Two Paintings Find New Homes

Camouflage Cowgirl,  14x18" oil on canvas

My camo cowgirl shows a spirited young woman with her "war paint" on...ready to face the world and whatever is thrown at her with dogged determination, a spirit of conviction and purity of faith. Her piercing Egyptian like eye is undaunted in facing her foes and the pain she must endure. She is the Mary of the desert of hopes and dreams...many of which have been crushed, but softly flicker around her silhouette in a halo of desperate hope. 

She was what was left of my inner child during an extremely painful part of my life. She now sits proudly in the kitchen of a dear friend who has seen her share of hard times and knows a thing or two about determination and faith herself.

Brenda's Blooms,  20x20" oil on canvas

This beautiful neighboring Bradford pear tree was calling to me to paint her a few springs back, before the drought set in. She seemed to burst up from the dark, wet, green earth in an explosion of joyful creamy blooms. She was the earth's joys waiting to be reborn and released into the hearts around her-- the soul's renewal of spring materialized.

The tree did not make it through the last two years' dry seasons and is standing bare...soon to be cut down by its new owners. The painting is now with the original home owners who had to move away due to the economy and rebuild their lives in another state. She watches over them from the painting and continues to bare record of the promise of renewal for us all.

. . . . . . .

I guess I'm feeling kind of sentimental these days. We've all been told to count our blessings if we want to receive more. Well, I've found recently, that counting my blessings is starting to help me have less...to let go of some really difficult parts of my past...including letting go of everything from paperwork to photos to furniture to paintings....even with the person I used to identify myself as. Many of my friends and neighbors are doing the same...downsizing and going where brighter paths take them.

Have you ever been tempted to hoard your paintings, or hold onto stuff well past its usefulness?
I never really thought of myself as a hoarder until I realized that I was going to drown in my own paintings if I didn't start selling them!

In the last couple of weeks I've let go of some of my dearest paintings which have been a really difficult thing to do. As an artist you remember who you were and what you were going through at the time each painting is created...how you bled for some of those strokes, or the joy you felt laying in all those juicy colors. Or, you think a painting must go for a certain price...or no price is adequate to repay the angst you went through to paint that one!

However, I kept having the persistent thoughts that these two paintings should go to particular homes. And, as I started to release the material things around me which were suffocating me mentally...I began to be able to allow the release of these paintings...and what they represented in my past. I'm so grateful that they were joyfully adopted!

It helps me to write about them, too...I don't think I ever really realized what they were about until recently.

I have more paintings who need new homes...!