The painting in my last post that I embellished isn't the first one of Great Grandma V's paintings I've 'collaborated' with her on. The one above is another that I added something to, and that was one of the very few times I have ever worked in oils. (Can't stand the smell of turpentine...)
You see, the painting came to Bob & I and just wasn't our style at all. It didn't look like this photo, tho - it was incredibly faded, filled with washed-out colors in gloomy tones of browns, grays, and blacks. Even the green grass was brown, and the trees had no leaves, The whole painting gave me the feeling of a cold, dreary winter day. Add to that the fact that the little girl in the foreground used to have a frown on her face, and you can maybe see why it stayed in a closet for years!
Well, one day, I ran across it, and something inside of me woke up. This may be TMI for ya, but at that point in time, I had been battling depression for quite some time. For the year immediately preceding this event, I had been on medication and going through counseling. I had started a new job for the first time in many years (after working for myself), and so after a year of absolutely no creative activity at ALL (and that means no decorating either) one day I opened a closet, found this, and I decided to paint. I looked at this sad painting and decided that it expressed pretty much how I had been feeling for years, and I was ready to change that.
So I bought some oils and brushes and turpentine, set up my easel, and just started painting. I was listening to Vivaldi, my favorite composer, and I just began to add color and life to the painting - much like I wanted to add color and life to my own world again. I added a green wash to the grass, and planted blooming daffodils and white snapdragons in the field. I placed green leaves on the tree branches and then sprinkled in white lilacs, and reflected them in the water. I repainted the sky with clear blue and let a few fluffy white clouds in. I took the same blue and changed the dirty brown water to blue, and put in ripples so it looked as if the water was flowing down the stream. I repainted the sheep's wool and the little white cottage white (they had been dirty brown). Then I added rosy cheeks and a smile to the little girl's face, and bright colors to her dress, and added my initials to Great Grandma Venosdel's in the bottom corner.
It was as if I was recreating reality...good metaphor there, huh? I can honestly say that the music and the paint and giving myself the freedom to create something really was healing. Every time I look at this painting, I remember where I was then and where I am now, and I breathe a prayer of thanksgiving to God for bringing me through it. And I see this painting many times a day - it hangs in the entryway to our bedroom, along with another of Grandma V's compositions that I haven't touched and love to bits!
You see, the painting came to Bob & I and just wasn't our style at all. It didn't look like this photo, tho - it was incredibly faded, filled with washed-out colors in gloomy tones of browns, grays, and blacks. Even the green grass was brown, and the trees had no leaves, The whole painting gave me the feeling of a cold, dreary winter day. Add to that the fact that the little girl in the foreground used to have a frown on her face, and you can maybe see why it stayed in a closet for years!
Well, one day, I ran across it, and something inside of me woke up. This may be TMI for ya, but at that point in time, I had been battling depression for quite some time. For the year immediately preceding this event, I had been on medication and going through counseling. I had started a new job for the first time in many years (after working for myself), and so after a year of absolutely no creative activity at ALL (and that means no decorating either) one day I opened a closet, found this, and I decided to paint. I looked at this sad painting and decided that it expressed pretty much how I had been feeling for years, and I was ready to change that.
So I bought some oils and brushes and turpentine, set up my easel, and just started painting. I was listening to Vivaldi, my favorite composer, and I just began to add color and life to the painting - much like I wanted to add color and life to my own world again. I added a green wash to the grass, and planted blooming daffodils and white snapdragons in the field. I placed green leaves on the tree branches and then sprinkled in white lilacs, and reflected them in the water. I repainted the sky with clear blue and let a few fluffy white clouds in. I took the same blue and changed the dirty brown water to blue, and put in ripples so it looked as if the water was flowing down the stream. I repainted the sheep's wool and the little white cottage white (they had been dirty brown). Then I added rosy cheeks and a smile to the little girl's face, and bright colors to her dress, and added my initials to Great Grandma Venosdel's in the bottom corner.
It was as if I was recreating reality...good metaphor there, huh? I can honestly say that the music and the paint and giving myself the freedom to create something really was healing. Every time I look at this painting, I remember where I was then and where I am now, and I breathe a prayer of thanksgiving to God for bringing me through it. And I see this painting many times a day - it hangs in the entryway to our bedroom, along with another of Grandma V's compositions that I haven't touched and love to bits!
I've loved this red barn since the day I first saw it...
There are other paintings... some landscapes of mountain scenes that need new frames, and two portraits of girls. I like the 'pink rose girl' that is hanging in my office now - she reminds me of a lass overlooking the Irish countryside. Bob has loved 'the fountain girl' since he was a child. It is his very favorite painting, so I put it in the media room where he can enjoy it.
There are other paintings... some landscapes of mountain scenes that need new frames, and two portraits of girls. I like the 'pink rose girl' that is hanging in my office now - she reminds me of a lass overlooking the Irish countryside. Bob has loved 'the fountain girl' since he was a child. It is his very favorite painting, so I put it in the media room where he can enjoy it.
I love that there are many kinds of creativity running through our families, and that we can add layer after layer of our own talents into that history. And of course, I love that art is cathartic and healing and an expression of emotion. It has saved me over and over again.
Just before I began painting that picture, I found a quote in a book that I felt perfectly described me. I wrote it down in my journal, and I remember every word to this day... "It was as if her life was a watercolor painting left out in a rainstorm, and all of the color had run out of it." Luanne Rice wrote that in her book 'Home Fires', a paperback romance novel I had picked up at the library. When I read that sentence back then, I fell apart. When I just typed it
now, I teared up to think that I had been that lifeless. And I thanked God for handing me a brush and some paint and leading me to add some color back into my world....
2 friends said...:
What a beautiful post and so awesome to see where God takes us in our lives. I'm glad you have the paintings as very visual reminders of that guidance.
Thank you for opening up a little "darken" part of your life. We all need to know that we aren't alone in our own personal struggles. God is good.
Christine
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