Late last summer, a friend of mine posted some pictures she had taken at one of my favourite beaches. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I decided to attempt to paint this favourite place. I neglected to mention yesterday, that this was the first beach my children went to as toddlers. As a young family, Hubby, our children and myself would visit here as part of our summer vacation. I remember burying the children in the sand. I remember making sand castles with them on the beach. We would go wading into the water and jump into the big waves on a hot summer day. As our children grew, they would play frisbee on the beach with dear old Dad and Mom. A football was known to be thrown around as well. Of course, there was always the sunscreen being slathered on as my children inherited my very fair skin along with the red hair. After a busy day, it was always so relaxing to walk along the beach and watch the sunset. So when my friend posted a picture of a sunset at this beach, I asked her permission to download it onto my computer and use it as inspiration for a painting...sometime in the future. As mentioned yesterday, I decided to use painting as another method to be creative. As my voice and music seemed to be touch and go, I needed another creative outlet in addition to my knitting and the occasional posting on the blog. I started the painting last week and this morning I finished it. I'm pleased with it. I love the sunset colours that I managed to create and how they are reflected in the wild waves. I am pleased with how the reds, oranges and blues of the sky reflect on the wet sand as the water retreats back to the lake. The act of painting seems to have released endorphins for me and I've been very happy and relaxed today.
It has been a better day today as I was out this morning to have tea, visit and sing with a couple of good friends. I was able to do this even after an evening of singing last night with my church choir! My voice is on the mend!! Then I was off to run errands and do some groceries before meeting up with another couple of women who have been so supportive as I've struggled. They cheer me along even as I struggled. What a lovely afternoon! I'm feeling so very blessed and happy today. The day has left me with a full feeling of accomplishment. This sort of day truly helps me to feel positive about the future regardless of the fears of the unknown. A simple thing like being creative makes all the difference for me....that and spending time with people. I realize that I'm not the sort of person who can live in a lonely bubble and be happy. Do I like some solitary time? Yes, sometimes. It helps to rejuvenate me. But I need people. I need to feel useful or helpful. I truly need to be creative. Music has always been a part of my life. To lose my singing ability permanently would be a major blow and require another attempt to redefine myself. I am so fortunate that my singing is coming back as I heal and get better from the latest flu. But....I now know that I can still paint in a different medium (acrylic instead of oil) and that I enjoy writing. The blog (started way back in 2012 as a means to inform the many friends and family of what is going on with me regarding the lymphoma) has been unexpectedly good for me to be creative in my writing.
So here's to more good days and great days! And included is my new painting entitled "Sauble Beach Sunset".
Your painting is beautiful!
ReplyDelete