Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Journaling without words

Soooo..... I sat in front of my journal without an idea of what I wanted to paint. I added several pieces of masking tape and thin paper scraps left from a transfer from a previous painting. Then I though about the weather and how it is making everything very gray. I picked up some raw umber and payne's gray, mixed them with white and started pulling the brush over the spread. A funny "Friends" rerun was playing on the laptop beside me.
Then these two showed up.

It didn't take me long to understand that I painted myself and my daughter... Not that we look anything like the painted girls; it was more about the closeness between them and the sad faces. Probably my wish to still see her with pigtails and pink flowers and not as a teenager that is sweet but sometimes wears me out  completely (like just before I painted this).

"I'll do it later." "Why do I have to do it now?" "Why can't you wait 10 minutes?"
Looooong discussions about why things should be done before we get lost in the computer fun or something similar.... very loooooong discussions, a million and one 'fact' why she is right and I'm unreasonable. Exhausting. Can't she just "do it" and make my life easier?

It's a phase, right? Part of growing up? For both of us, I think.

8 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful,how special that it was about you and your daughter. I know exactly what you mean,I already raised one daughter and my other daughter is 12,I know what lies ahead,some tough years! I'm trying to enjoy her at this age!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful painting! Ahhh, the teen years! I remember them....not always fondly! But hang in there, the phase will pass and then you and your daughter will be best friends again. In fact, both of my kids have told me they don't know how I managed to put up with them when they were teens!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Janet is so right! my older one is 27 today and wer'e best friends! the younger one 18 also today..is a different story!! ohhh the pains of motherhood..
    I just love the texture in this painting Zorana, it's beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Zorana, I found your blog through Sharon's group (norah's art). I'm also a member of the faces group--your work is wonderful. Looking forward to sharing in Sharon's class!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just as it takes many layers to make a beautiful painting, and not all of the layers are pretty, so it takes many layers to build a relationship.
    Enjoy the journey; someday, it will end.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Really beautiful! So much texture and colour!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am getting caught up on my blogging...I love that you are making video's now! They are awesome...keep making them for us please! I raised two teen girls and lived to tell about it. It's a real challenge.
    Your paintings are wonderful as usual.

    ReplyDelete