Spirit Carrier

Enjoy Patrick's Woodland style painting of an owl in a print!

About Spirit Carrier:

While this piece was finished in January 2025, I waited to share the painting until I was off the highways, out of airplanes, and had time to really think. To the Anishinaabe community, Owls are omens that signal death and illness—something I don’t take lightly or want to mess with while travelling. Over the past 11 years, I’ve been making a living off my artwork, so I’ve trained myself to look for signs that I’m on the right path, to keep going even when things get tough.

Owls are stunning, evoking feelings of wisdom and beauty. As Anishinaabe, I heed the warning they bring, but as an artist, I wanted to reframe the meaning for myself. Instead of death being only sadness and sorrow, I started to think of death as one of the great wonders of this life. “Spiritual beings coming to earth to have a human experience” type of stuff, which really resonates with me.

Maybe an owl could also be about letting go of something, or the death of who you once were. Maybe it’s letting go of habits or patterns that no longer serve you. Or the ending of a relationship. Releasing pain that you’ve been holding onto for so long ‘cause it hurts too good. When our habits and old ways of doing things don’t work for us anymore, maybe there’s nothing left to do but evolve and let those behaviours die. Consciously or not, we’re all going to have to let go of things at points in our lives.

I am reminded of this quote I really like by Khalil Gibran:
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain”.

The ache of loss is life letting you know that what you felt was real, an experience to cherish because it happened.

12" x 18" | 100lb archival matte paper