quality ink on museum-quality, acid-free cotton/rag paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity. But of course, it is also available as Open Edition print, without signature and not numbered. Available in any size you desire !

Maximum size is 150x150H cm / 60Wx60H inches, any size available up to that maximum. So please let me know the size you would prefer.

I start with one or more photographs made by myself to create these artworks. Then I use digital painting, color adjusting and adding and transforming multiple artistic textures and effects. I do this until there is a surreal atmosphere that touches me and tells the story I want to tell you.

Prints of 'Colorful Life' are available, please contact me for a quote. Available in any size you desire ! Prices starting at €55 / US$60.
And available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page. But of course I can upload a limited edition in any other size.

'Colorful Life' is also available on Fine Art America

And here are some more artworks in the Secret Places collection you might like:

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke. Thus to think about your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it. And on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming. And please, reflect on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

So do you want to know your ecological footprint? 

Then visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

And do you want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply visit my website and choose in the menu for Your Footprint.

And if you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef, thank you 🍏 !

So are you interested in more? Then read what I wrote about System Change, Man's impact on the earth, Organic Change, Regenerative Agriculture, Regeneration