Photo: Painting "Renewal. Rebirth"
Well, I had an amazing experience this Friday. As I mentioned in my last post, I have a painting group that I attend on Friday mornings. This is a delightful gathering of women who are dealing with or who have dealt with cancer, mainly breast cancer.
This group was started and nutured by a brilliant woman, Martia. We usually paint on paper but occasionally use canvas frames. This week, the husband of one of the women who used to come to the class had donated 5 or 6 canvases that his wife had either started to paint on or had finished.
It was a somewhat of a shock to me to learn that his wife had died a year or so ago. I believe she had died of breast cancer.
Martia offered the canvases out to us to continue to either paint over the original painting or adding to what was already there. I know there was a general feeling of, well, what I felt was trepidation. Sort of a feeling of awe and, gosh, this lady painted this picture and now she is dead.
I took a painting that had a background of peachy colours with a large lotus kind of flower (more peach colour with some grey and pale green) reaching up through most of the painting. Well, how does one continue on from where she left off? I think I was kinda slightly mesmerized. It did flash thru my mind to start anew and just paint over it. But I just sort of reached for the paints and started to add colour to her painting.
And I just kept going. A very un-thinking process. Whatever felt right with each brush stroke, tube squeeze and colour desision. And then at the end of the painting session I felt compelled to write her name at the base of the flower (or sort of flower after I had finished with it ;).
When we have finished painting we usually then go around the group and we offer our feelings about what we had just created. The only things that I felt about the painting were renewal and rebirth. Maybe this is appropriate for a person who has moved on to their next exsistance.
As you might have worked out - the painting is the one above.
I don't think I can express just how I really experienced all of this. Just one of those "Once In A Life Time" happenings. A true reverance and honour to connect with someone in this way.
Wow - yes, truly what a beautiful thing.
Thank you to the woman who died. Thank you husband and family of the woman. Thank you Martia for the group. And thank you fellow women of the group.
