Yesterday, my family came to visit, with them my dad brought for me this wonderful print  framed as a gift.  As you can see it’s a sketch of some boats… yeah that’s “what” it is but what it means sooo much more. It truly is a gift that keeps giving…

This print is from a collection that has been laying around waiting to be framed  for years. They were collected on our family visit to Denmark during my childhood (my family comes from Denmark). I have such fond memories of my visits there, even on our first visit when I was 5 years old, I remember being  so interested by history – the castles, the lives and culture of where I have originally come from. Part of my visit back to Denmark in my late teens, I was taken to see the house where my dad had grown up and see where my grandmother raised  6 boys on her own in the country and the township surrounding that area (and sometimes I think I have it tough).

When I look at this artwork now,  I remember Denmark, I remember my childhood, my visit to Denmark in my teens, I remember an afternoon where my aunty and uncle took me to a place by the water with lots of boats and we had icecream and walked their dog. I remember being young and thinking about my life and the wonder & uncertainty of all that I had in front of me. It’s a happy feeling, I then also feelings of reflection about where I have “come from”,  my history and my life as it is today. Then something starts to happen – some of my current worries pass me by,  I realize how short life is and in the grand scheme of things some my current issues are all so small I shouldn’t let them worry me.

I also think about my dad, who made this frame for me himself using his own two hands (Something I will always treasure), I think about having nice things in my house and how they make me feel, and keep me happy.

This line of thinking often also moves me to think about MY art and my sketching and how I really must get onto some more artwork because look at all these wonderful feelings that this one little picture on my wall, what it can invoke in me. If the artist hadn’t recorded this moment in time I may not be having the same feelings that I am having right now and maybe I could be doing this for someone else in the future via one of my paintings or drawings.

I once had someone tell me about one of my pictures she had bought, she told me it had reminded her about her grandmother, as her grandmother had owned a similar item in her house and how just having that brought back all sorts of feelings and memories for her…how wonderful is that !!! it is something I will always treasure that I could have provided that for her.

So I will finish today by saying if you’re an artist, think about what you are giving with your art not just in the scope of exhibiting or income or anything else, think about the owner of that piece of art what do you think it would mean for them ?  use that as inspiration

If you’re  a thinking about buying a piece of art albeit an original, a print, a sketch whatever it maybe think of it as being more than just a picture on the wall, think about what it gives you day to day. Think about the emotion it may bring to you and your life and the feelings it can provide to you.

This print is now hanging in the center of my house, I would say I would see it at least 20 times a day, even if I am not directly looking at it I know its there subconsciously in my mind it something treasured, a pleasure if not even just a small one everytime I walk past it, I  Enjoy it !

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 2:36 am and is filed under Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.