I was driving home from Nehalem, Oregon at sunset. After the rainy winter we had enjoyed a fabulously beautiful sunny day. It was the first sunset I had seen in months. I missed pulling over when I first caught a glimpse of it. I didn't make that mistake again. I pulled over at every turnout the rest of the way home at took pictures as it slowly sunk beneath the horizon. Oh, the glory and the beauty of this earth.
The Ugly Underneath
When I finished with the underpainting I sat back and though, "Ugh!" I wasn't discouraged. I know it's just the underpainting. But it's not pretty. It's flat. There's not value. There's no form. And then my thoughts, as they usually do, began to make the connection to life. One of the reasons I love painting with oils is that they don't dry quickly. I do have old canvases with old paintings on them and I can simply paint over them and make them new again. But with wet paint I don't necessarily start over every day. I build. I layer. I add and move and adjust until the ugly disappears and the pretty pops out. And then I realize that there was never any ugly in the first place. It was just a simple beginning. Sometimes I see myself as ugly. Then I realize I'm really just being built, layered, moved around, and adjusted. The beauty is there all the time.
Lady Slipper
This Lady Slipper was a special request from a special person in my life. It was fun to paint, but it was also fun to think of her and the impact that she had on my life. I hope that she will find beauty in the painting and see her own beautiful heart in it as well. Lady Slipper is very fitting for her because has always been a wonderful example of a very gracious lady.
Wait For It...
I saw a gorgeous babe on the beach the other day and just had to take some photos and come home and start painting! Just wait till you see her!!
Apples, Oranges and Hearts, Oh My!
Someone posted on Facebook a photo of a human heart covered in fat, saying that fat is not beautiful. I wanted to reply that an anorexic heart probably doesn't look much prettier. I think the issue is that we're trying to make oranges in to apples. Overweight women have as much right as any magazine model to feel beautiful because beauty shouldn't be defined by our body shape. Beauty is an entire package of personality, integrity, self-worth, and kindness. Fatness isn't beautiful because it's unhealthy. And that's a different issue than beauty.
They are linking, however, because if we are not taking care of ourselves physically it's probably because we don't feel beautiful already. I personally can't address my weight issues until I'm comfortable with who I am, as is. Any effort I put toward it prematurely will only backfire in the end. I've watched this same cycle with many women in my life. However, when I understand my invite worth a s human soul, I also understand my inmate beauty and the sire to be healthy becomes intrinsic and possible.
If we, as a society, could stop trying to make oranges into apples and simply look at each other heart to heart, then we could all feel more beautiful and the fat would begin to melt away.