Hope Blooms

I started this painting about a year ago.

It was a strong and promising start and I felt really confident that it wouldn’t take me long to finish it. It was, however, a side piece. And it sat and sat.

What is a side piece, you ask?

A side piece for an artist is one that you work on before and in between others, to loosen up and add some fluidity to your work process. I always feel a little freer with colors and techniques afterward.

There were times, I have to admit when I doubted myself. Would I ever actually finish it?

Well, I did and I really felt passionate about it. You see, the days lately have been long, cloudy and gray and the wintery cold weather has a way of hanging on extra long here in Northern Ontario. After a period of particularly gray and also emotionally heavy days, I knew I needed to throw myself into this painting to take my mind in a different direction.

Our world and all the people in it have been suffering under the weight of Covid 19. So many of us have been isolated looking for safety in our own home sanctuaries. It has left some of us detached from each other and sometimes, even ourselves.

Add to this, the stresses of families physically apart, yet trying to reach out to support each other, and sometimes it is more than we can bear.

The colors in this painting swirled around the canvas and really excited me and lifted my spirits! Black-eyed Susans have always been a favorite late summer flower of my husband and I’ve grown to really appreciate them too. Painting these flowers made a difference in how I felt that day and now going forward.

Hope really does bloom here!