An Ache to Paint
Sunday evening before I drifted off to sleep, I had a scene from the movie, “The Notebook,” in my mind. In this scene, the main character, Allie, is sitting in the art studio that Noah, her lover, designed with her in mind. Joy radiates from her face as she holds a paintbrush to the canvas. Her sense of purpose from painting emanates from her entire being.
As I envisioned this poignant scene in which she connects with her true self, I cried. I cried because a longing to paint welled up deep inside of me until my emotions could not contain the force. I cried because I longed to paint, to create, in my own art studio where I can develop as an artist. As I wept, I imagined a time when nothing else would matter, when I entered my studio and brushed paint across the canvas.
Gina painting in her art room.
Sunday evening, I drifted off to sleep with an ache in my heart for art so intense that it tightened my chest. In many ways, this intense emotional scene from “The Notebook” stirred something in me that seemed to come from out of nowhere, until I wrote about it this morning.
Then I remembered that on Sunday my daughter gave her grandfather a painting. Elya’s acrylic of the two trees in the Garden of Eden ironically followed my morning post called The Tree of Life and the Hidden Element. Neither of us knew the other was crafting a piece with this theme: mine with words and hers with paint.
As I admired her painting, the images and message more than enchanted me. I felt drawn to the painting in another way. The painting stirred a longing in me to paint with abandon like Elya, my sister, Gina, and Allie do.
This morning I wonder whether a painter can pluck fruit from The Tree of Life and offer the miracle of faith to others. Can he or she receive a divine mandate to create an image, scene, or message? Does belief transfer from one creative soul to another through the development and sharing of artistic talents?
The longing I felt on Sunday night seemed “other worldish” in nature. And like the little girl reaching up for the apple in Elya’s painting, I, too, want to touch this amazing talent of painting. Who knows, perhaps I can pass on something eternal through a paintbrush, canvas, and dream of life that exists beyond this world.
Check out my daughter’s thought-provoking post that highlights her painting:
Knowledge and Naivete in The Garden of Eden
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