If you asked me when I was very young what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer would be an artist. I thought I would someday paint and somehow create a whimsical world to explore on canvas. I stopped believing this could be true as I grew up.
My dad passed away almost a year ago. I used to work for my dad in the airplane sales business. I loved him and loved his passion for flying. I spent hours and days flying with him growing up. Cancer took his life. It was the most devastating loss I have ever known. So many times I want another day, another flight, another annoying joke, another beer with him in the hanger, or just one more piece of advice. Pain.
After I lost my dad, I started having dreams of painting again. Dreams of paintings that I never did and ones that I meant to do again. I had vivid dreams of my dad wanting to see a painting that I did when I was around 15 yrs old. It was the old Pea Green Store in Olathe, Colorado. My grandpa owned the store and my dad lived in the back of that store when he was young. I always wanted to paint it again. I didn't have the first painting or the picture of it when I repainted it. My grandparents had it in their house for years and then passed it on to my dad. I had so many dreams about the store that I ended up letting the dreams guide me to paint it from memory. A while after I was finished painting it, I got the original painting back. It was so similar and so different. But just exactly like I remembered. A couple months later I acquired my grandmother's hope chest. After hours and hours of going through it, I found the original picture of The Pea Green Store. The picture I first had when I painted it the first time. Love.
So many divine events aligned when all this happened. I started feeling an incredible calling to paint again and to pursue my artist dreams. It has been a vulnerable process, but feels like I am starting to remember what it was like to be a child and desire this path. I'm thankful to God for extra grace, triumph over pain, hope in Him and the treasure of love in all its capacities.
So, here we go... starting a new chapter in my life... opening my heart and putting myself out in the world. I just finished making the start of this website today and have posted a few of my paintings that are for sale. I plan to update the site with new paintings as they come and possibly blog a little along the way.
Here are pictures of the paintings. The Painting I did when I was young...
The Pea Green Store in Olathe, Colorado.
The new painting I did from my dreams.
