This is a painting of our beloved Nimo when he was five months old. He had struggled with pancreatitis since he was one year old and he had just had a terrible bout of it at six years; we thought that we would lose him but he rallied. I realized at that time that I hadn't painted a painting of him yet and decided that I should do so. In a workshop with Gaye Adams, I tackled the project. She gave me guidance as to shadow colours and strokes and by the time I left I had the head done. At home I finished the rest of Nimo and left it on a table easel in my studio. Every once in a while, one of my grandchildren would come in and 'pet' Nimo on his back or his ear so I finally covered it with glassine and there he sat until this winter when I finally forced myself to fix it and frame it in honour of Nimo.
Nimo was diagnosed in May with a tumor in his lung and a tumor in his stomach, and referred to as palliative. We had three lovely weeks with him before the pain medication was no longer working and on a beautiful sunny day, June 4th, laying in my arms he was put to sleep and buried on our property. He was 10 1/2 years old. It was one of the hardest decisions that I've ever had to make in my life. Shortly after the time that Nimo was diagnosed with the tumors I had begun a painting for my solo show at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery 'Heart Wide Open'.
Nimo was in my studio while I began this painting, which was unusual for him as he preferred to keep an eye on things upstairs on the couch. But I treasured the time he gave to me in the studio. After he died, I couldn't finish the painting and so I went on to others as I didn't have time to waste. I finally returned to it about three months later. It was beautiful and painful all at the same time. The painting is larger than I usually work, 16 x 20, mainly because the cost of framing. I had done some sketching and sitting with this Heron at the local wildlife sanctuary and the composition of the final painting was a combination of two photos. At the time I didn't have a title for it, but a couple of weeks later I realized that it would be the title of my show 'Heart Wide Open'.
Nimo was diagnosed in May with a tumor in his lung and a tumor in his stomach, and referred to as palliative. We had three lovely weeks with him before the pain medication was no longer working and on a beautiful sunny day, June 4th, laying in my arms he was put to sleep and buried on our property. He was 10 1/2 years old. It was one of the hardest decisions that I've ever had to make in my life. Shortly after the time that Nimo was diagnosed with the tumors I had begun a painting for my solo show at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery 'Heart Wide Open'.
Nimo was in my studio while I began this painting, which was unusual for him as he preferred to keep an eye on things upstairs on the couch. But I treasured the time he gave to me in the studio. After he died, I couldn't finish the painting and so I went on to others as I didn't have time to waste. I finally returned to it about three months later. It was beautiful and painful all at the same time. The painting is larger than I usually work, 16 x 20, mainly because the cost of framing. I had done some sketching and sitting with this Heron at the local wildlife sanctuary and the composition of the final painting was a combination of two photos. At the time I didn't have a title for it, but a couple of weeks later I realized that it would be the title of my show 'Heart Wide Open'.
Heart Wide Open, 16 x 20, Pastel, Sold
The title of the show speaks to me on a couple of levels, first is the obvious one of placing your work (hours and hours of desicions and blood, sweat and tears) for all to see. But it also spoke to my experience of finding myself over and over again while being present in a marsh or a forest or on a lake. Places where the habitat of plants and animals share the gift of their presence even though I have done nothing to earn it. What I didn't realize when the title of the show came to me eight months before was that there would be another level of my heart having to be open, and this was during the very painful time of Nimo not well and dying. This painting speaks to the beauty of all parts of life, even the hard parts. The changes that come and go and if we let them, help us to find the fragments of light that are there for us always, helping us to move forward. This painting speaks to the my heart, open to the experience, helping me to see clearly that we are all flying in the direction that we are meant.
RSS Feed
