Somehow or Other

Somehow or Other

I really like order. Being home, boring schedules, quiet time. These last weeks have had very little of that! I told you last week that the family business had been sold. Also, as I mentioned, as we prepared for the sale, my Beloved Husband and I took a bunch of trips in the flatbed, shuffling masonry products here and there. While those trips were so delightful, they were interruptions in studio time, and tough physically as the big truck rattled over the miles! Somehow or other, during the chaos of that time, I was able to finish this painting. 

This is a "paint-over" - a reclaiming of a painting that was still in my storage that I have held for a long time. I allowed the original work to show through in places, and accentuated parts where it needed it. It has suggestions of a grid composition and a cruciform structure. Kind of like time (calendar) and eternity. It's main color scheme is complementary, with blue and orange being most obvious. The first time I called it finished in it's second, painted over state, it was pretty quiet. Not as much activity in it as there is now. But it definitely seemed to call for more! If you looked at it in real life, you would be able to see fluorescent and iridescent colors, and you know how much I like those. 

12" x 12"

Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas

Edges painted black

Click here to view or purchase on my website.

So how in the world could I complete and share this painting with those stories going on in our lives, not to mention the events that have followed?  Because amidst all of the recent change (including my BH's change of employment!), another life-changing event has occurred: Gary was my husband's best friend. They met every Thursday morning for over 25 years. Last Wednesday afternoon, Gary collapsed on the roof where he was working and he was airlifted to a hospital. He passed away on Friday. Our lives will never be quite the same. I wonder whether we will still wake up this Thursday morning at 5:15 as usual. 

Along with that, this was my first Mother's Day since my mother passed from this earth. I enjoyed my day with my kids - we were with my daughter in Michigan for a couple of days, then my son and his bride met us for a mid-day meal on Sunday. I absolutely loved that! But still, loss was heavy in the background. 

Somehow or other, though, life will regain a sense of normalcy, even for Ann and the rest of Gary's family. And for us. And though the grief and heaviness will be with us for a long time, we do have hope for time and for eternity. These verses from the New Testament came up in my Bible reading this morning.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 

I shared these verses when my mom passed away last June. We grieve, yes. I still grieve and miss her daily. But not as if all were lost. There is hope for eternity since Jesus died and rose again, as the above verses say. I would like to share one more passage, too. I know that both Mom and Gary would have wanted you to know this.

John 3:16-18 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.