'Deeper in Color'
24 x 36 Acrylic on Canvas
© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009
The Painting: It began late one night as I walked into the studio and had a glass of water in my hand. Typical in my moods as the dogs danced around my feet I poured water across the canvas and began my work. It takes several days to do one of these paintings as the layering has to dry in between. This one took on life quickly as the second and third layer of colors appeared and then the horse. I know I am in a groove when the eye of the horse settles in something I have precreated on the canvas.
The Thought: Our puzzle is not progressing very fast, but this weekend Jonathan, my grandson, put together a part with lots of flowers on it. I was working on the dreaded Victorian house in pinks. Not fun.
Let's face it, parts of life are not fun. I don't think they have to be "dreaded', but they are definitely not fun. I could list cleaning the toilet near the top of that list. BUT I truly love a clean bathroom and I have to get through that part to have it.
We seem to dread things and build up an extra amount of tension in our bodies and mind when we do. One suggestion to avoid this is avoid thinking about it. Does not work for me. Only thing that does is giving it to God to worry about it. Of course I can't give Him my toilet, but He definitely has experience in cleaning up big messes we leave everywhere. If we are made in His image, do you think He begins to dread some of our antics that He is left with? That I am sure of... and even more important for me to talk to Him about it whenever I can.
I shared a phone conversation with my Mom last night. She had been laughing about the "ducks" in my past posts. I told her she needed to find a new duck to follow for awhile. She is limiting herself in some "ruts" lately. This vibrant woman used to have her hands in everything serving others. After my dad got progressively worse, she threw all her energy into him, their family business and maintaining everything that a couple use to do by herself. She suffered from this loss of herself. This giving part of herself stayed focused totally on him. We covered stages in life and how we all have to accept the aging process and then reestablish and redefine our own direction in relation to our age and what is happening around us. We all tend to remember when ... remember when you could stay up all night and keep going, or when you could run 10 miles with out loosing your breath or even when you could get eat like a ranch hand and not gain a pound?
For me those days are GONE. They will never be again. I can either sit and think about yesterday and be depressed, or I can redefine where I am today. Dreading aging is probably one of the hardest challenges we face as we grow older.
You cannot plan for tomorrow but you can learn from those around you and gain wisdom for your own life as you grow each day... and growing means growing older. Growing older, wiser and even more beautiful. Babies are cute, but so are our elderly members of our families. Just as hug-able and needing us just as much.
Laurie
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