Well, he’s no monster at all. I just discovered the talented and sweet, professional surfer, Mike Losness paints as well on canvas as he does on the water. Not to mention the lovely hand bags that his beautiful wife designs.

Explore the work of this San Clemente couple:

www.mikelosness.com/art

www.modaviajando.com

I am not typically the kind of kid to be obsessed with any famous person. I never had a crush on any Backstreet Boy, never obsessed with Tom Cruise, or anyone ever. This kind of activity has always been unattractive to me. They really are real people, just doing their job. What if I had a poster of my plumber or if I read tabloids on my mail man. No one would care about them. What is it about the famous that we love so much? There are millions of jobs supported by stalking and taking pictures of unwilling people. Who wants to see Oprah buying coffee? I see people doing that all the time. Why? I have never understood.

But now I guess I am somewhat guilty of the crime which I accuse others of. I suppose that Belinda is not a “famous person”, hopefully that gets me off the hook, although I did first see her in movies. Also, I just watch them, I am not buying magazines exploiting her latest diet. It is not the fact that she is in the movies that I am drawn to but instead her persona, her love for the ocean and most prominently, her grace. I guess you could say I look up to her. The films are only the window to which I first viewed her art.

I remember when I first discovered Andy Davis. When I was about thirteen, I was flipping through a magazine and in one of the back pages there was a small add with a painting and URL. First, I just stared at that tiny little image, amazed that I came across something so wonderful. I rushed to the dinky web sight where I found a myriad of flowing lines, brilliant colors and a completeness in the paint that is hard to describe. I was in love. I guess then I was obsessed with Ando.

Then it was the art of Davis and now the art of Baggs. It is not their popularity that I follow, but the connection. When I watch their displays of beauty, it is like, I get it. I know. I see. Because I sea.

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Most of us are so filled with greed. Why not claim what we can? The surfer wants nothing more than to attain what is rightfully his. This rider removes the wave away from its natural beauty. The wave needs no help, no improvement but he wants it to become something it is not. Riding the wave like a bull, he suppresses it, holding it down, twisting it, warping it the way he wants. Truly it is a talent; Herculean strength and determination rage in attempts to overcome the ocean. Sometimes the rider wins, sometimes the bull wins. With either outcome the rider is unsatisfied and races out for another fight, another battle. Repeatedly, he paddles out with a look of terror in his eyes, ready to eat up another wave, ready to ride the wild animal. He is driven by a ceaseless hunger that devours not only the wave but himself. Never placing his mind on the present ride but the next; he aggressively destroys the gift, spits in the face of the giver, yet wants more.

The second surfer is a rarity. She paddles out contently, with no expectations, no regrets of future events, no aggression, no greed, only grace. Her heart is easily seen. She strokes slowly and evenly. The sparkle on the wave is simply a reflection of the sparkle in her eye. A peaceful equanimity rocks with her even while envy and anger sit closely beside her. Carefully, she catches the wave as if catching a butterfly, reaching out, whispering to her winged friend. Entering the wave with pure synergy, not “riding” the wave, rather, playing with it gently. She respects the wave and unveils a new gift: finesse flows from the swell in gratitude, wraps around her board in a fluent embrace, tingles up her toes as they step to the rhythm of the dance and finally it seems to soar out her fingertips, flowing like scarves. She glides. Her joy is ever present even when the wave has vanished, knowing her companion will return again.

Some of each surfer resides within all of us. They are not man or woman, amateur or professional, young or old, long or short; they are our mindset of the wave and our self, how we enjoy our gift. Can we be content with it, no matter what the conditions? Greed is blinding. Many of us escape from the joy of surfing because we cannot clearly see what we have already been given. The first surfer forgets what the second embraces. We paddle not because we may miss something but because we already have something.

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