Empty Nest

Empty Nest

During this extraordinarily busy art season, I have been personally struggling with some things that have caused me to seek help and guidance from God's Word, the Bible. Having His clear direction is a great start to getting my behavior back in line, and helps me have an appropriate perspective on things. (Now, sometimes following His instruction is still a real challenge... ) 

As I was seeking His help, I was reading the short New Testament books of 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. 3 John 1:4 has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and I found it showing up in my painting. 3 John 1:4 (CSB) I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth. I am finding that the longer my kids have had their own homes, the more I am feeling the 'empty nest', and am missing them, but not necessarily in a droopy, sad way. I find that I miss their colorful, sparkling personalities and conversations. I miss the laughter and debates we had as we homeschooled. But I absolutely LOVE seeing who they have become! I love watching them as adults. 


SOLD
12" x 12"
Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper
Ready to frame

Click here to view on my website.

This particular painting was one that I 'saw' before I started working on it. As an experimental abstract painter, my studio practices vary a lot from painting to painting. Many times I am painting a layer, then seeing what I like or don't like in that layer, then painting the next layer and responding again. With this one, though, I knew what I wanted, and had to figure out how to make the paint do what I was seeing in my head. 

It is difficult to see it from the photo, but there are areas of color and iridescence that show through the upper layers in this work. I love that I had to build and cover and scrape away and repaint and re-scrape - preparing over and over to achieve the final work of art. It reminds me of the process of rearing and teaching our kids when they were young, hoping to bring about a beautiful work of art. But the big difference is, I did not have the final picture, and I did not recognize when the layering and scraping was bringing about God's work of art in our kids. I am so thankful HE was the artist painting their lives!