FEATURED FAN ART
and events before the world... but seeing him in this light was
something I had never experienced. Not only did I get to
peek into the mind of a genius-level artist at work, but even
more incredible, I was given the opportunity to witness a human being with a quality of character like no one I could have
ever imagined. The beauty of his soul was palpable, and it
literally changed me from the inside out.
Siren’s Quest to Rediscover Michael Jackson
I
n that moment, I began a quest to discover all that I had
missed. I spent countless hours researching Michael’s life
in an effort to understand him better... I wanted to know everything. And while what I was learning about him was far
beyond anything I had expected, even more surprising was
what I was learning about myself. Finding out about the kind
of person Michael was.. his generosity, selflessness,
strength, dedication, and capacity for Love made me examine myself from a whole new perspective. I couldn’t help it.
To see a life lived in a way that denied not even a seed of its
potential... the refusal (or complete inability) of someone to
be anything less than the absolute entirety of who they are...
no matter the consequence... well, how could I recover from
that? I just knew there was no way of ever going back.
O
ne of the first things I learned from Michael was the importance of artistic expression... the realization that creativity is the voice of the soul, and imperative to our spiritual
survival. I started to revisit my own. I remembered as a child
the very moment I became aware of my gift for drawing. I
would spend hours bringing things to life before my eyes... it
was like magic to me. My family and teachers encouraged
me to pursue my talent further, but as I got older life’s distractions led me elsewhere and my passion for drawing
eventually disappeared. It would be nearly twenty years before I would discover it again.
T
o say that I am inspired by Michael Jackson would be an
understatement. It’s difficult to find the words to describe
what Michael has done for me... how my life has changed
and who I have become because of him. How does a single
person inspire the hearts of millions without ever having met
them? How does the mere existence of someone encourage
people to become more? To care about the planet and humanity? To explore themselves spiritually? How does one
man’s authenticity offer to free the minds and change the
hearts of everyone who takes the time to seek the truth? It
seems to defy any kind of logic, except to say that simply, it
must be L.O.V.E.
A
bout four months after Michael passed, I felt an urgency
to pick up my pencil again. I wanted so much to recreate his lines in hope that it would connect me to him in some
kind of tangible way. I had never been a portrait artist... my
skills seemed to be limited to sketching animals mostly, especially horses. The attempts I had made at drawing people
in the past had not been overly successful, but this time I
was determined. Over a period of a couple of weeks, I made
three attempts to draw Michael, but no matter my desire and
the sheer desperation I had to bring him to life on the paper,
the results were very disappointing, and I was broken
hearted.