The Sherpa Original Oil Painting

24" x 30" Original Painting. Oil on canvas, made with professional quality archival grade art materials. Comes finished in a matte black floater frame with a hanging wire.

*Financing available! If you win this auction, pay just 20% down and pay the balance off over six months. Contact us to learn more. 

the story

Kim and I often refer to children as sherpas. Like those experienced wise guides who escort climbers up the face of a mountain, children have a pure wisdom that can help us traverse this adventure called life. 

A GPS will not get us where we want to go. 

Like any good adventure, life is difficult. We need all the tools we can carry, including the ones we tossed away so carelessly in our hurry to grow up. So yes, bring your logic, your experience, and self-control. But don't forget to pack your curiosity, playfulness, and passion, for they too, have their usefulness. They help us to identify hidden paths missing from our map. They open our eyes to help us see what can be, which is the first step required in making it so.

And leave room in your pack for one more important but overlooked tool: whimsy.

Although Whimsy is often viewed as superfluous, it is a spark of delight with the supernatural power to uplift the human spirit. Whimsy can fill a heart with happiness and a head with new ideas. Whimsy brings a playful unpredictability to our days. It puts the heavy things we carry in perspective. The delicious ridiculousness of whimsy helps lighten our loads and brings joy to others.

If you are sad, stuck, discouraged, or overwhelmed...try whimsy.

It's a small thing that can have outsized results, the same way a sprinkling of jimmies can transform an ice cream sundae.

A good sherpa knows the power of whimsy. Don't bother looking for it on a map, but it might be the best path to take right now to get where you want to go. 

In a dark world where the terrible stuff weighs so heavily upon us, we need whimsy more than ever. Whimsy lifts the soul, loosens up the mind, gladdens the heart, and it opens the eyes to what can be. 

This is the way.