Last weekend during a break between snow storms my husband and I went out to the state park and walked along the shore for a bit. It was so pretty out there. I love how the beach grass reflects the last light of the day and how the snow peeks out between all the clumps. It’s beautiful here.
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What’s On Your Mind? 6×9″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Today I brought my mother-in-law to my gallery. I was going to take her to the Ludington Area Center for the Arts to look at an art show there but she said, “Are your paintings there?” and I said, no, they weren’t. “I want to look at your paintings,” she said. So we ended up going to my studio.
I brought her in, helped her sit in one of my cafe chairs and she watched me paint a larger version of the painting above.
Afterward, I tried to get her to help me fill out a questionnaire from the American Cancer Society (she had lung cancer a number of years ago and the ACS sends out these forms for research purposes), but she was more interested in telling me what had happened to her this morning.
“They got me up and dressed me and then they said I could sit in my rocker chair or go back to bed. But they didn’t talk to me, just to each other! I got mad and said some things before I could stop my mind.”
She doesn’t care for it when the aides come into her room and act as though she’s not there, talking among themselves and not including her. It’s de-humanizing. Makes you feel like a worthless lump.
Diana can talk pretty well still and she understands a lot of what’s going on around her. If she feels pressure to perform she stumbles when searching for the words she wants. But she’s definitely all in there.
I get how it can be a lot easier to talk to someone who you work with every day than some poor old woman that you don’t know very well. But no one likes to be treated like a dummy. Especially not Diana.
On the way back to the memory care unit I thanked her for visiting my studio. “I’d like to come back again in two months,” she said. “Maybe next time I can paint, too.”
I’ll definitely do my best to make it so.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
A Learning Experience, 6×9″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Not everything works out the way it’s supposed to the first time you try it. I call these learning experiences. I still like them, even though they’re not what I expected. They’re different, but useful. They set up the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
Carving Time, 6×9″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
I like how the shadows carve out the snow. Or is it vice versa? I like it, anyway.
So I’m finding that having a clear horizon is important to me right now. That’s why I’m putting the lake out there. Cool, blue and attainable. I just have to get over these dunes first.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
Funner Than I Thought, 9×6″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
That interview I did with Mason County Press was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I have a tendency to worry about things like that. I anticipate all kinds of weird things going wrong and have to work pretty hard to calm myself down beforehand.
I suspect a lot of people are just like me, nervous of looking foolish in front of everyone. And to be honest, I didn’t realize I was quite so Midwestern sounding until I heard myself speaking. Kind of hoot, really.
I’ve been getting a lot of good feedback from friends, and even met some new people who saw the interview and stopped by the studio to say hello.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
