When you need a bucket lift

I want to tell you about a fun and magical experience I had recently. I went to my longtime client Kathy Stewart’s house to do a photo shoot with her. Is that something I normally do for clients? No—but Kathy is a client who lives near me and has been working with me for many years. I’ve had the joy of witnessing and nurturing her artistic growth and helping her launch her art career and business. As a foundational, pioneering client, Kathy has provided me with the opportunity to learn that I have a gift for mentoring artists.

Kathy’s work explores the combination of close-up flowers and distant, vast skies. She and her husband are obsessed with the sky, and they essentially live in the clouds in their mountaintop home. The seeds of Kathy’s inspiration come from her childhood in Guam, living in a dense, tropical area surrounded by the vastness of sea and sky.

When Kathy and I planned the photoshoot, we envisioned that I’d photograph Kathy painting on her balcony, surrounded by her art and her lush garden—a perfect example of her environment and her inspiration. One of us said, “Man, it would be so great to have a boom lift or a bucket lift so we could take pictures from above!” But we didn’t pursue that, because we don’t have that equipment and renting it seemed exorbitant.

The day of the photo shoot was one of those smoky, hot Portland days we’ve been having. Not ideal, but we went for it anyway! You just don’t know what will happen when you show up for the creative process, and this day was no exception. Part of my creative process is to be a serendipity mentor for other artists.

There we were on the balcony, taking photos and videos of Kathy as she painted. As we set up a close-up shot of Kathy painting a gorgeous sunflower, a beautiful bumblebee came and landed! It was like pollination in action—that was the first moment that sent me into wonder.

During a break, we heard the unmistakable beep-beep-beep of a truck backing up, and we looked up to see a tree-trimming truck with a cherry-picker bucket! We saw a man go up in the lift and begin to trim a hedge.

Kathy jokingly said, “Well, there’s our bucket lift!” I said, “No kidding! There’s our bucket lift.” We exchanged a long look and Kathy said, “No…” I put some lipstick on, jumped up, and gleefully cried, “Kathy, get ready! We’re gonna make this happen!”

As Kathy looked on incredulously, I trotted up to the man who was trimming trees. We had a short, friendly chat, and I told him about our photo shoot, pointing to Kathy’s balcony and expressing our wish to use his lift for some photos.

“Where do you want me to put the truck?” he asked.

The next thing I knew, I was being snapped into a harness and heading into the sky along with the man! I joyfully juggled three cameras as I took photos and videos of Kathy, and the vantage point of the sky was as amazing as we’d envisioned!

It was so fun and it shifted the whole day for us all—and it all came from being willing to ask. First we told the universe what we wanted, and it delivered it (and we followed through by being willing to ask the man for his help). There is power in naming what you want so that when it shows up, you recognize it (beep-beep-beep—There’s our bucket lift!).

What is the intention or desire you’d like to name? You can email me to tell me privately. Or you can simply write it in your journal. State what you want and have the audacity to go after it when you see it coming your way.

Ps - Click the video below to see a reel we made that day!