How far back do your memories go? Do you remember any artwork from your past? Recently I came across some artwork that had been in the family as long as I remember. The first piece is one of my own from Kindergarten. I don’t remember creating it, but remember how intriguing it was to create depth in a picture, something that is easily done in finger painting. My mother framed it and it was on display at her home in New Hampshire for as long as she lived there.
An Autumn Painting
I remember looking at a painting that hung on the wall of my parents house in Connecticut. It was so familiar that it had became invisible. Unlike my fingerpainting this painting did not get any wall space in my mother’s home in New Hampshire. I assumed it had been discarded when she moved. However when I opened a steamer trunk in the attic there it was. Exactly as I remembered it, but without the frame.
I love Autumn and this painting always seemed welcoming. I wanted to walk down that path to the white house at the bottom of the hill.
Reverse Side
When I flipped over the autumn painting I discovered that there was another painting on the back, one that I didn’t even know existed. Maybe it is another look at that white farm house.
The Portrait of Tony
There was another painting that occupied the walls for many years. A portrait of my father painted by my mother. I remember my parents going through an art phase and painting in oils. I remember the smell of turpentine and the idea that it took so long for the paint to dry. They would get their easels out and paint at night. This portrait was also in the steamer trunk.
There was also a still life that my dad painted. This seemed to be more of an invention since I don’t remember seeing anything in the house that looked like the vase or tankard. It must have been his “green” phase. This painting was never displayed and this was the first time I remember seeing it.
I love this post, John! I especially like the painting on the reverse side, the mountain colors and the sky! It looks very NH, doesn’t it? I remember many art projects, art class was one of my favorites. My strongest memory though was the day my evil kindergarten teacher (we had moved from High Clear Dr. during the Christmas break, so she was still new to me, new school, it was spring…we were getting ready for art class, to draw flowers in a vase, and the kids were talking too much, so she yelled and said, “Next person to talk doesn’t get to draw!!” And my table of six kids kept chattering away…so I went “shhhh,” and she sent me to the corner (with bad boy Butch Mabel, who was always in the corner), and Butch was breaking all the blown eggs on the bulletin board display, and I couldn’t draw a picture. I made my classmate/neighbor hide her picture so my mom wouldn’t see hers and wonder why I didn’t have one. One of those scarring school moments…. And I always displayed Meredith’s art work, saved a few…. love the green period painting too! So wonderful that they painted. Eddie, too.