Painting A Moment in My Son's Life

I'm very careful not to write where my son is at any given moment. Days after he has left one location, I may write about it but not when he is there. At least not mostly. He WAS in Rosh Hanikra, one of my most favorite places in Israel. I asked him to send me pictures and he sent me a dozen. I wanted pictures of him...he sent me a dozen...mostly of the amazing scenery.

One picture just called out to me. I loved it from the minute I saw it.

Look at the sky...the colors of the water, the texture of the rock...And see the man (or woman) standing there on the left? And the smaller rocks jutting out of the white water and splashes...

He sent me other pictures but this one I decided to paint. I'm new at this...first we did an apple, than some eggplants and a pepper.

Then I did one small landscape - not too impressed with it, I learned how to make rocks...sort of, and water, and waves.

Tackling this one was a bit more...but I learned the answer to how you paint. It's "one layer at a time" and if you don't like the layer, just put on another.

First I did a sketch. Keep your eye on the painting, I learned, because otherwise you're mind will take over.

Sketching gives you a sense that you'll conquer the picture you want to paint but it's really a lie because as soon as you start to point, the sketch disappears. I'll keep sketching till I feel more confident but even so, it's not really a sign of how the painting will go.

Next step is to start at the farthest point in the painting and move forward. I didn't love the sky the first time...or the second...or the third. What called to me was the water and the rocks terrified me. I was so sure I'd get defeated by the rocks that I didn't really pay enough attention at first to the water and the sky.

But each class, the picture comes alive, you feel you get a bit closer.

After the sky was sort of done, I moved forward for a few weeks trying to make the rest of the picture come forward. Each week, one thing would come alive, but something else would still feel flat.

By the third week, I had redone the sky, the water was coming along nicely, and the rocks were defeating me.

Purple in the water? Who would have thought...and yet purple was what was there in the picture David sent to me.

Another week...and another.

I learned to use other tools besides the brush.

I painted rocks in the water and then splashed water on them.

I worked on the rocks in front, added more colors than I can count.

I loved the splash...how it came out...and the water...


 

And the sky...

And the rocks...

The painting is finished...my son is no longer at Rosh Hanikra.

I'm not ready to say where he is right now.

I wrote him a little while ago...

He's safe. He's fine. I hold on to that thought and I look at the painting.

I'm on to the next one. I've gained so much by starting to paint. I can't yet say that I discovered a talent I didn't know I had. Mostly, I think I have an amazing teacher. I see things differently now. I can flatten something in my mind and see the elements that make it the shape and depth. I have learned to steal a day in the week away from work and paint, relax a bit more.

The painting is on top of the cabinets waiting to be framed or something. I find myself looking at it and smiling...thank you, Tana - the most amazing teacher in the world!

And here are some of the other amazing pictures David sent to me...