Landscapes

Friday, May 29, 2009

Making Time


I've been feeling the need to document my on-going attempts to be artistic all while raising five (6 in September) young children and emotionally supporting my husband during graduate school. Yes, it is a VERY busy time, but the need to be creative is irrepressible as well as therapeutic. I'm so grateful for Jacob's support and my children's patience as I keep working out this balance.


The peonies blossomed this week (I've been waiting for a couple of years for them to recover from transplanting!) Five years ago almost exactly, I distinctly remember my mother coming into the room with a vase full of white peonies and I was overwhelmed with the desire to paint them! The timing wasn't right - we has just graduated from BYU and were in the process of finding a house to serve us during grad school. My mom dug up the peonies and gave them to me once we were settled. I've had to wait until now for them to bloom. I've not forgotten the urge to paint them, and today was the day! I've worked hard all week to get all of the "business" done so that when Lenora went down for a nap, I would be ready. I got paint out for the children as well as my self and set up the still life and easel in our little kitchen. I wish I could say we were all happily painting still-lifes of flowers. The children painted for the first 15 minutes, then went on to various crafts (to add to the painting paraphernalia), get themselves snacks, and generally keep themselves occupied for the 2 hours that I was totally absorbed in painting. The kitchen was a disaster by the end - but I was pretty pleased with the final result. I'm not done, but I think it was a great start.