Today my hubby took a turn hanging out with Momma so that I could get away for a few hours to take my second Chinese watercolor lesson. Truth be told, it was much more than a painting lesson. Much, much more.
It was therapy. It was love. Inspiration. Repose. Edification. Heart-to-heart sharing.
Judy, my teacher and special friend, would tell you that I’m a natural. I’m not as convinced, but I do love it, and am enjoying the emerging floral wanna-be masterpiece. We have several more hours of work on this painting. I say “we” because this has been a joint-effort. Judy shows me how to do something, then lets me do it myself. Then, her masterful hand and eye go over the painting and she makes improvements, then lets me continue with the improvements. And so on.
At one point, Judy was showing me how to outline the petals of my flower with a darker shade. As I watched her careful hand at work adding the dark strokes, tears streamed down my face. Darker strokes are necessary to bring out the light and to add dimension…to define. They bring a quiet beauty to the piece. After I dabbed away the tears, I shared with Judy why I was crying. It wasn’t because I was sad. It was just that I knew that each and every time I admire my painting in the future, I will see my sister in Christ’s masterful hand and the love behind it in my time of ‘dark strokes’ in life.
As we talked, the subject of my blog came up. Judy and I are both enamored with daylilies, so she looked with favor upon my coral colored beauty on my blog’s header. Then, she pointed to my tagline.
Before I Forget: Sharing my love for God, family, gardens and my sweet Momma
Barefoot Lily Lady 