Mom, the artist

My mom has an aesthetic eye. She sees beauty all around her. I love it when we go somewhere together and she points it out to me because I usually don't notice. She can design rooms, set gorgeous tables, coordinate fabric and colors. She dresses herself very smartly. All of these things should have given me the indication of how much artistry she had in her, but I was still shocked, surprised, and awed by what she had to show me on my recent visit to her house.

She has always wanted to paint. So have I. I'm pretty sure everyone, at least for a minute, has wanted to paint. She and my dad are sort of collector's of art. I think with their influence I have come to appreciate art very much. In fact, when I grow up, my dream is to be an artist. Or rather, when my kids grow up. I dabble here and there but when I have my own time later in life I would love to devote myself to creating things. I have these feelings that I can only describe as cravings, to make things. It's worse than when I get a strong hankering for chocolate. When I do settle in for a project I find so much satisfaction. Maybe that is why I enjoy cooking so much. I look forward to the day when I can have a space devoted solely to materials, and paint, and clay, and all kinds of neat stuff. Until then, I will live vicariously through my mother.

I talk to her nearly everyday on the phone. She mentioned her "cow painting" many times, keeping me updated on it's progress and her strong desire not to screw it up. Finally she told me it was done and she was moving on to her next one. I was really excited to see it. She has never painted anything before.

So as I sat in their new living room and she would come in and out with different art pieces, holding them up here and there, as we talked about how she wanted her room to look and feel, she walked in with this...



It took me a minute to compute what I was seeing. Cows...trees...clouds...could this be... what? I just about screamed because this was "the cow painting" and it looked like a real painting. A really good painting. Like I said, I shouldn't have been so surprised but I was.

2 more in progress

She is an artist, in her heart and with her hands. I am so proud of her. This really gives me hope that someday I will be able to let out all the ideas in my head, even if it takes me a while. I want to be like my mom. Not just because she is an artist, though that is part of it, but because she is so MANY things, she loves me, and she is my very best friend. I'm so glad she's mine.

Today I am grateful for: my mom