When I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10, Mama came home one day and said she’d run into her friend Marion at the grocery store. Or some other mom hangout. She knew Marion from Girl Scouts. They were both leaders. Cookie chairmen. Badge honkers. District council mucky-mucks.
A chance meeting where Marion mentioned she was an artist and was teaching classes out of her home. A chance meeting that turned into years of Saturday mornings in Marion’s magical rambling arty house.
Saturday morning lessons with sister Marjorie Ellen. Because in the beginning it was really about her. She was the blazing art star, I was the tag along little sister. But those Saturday mornings with the Dunkin Donuts and the comaradarie, the kneaded erasers and the charcoal smudged fingers…those Saturday mornings set me on my life path.
Because Marion taught me how to SEE.
How to narrow my focus down to a piece of the whole, And expand my world in the doing. How to find elements of design and beauty in what others would pass off as mundane. The quality of a line. Or light. The indefinable something that sets one square inch off against another.
It’s a lesson I’ve taken with me. A lesson I’ve done my best to impart to my own students over the years. Look. Look look LOOK around you.
SQUINT!
I keep a camera with me most all the time. You never know when you’re going to come across the perfect crack in the sidewalk. Or a tree root.
Or an old rusty Ford truck. I could parcel this baby into at least three paintings.
And this stack of crates, funky old weathered things that once held fruit…this will be the inspiration for an oil and cold wax piece, I just know it. The finished painting won’t be a photo replica. It may not look anything like the photo at all. But there will be elements. Texture. Color. Something…
My absolute favorite from this particular day’s photos, another painting waiting to happen…screaming to happen when I put aside the acrylics and dive back into the oils…
The potential in this one takes my breath away. Where, WHERE could I have stumbled across such beauty???
In a restaurant parking lot, that’s where. A stucco wall surrounding the dumpster. A green SUV parked next to it, the light from the sun reflecting through the windows, tinting the wall.
Adding mystery. And richness.
The wall around a dumpster….
Because once upon a time Mama’s friend Marion taught a little girl to open her eyes and see.
feeling this to my bones,
to the middle of my being.
thank God for all of the
Saturday morning Marions
in this world…..seeing coaches,
art angels who help
us find our wings.
so sweet, this.
thanks for the inspire,
Jennifer
Earth angels…I like that, Jennifer. Coaches, teachers, wise friends each passing along some of their knowledge, enriching those who are fortunate enough to receive it. xo
Beautiful!,
Thank you, Bonnie…for seeing these words and understanding them with your heart.xo
Hey,did you get to get a new camera or get the one you dropped fixed?
these pictures are just sublime…colors, breath, vibes!!! sensual!!
wow susie you dunnit again!
and yes, marion taught well. we enjoyed those saturdays!!
Hey Margie! These pictures were taken with the old camera, before I dropped it. I bought a new little elph for snapshots and a Sony nex5 for the ‘real’ photos.
I sure do miss the other one tho.
xo
Love those pictures, Susan – I’m not sure I see the same things you see, but definitely INTERESTING and INSPIRING. Reach out and touch stuff.
sue:)
Doesn’t take much to make my inner artist happy, Sue. One run down old building and I’ve got inspiration for years. : )
So very true….to see, really see is such a gift! Sometimes I think folks must think I’m a little looney when I spend time taking photos of rusty old doors, bark on a tree, or (my favorite) peeling paint! Lovely post!
Peeling paint, tree bark, rusty old things…you and I could have such a happy playdate, Debbie! And the beauty of it is neither one of us would end up with the same photos. : )
What a fantastic story this was Susan. I’m so moved by how these overlooked details can change with the right perspective. Thank you <3
“…how these overlooked details can change with the right perspective…” Indeed they can and do, Patricia. You summed it up perfectly. 🙂
This reminds me of my very first art classes too…from the kneaded erasers and the smudged fingers to the squinting. I love how it’s been carried through to these moments in your life. Your seeing is eye-opening for me as well. These images are beautiful and I can see the potential for inspiration in them as well.
As I’m writing this reply, Susie, a contractor and his two young sons are building a pergola in our garden. I mean young boys, probably around 10. They’re helping him haul the materials and he patiently is explaining the wood and what he’s doing and planning to do. These boys may or may not follow their father’s career path but right now they’re soaking it in, absorbing lessons in construction and materials and a day’s work that will stay with them forever. Which gives me something to think about, what we expose our children to at certain ages…
Which has everything to do with kneaded erasers and smudged fingers, right? 🙂
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Do check out my friend Susie’s blog. Click on ‘Me-Time’ up above and be transported to the Australian bush after the storm. Oh yes, please do!