Blog: Violets For My Mom

Featured image: Violets for Mom

I have violets in my flower garden. I didn't plant them. They just appeared as they are wild violets. Such a gentle little flower with such vibrant color. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, we lived in the country and I can remember taking forever – well it seemed like forever – picking a bunch of these precious little flowers. I picked enough to fill my little hand and brought them home to give them to my mother. She was always delighted. She would put them in a glass jar with water and set them in a special spot in the window. Not only did the flowers bring me delight, but they also brought delight to my mom.

As I look at these flowers in my garden and think of those treasured memories, I feel so blessed to have the memory and those flowers in my garden.

Gift giving is challenging and emotional. We like receiving gifts that show that someone else thought about us and knows us. Violets. Today I gave myself a gift, I recreated that memory in a painting. Art should always be thought of in that way. For the artist it is a gift to herself. For the lover of the arts it is also a gift to herself. It is a fair trade, loving trade. It illustrates my 3rd point in what I expect of art.

The other day I posted a blog titled “Three Things.” In the blog I listed three things that I want to receive from art. The third thing is very important to me. It read: “That I can trade my work fairly. By that I mean that there is another that finds value in my work. We are two souls who recognize the values in the work and what it takes to be creative or to think creatively. I, my art, and the person trading with me has been subsidized by no other, has been and will never be governed by another. “

“Violets For My Mom” exemplifies this third thing. And if there is someone who treasures the work like I treasure it, then she will put it in her home and cherish the extended memories that we have created together.