It Was Somebody’s Home

Somebody’s Home
24×30 Oil

How many times have you seen an old home and wondered about the people who lived there? Honestly, that is one of the recurring conversations I have with myself. And for some reason, it’s not just the big, beautiful houses that get my attention. Visually, I am drawn to small cabins, old shacks, log homes…and imagining the impoverished lifestyles of my ancestors.

No, I didn’t grow up on a farm. But my parents did, so I’ve heard the stories. My mother, the youngest of thirteen children, told me that she didn’t realize how poor she was as a child until much later, because everyone was poor during the Great Depression. My father grew up in the hills of North Georgia in a home that looked similar to this one, not uncommon for the time and location. He stated that he went to college to get out from behind a mule and plow.

I took a photo of this cabin at George Ranch, near Rosenberg, Texas. No one was living there. It is well maintained as a historical site. Back in my studio, I imagined the people who could have lived in this shotgun house. I knew there had to be a woman shelling butter beans on the front porch. There must have been some chickens running around, providing eggs and meat in the pot for a special meal. I imagined the man in the back, hammering or fixing something on a worktable. And there probably were children running around barefoot. (But they were moving too fast in my imagination to capture them here!)

It was Somebody’s Home! And I hope it was filled with love. For, whether one is living in poverty or riches, if a home has love, it can withstand the storms, sure to come! This one did.

Stop and Smell the Gardenias!

Some days you just need to “stop and smell” the gardenias!!

melaniestokesart.com
Stop and Smell
10×20 oil
$160

I know, I know,  I’m supposed to be focused on readying for ten kids in Art Camp on Monday.  My studio shows evidence of that.  I know, this painting hasn’t been commissioned and maybe no one will want to buy it.  So, what?

Some days you just need to  “stop and smell”… “be quiet and listen”…”be still and know.”

Every time I walk past the gardenia bush, I find myself slowing down, inhaling deep, and studying the soft petals.  I ponder what color is really in that white…how dark are the shadows?…are they tinted warm or cool?  And I thank the Creator God for his marvelous creation of gardenias.  And I feel happy and loved.  So today, I needed to paint that, as I spent a few hours in the quietness of worship in my studio.

Perhaps your avenue of “stopping and smelling” is not with paint.  It might be in playing with a child,  reading a book, writing your thoughts, petting a cat, watching birds, going for a walk, sewing or baking, maybe even taking a nap… As it says in Ephesians, “in all things, give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus to God.”  We do.

 

“Stirring Up the Past”

melaniestokesart.com
Stirring Up the Past
16×20 Oil
SOLD

As I stopped at this crossroads, I took a quick photo with my iPhone.  Something about the huge silhouette of the tree and house against the swirling sky demanded my attention.   Images don’t always speak to me fully until I begin painting them.  The process causes me to slow down and really look, so that my mind can ponder and analyze and make allegories while I paint.

I stirred and swirled the paint for the clouds.  I swished and scumbled the ruts in the dusty road.  I imagined a dusty truck, with big tires, wheeling past the stop sign, to turn left.  The wind whispered through the towering trees as I placed the pale yellow tops of weeds, reflecting sunlight from above.  And all the while there sat this dark form of a house in the middle of it all, oblivious to the movement around it, mysterious in its shroud of overgrown foliage.  It was an object of the past.  I imagined no one lived in it for years.

The phrase, “stirring up the past” popped into mind.  “STOP (as in the Stop sign) stirring up the past” kept floating in and out of my thoughts.  Just as the imaginary truck in this image did, I suppose I’m being encouraged to keep rolling on.  No need to stir up the past!  The dust will settle soon.