Treasures

I’m on vacation in northern California having quality time with my sister. We seem to be eating our way through the area, laughing, and having deep bonding.  We toast the memory of our mother and know she would love to be with us sharing in these good times.

I was here the same time last year for a wedding and to empty out and get rid of my storage. It was a painful process. (You can read about that at : http://susan-tereba.blogspot.com/2012/10/benediction.html). 

This year I’m going through the few things I salvaged and stored at my sister’s house. One of those is a set of ten large flat art drawers.  Last week I tackled the first five.  Today I started on the sixth. 

As I went through the drawings, preliminaries for watercolor paintings I’d done and sold over twenty-five years ago, a swirl of emotions over took me and soon tears were cascading down my checks. I sat back to sort out these emotions as colorful and varied as my paintings were.  These artworks were all done during my marriage, to John, an artist in his own right. The memoires of that life have grown thin leaving a vague otherworldly sensation.

But the drawings surprised me in their quality of execution – I wondered, “Who did these? They seemed to be from a distant me that I could hardly remember - a time of innocence and naiveté and youth of spirit.”

I wondered if I painted such happy paintings because I projected that as my life.  Of course in reality I dealt with fear, trepidation and self-consciousness – all aspects that have mellowed with maturity, aspects that don’t plague me as they did in my 20’s and 30’s. I was surprised at how much I liked these pieces and how they made me feel – happy as well as nostalgic.  And then something new stated to take wing.

I can see this as a pendent

If you’ve been reading this Blog you know I’ve been experimenting with coloring bone.  I see this as a coming back around to painting while still making jewelry. Looking through my old drawings I started to see possibilities for carvings that tell a story as my paintings did plus an excuse (as though I need one) to use color once again.

There were several images in these old drawings that could become pieces of jewelry. It’s strange to be inspired by my own inspiration. I usually look outside for that.

Tomorrow I’ll put music on, open the garage door for more light and pull out drawer number seven. I wonder what treasures it (and the other not yet opened drawers) hold for me.  What new inspirations might carry me off on new adventures.