"No, I never saw an angel, but it is irrelevant whether I saw one or not. I feel their presence around me." ~ Paulo Coelho
(painting: Angels Among Us, 30" x 30", Bonnie Joy Bardos, available)
When I was a little girl, every time I visited my Grandma and her country farmhouse, I was mesmerized by a small, framed print: an angel hovering behind two small children, watching over them. Some things stay in your memory a lifetime...that picture has been in my mind's eye all these years. I keep the same angel in my dining room (here it is!). Just because.
We all need angels, and I'm convinced they walk among us: sometimes in human form, sometimes in animal form. They're there. Certain subjects appear in my art over and over: trees, birds, women, horses, angels, things with wings often appear. In sculpture, angels again appear often. Again, this pattern goes back to childhood. I spent a lot of time in nature: the woods, garden, far reaches of fields. Wading in creeks, trickling branches there were crawdads under rocks to observe, the robin's egg blue sky overhead through pine branches. I would lay flat and watch the clouds, the birds, feel the breeze. Spending time in the outdoors, a child learns the rhythms and patterns of the earth, the sky, all that is. Answers whisper in the rustle of leaves. Squirrels chatter, rabbits hop. Snakes slip through summer grass. Water giggles over rocks. Moss carpets are lush green delight.
To this day, I paint the essence of what I've seen and felt. I don't work from photographs or endeavor to paint realistically. Details are not overly important, but the 'energy' and feel is everything. Perhaps I never saw an angel, although I'm convinced I've met them often. But as Paulo Coelho said, I feel their presence around me.
** So, what can you do to support the arts? The artists? Treasure art. Look at it. Appreciate it. Buy it when you can. As for me, I'd be grateful for a donation. Or to sell a painting. Or sculpture. Anything helps. I'm not alone out there....so keep us creative types in your thoughts and in your life. We need you, you need us. Now, that is what it's all about. If you click the ads on this blog, I get a pittance. Hey, I'm not proud...in the next year, maybe it'll earn $100, then I'll receive a payment from the G-place! Lucky me! I'll take it. Every bit counts, I'm not proud. It's humbling, folks.
I loved this as I, too, believe in angels. I have a painting you did of my most present angel. Beautiful painting, beautiful post.
ReplyDeleteamen!
ReplyDelete