Ford was his usual, curious self today, with the questions about Black Holes, wormholes and portals, wanting me to read A Brief History of Time to him so that we could dissect current knowledge together over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And then he sat still for a moment at lunch to ask the question,
“Mommy, does the sun love me?”
“Of course it does,” I replied cautiously, “Does the sun follow you around all day?”
“Yes.”
“And does the sun go to sleep with you at night?”
“Yes.”
I thought about this all day. How he takes apart our concept of the universe into fragments and puts the pieces back together (Big Bang theory, bits and pieces scattered, cooled, then formed planets; the sun is a dying star, etc) and reviews it out load (he did this with the digestive system to his pediatrician at his second annual checkup). I thought about the frequency of questions, these days, that I am unable to immediately answer. I thought about how uncomfortable I feel, anthropomorphizing the sun. I took a deep breath and started to paint. In a few minutes I felt much better.
As I pulled out of the parking lot tonight, I noticed the moon on the hill, squinting through the atmosphere in a sleepy haze. As I kept driving, damned if it didn’t surprise me in the way it followed me home. There was nothing usual about it. The sky was the color of the asphalt under my high-beams. Nobody else was on the road. The air, balmy and warm, smelled metallic and a light southeast breeze blew into the car at the stoplight. Winding my way home through the hills, the moon swung playfully left, and then right. It followed me out of my car and down the driveway and up to the stoop, before hiding behind the junipers. It tucked itself in, an hour ahead of the rain that followed. And then, Ford’s naive question made perfect sense.
This is so beautful! I love the layers and textures and colors. I could go on and on.
Thank you! There’s hidden power in the kid’s art supplies, which are less expensive: it’s easier to create, without feeling guilty, or too pressured to make something “pretty.” Makes jumping in that much easier 😉
Beautiful painting – the colors and textures are perfect! And a perfect explanation for the mysterious lives of the sun and moon – sounds about right to me . . . need we really know more?
I love this painting–you catured so much depth in it.
That is too deep for comment…all I can say is Wow! what a revelation you experienced, and I sense that you are not telling all. The philosophy of Ford—maybe he (or someone Greater) knew that you needed to know how special you are, and he asked just the right questions to stimulate your day’s meditations.
And–I love the dimensions and light in that painting….absolutely wonderful.
lovely post. and i am absolutely loving that painting. the texture, and colors and depth and composition…great work!
Thank you so much!