Jim Leishman Arts

Early one beautiful morning, I walked a beach looking for appropriate driftwood for a
specific sculpting project I had in mind.
As I looked, I began to hear, I began to feel, that this piece was right, take it home.
I struggled with the weight. I took it home, thinking of what I would sculpt in the piece.
I began carving, thinking that it would become two interconnected paddles.
As I carved, "I am not paddles," somehow came the message.
Insight?
Intuition?
"Yes ... It doesn't feel right" I agreed.
"What is it? What am I to carve? “I questioned.
Faintly, I heard, I felt, I glimpsed, a canoe.
OK, I thought, I'll go with that and see what happens.
I felt good. The carving of the canoe felt good.
It was then I noticed a fin, without a doubt a whale fin.
I did not question how the form would work or look, I just carved away the wood that I
felt was not part of the form.
[As I write it brings me to tears just thinking about the remarkable intuited gift I have
received. ]   
The whale was beautiful, and even as its sculptor I was truly amazed.
Slowly, I began to see more figures to bring out of the driftwood.
I somehow knew that as long as I continued to listen, to intuit, no matter what I did, I
would not make a mistake with the carving tools ... This feeling too, amazed me.
With great passion and wonder I worked with the wood.
As the individual figures within the piece became more clear, more defined, so too, the
meaning of the piece for me became more clear.
A transformation had taken place, from a beginning when I felt little or no understanding
of why I was doing the piece, to the point of now being aware of a depth, and of the
wisdom emanating from within the piece? I view this as an incredible gift, received from…
I know not where . . . It appears to have come from within myself ... Yet
simultaneously from beyond myself.
The physical sculpture is only a part of the "gift." The spiritual journey, the insights, the
revelations, all coming through that single piece of wood, and the sculpting process itself,
are all truly remarkable. There is so much to experience throughout the piece it could take
a lifetime.
I am truly, deeply grateful.
I feel that from within the sculpture, the canoe will continue its journey, touching the
shores of other people's lives.
I know my connection to the piece will not end here.
I look forward to my part in its journey.