When my mom was in her 40's she took up painting. She'd never painted before, but she dared to be courageous and fulfil her need to be creative. The kids were almost all grown and it was the perfect moment for her to try something new. She took lessons and it was fun to watch her improve her skills over time. During the early stages of her painting career, I got married. The best wedding present that we received was a large oil painting of Florence. Mom had yet to visit Florence at that time so she used one of the postcards that I had sent them as her reference. When we had our Italian wedding 6 months later, the view that she painted was also the backdrop to our wedding pictures. To this day, that painting has always been the focal point when we decorated our home. For the first 20 years of our married life, we lived in California and longed to be back in Florence. Gazing at that painting was often like looking out the window, taking me back to the early days of our relationship. For Stefano, I would imagine that it stirred up some different kinds of memories, for he left his beloved Firenze, his family, and his friends, to be with me. My mom's bold pursuit of creativity has run the gamut from knitting to painting to writing a book. Her creativity has obviously left an indelible mark on my soul. As I travel, I take photographs of images that I think could be fun to paint someday. Often I have trouble falling back to sleep as ideas and pictures swirl through my head. I try to figure out how I can capture the image that I see when I lack the technical skills to make it happen. Honestly, I don't want to go take art classes, which would certainly help me to improve my drawing and perspective. So, mainly I watch YouTube videos and talk to my artsy friends. One of the most influential experiences on my desire to paint, however, happened after I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I was taken by the simplicity of Van Gogh's paintings. The bright colors in his later work appealed to my eye and realizing that his work was more about interpretation than perfection inspired me to take a risk. His work gave me the permission I needed to not be perfect. Before taking that risk, I wanted to learn a little bit more about Van Gogh (did I not pay attention in my art history class?). I watched a lot of YouTube videos and I found a couple of movies. Loving Vincent was amazing!
But it was when my friend took me to visit to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands that gave me the push that I needed. This museum houses the second largest collection of Van Gogh's in the world. Unlike most museums, you can literally walk right up to a painting and admire the brushstrokes right in front of your face. I was surprised how seeing Van Gogh's paintings in such an intimate setting affected me. Fueled by goosebumps and moved to tears (so strange), I felt the need to create. So, home I went, and began painting without the worry that I wasn't capable of creating art. I just started to enjoy the process. I didn't care if it wasn't "good." I was more interested in seeing myself improve and be successful in trying to capture the essence of what I saw or felt. After some playing around, I had gained enough confidence and had experienced so much creative satisfaction that I decided to take on a meaningful project. My daughter had recently suffered an accident. She had just gotten a new puppy who was instrumental in helping her heal. I felt the need to capture what that sweet puppy face meant to her. It was my perfect moment. I had been inundated with photos of my grandpuppy, Maverick. Could I capture his essence in a painting and have it ready by the time we go visit for Christmas? It was a struggle. Every iteration yielded a new problem to solve. I couldn't get the eyes right, but the nose was just right. I played with the colors and the shapes of the ears into the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully acrylics are forgiving of my inexperience and lack of training. But one thing I do have going for me is my tendency toward persistence and perseverance. I'm glad I decided to paint. It took me about a month and it was worth every ounce of struggle and self-doubt. "Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones." Bruce Garrabrandt Creatively, Cathy
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About CathyI'm a wife, mother, friend, educator, traveler, creator, tech lover, (and much more) inspired by Brene Brown's call to being vulnerable and daring greatly. Archives
May 2020
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