It's now an abstract grove of trees encircling (implied), sheltering the viewer while the path is laid out ahead with a view to illumination. (It still embodies faith, hope and love.)
Today Mason sat next to me on the couch staring at it and said, "Mom, do you think a place like that really exists?" It was hands down the best compliment i could have received on the painting. "Yes, Mason, I really do."
Underneath that painting are three others (now covered up). The Faith, Hope and Love of 2008, 2009 (the entire year I discarded the whole of it and it survived 4 seasons on my deck) and 2010...and now it finally rests as this abstract landscape. My idea of faith, hope and love have changed so much over the last few years that I could not finish this painting until now.
As I gessoed white over it and completely covered the other paintings, I prayed. I said, "God, these other visions don't work for me anymore, so I've stripped them back but I'm willing to rebuild. Guide my hand that I might paint on this subject/canvas again."
God knows where this place is, that it's somewhere in my heart. It has probably been there all along; I was too rigid to see it. It's not as definite or precise as the other paintings but it's probably closer to the truth.
*****It's interesting that some might see symbolic "truth" in three ladies posing with props on a rock but be totally unable to see it in my abstract landscape. Why do some consider the first physical painting (the totally fabricated, unreal physical embodiment of Faith, Hope and Love) to be more real than the natural state painting? Symbolically one is not more real than the other. Here I ask you to suspend the literal version for the liminal version. What happens to you in this space? Will you sit there with me?
5 comments:
Found a quote in the guestbook at Good Hope that was originally made for a "Zen Journal". It was among the quotes printed at the bottom of the pages for contemplation. "Find the courage to hold onto your beliefs, even if the world around you chooses to believe differently. Have the courage to change those beliefs that no longer fit the person you have become. In doing so, you truly become yourself."
this is why i love you so much Kim!
I'm sitting right there with you, Dear!
I went for a long bike ride this morning. I laid down in a gazebo and was amazed at all of the white in the leaves. Then the sun went behind a cloud and they were all green again. Thanks for the color lesson.
My title for your painting is, "Taking the next step ...". This is my experience, which is why I named it for myself. I have clarity about where I am going. What I have not yet experienced is the permanence of being there. I am here; it is there. By taking the next step I am drawing closer to It, and It is drawing closer to me. What to have a conversation about what It is?
K
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