I painted this little maple seed on the day we conceived. Glowing in a primordial sea with its elegant wing and umbilical-cord-like stem, it honors our greatest creative project yet. I knew a soul was hovering as soon as my brush touched the canvas. It was one of those special paintings that feel more like channeling. The painter probably deserves little credit. It was effortless and pristine, as though it already had one foot in the world and just needed a bit of pigment. This painting, of course, belongs to Ansel.