9/5/10

for the love of art . . .


This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom . . .
as . . . Artist!!

 

I have such vivid memories of my mom in her "Art Basement" 
with an easel here, and a pottery wheel there, 
a kiln in the furnace room . . . 
and cabinets, and cabinets stocked full of supplies.  

It was like a playground to her . . . she loved being there . . .
and I loved watching her!!
 
She was always doing something with art . . . always!!
painting. . . sculpting . . . paper-making . . .
and woodblock printing were some of her favorites.

I remember her working with her paint brushes
and the smell of the paints . . . 
the papermaking screens and the feel of the pulp . . . 
the turning of the pottery wheel - watching the blob of clay turn 
into something truly wonderful!

And my favorite thing of all . . .
was watching her carve into a simple piece of wood 
with the same exact tools my grandmother had used years earlier.

I loved watching her . . . I loved being there . . .
I remember wanting to be just like her!! 
(I unfortunately didn't get the same "art" gene - as I was adopted)
And - no matter how many art classes I took or how much I tried . . .
it just didn't come as easy for me as it did for my mom.  
 I luckily knew the difference, choose a different path,
and am very happy and grateful for that!! :)

I do still love art as a hobby though . . . 
but - when you meet someone 
who has been given a true gift of an artful life . . .
you instantly know it . . .
and it is amazing to watch them . . . 
"do their thing"!!

 Somewhere . . . I have my mothers and my grandmothers 
original woodblocks as well as all the old tools . . .

It is funny - as I have been thinking about them a lot lately . . .

I think that today . . .
I will get them out . . . look at them . . . touch them . . . 
and maybe . . . just maybe - be a bit more inspired :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!
xoxo - liz



6 comments:

Andy's Attic said...

Liz, I loved this post. Your mom looks so absorbed in her work! I remember wearing those awful rollers, too. I hope you held those treasures and feel inspired..
Annette

Retreat said...

Oh, Miss Liz... you need to create a frame or shadowbox for those tools so you can hang them out where you can see & appreciate them all the time!

Deb @ Retreat

Holly said...

How amazing that you not only have this picture, but all the tools as well! What a treasure!

I see my mom in this photo...it's the curlers!!! I don't know how they could tolerate them. I called them head scratchers!!

gail said...

What a lovely post. Those memories are priceless. And the photo is amazing. I remember those rollers, too. Except my hair was so fine they always fell out! Oh well....
gail
adventuresininnkeeping.blogspot.com

Ormolulu said...

It's just amazing--your sense of recall. I feel like I'm there with you, Liz! What a rich upbringing--no wonder you turned out so very well. :0)

(I used to SLEEP on those brush rollers . . . some things DO get better with time!)

xo D.

Elizabeth Maxson said...

Oh you are so lucky to have such memories. How i would have just died and gone to heaven to have been around such creativity growing up. I remember those rollers, but they never really worked on my stringy hair - just got tangled up in it.

Thanks for showing - if the resolution is good enough - blowing up that photo to a wall size (6 feet x 6 feet or so) and putting it on a wall in a dining room or in a hallway, framed, with a light over it, would be so cool. Or taking it and getting it digitized and printing it on fabric and making a great shower curtain out of it with the words: "Beauty is a work of art" would be fun too.

Thanks for sharing