I cant stop looking at this piece, I feel proud, I feel accomplished, I feel real!
Every time I look at it, it’s like something switches on inside of me. I get a sense of joy that I can’t explain. It is my very first piece that took me by surprise. Let me explain.
One day when I came home, I came around the corner and saw it again with fresh eyes, my instant thought was “now that is a piece of real art”. You may think this is strange for an artist to think. You may think that this is a very egotistical thing for me to think but here’s the thing, accepting yourself as an artist isn’t a simple thing. I have been on a journey of exploration and discovery, finding out what I want to paint, what I want to say and how I can do that with just MY voice not copying another persons idea, picture, concept or style. This piece, and my hearts in general, allow me to include everything I love about painting. There is something realistic in it, there is texture and flow, there is a message or a meaning that can be taken from each heart with it’s different theme (tree, lighthouse, boat) and it is solely out of my head, from my hand, my mind, my heart.
With all that said I thought I would dig a bit deeper and explain where my thoughts and feelings are coming from for this piece. Different parts spoke different things to me. It is complex but really, a simple lighthouse. The Heart blended from indigo and white ink formed both the solid ground, the destructive wave and the wave that has passed. These 3 elements plus the lighthouse have different meanings:
- The solid ground (which the lighthouse is anchored to) – having a solid grounding means you can stand strong when hardships come your way and trust me they will. This solid ground, built on love (the heart), is at the core of life.
- The destructive wave – the hardships, the testing times, the loss, the pain that will rear up and threaten the life you know, This wave and the ground are separate to each other but both form the whole of the heart, a bit how life can be.
- The wave that’s passed over – let is wash over you, it was a lesson to learn, let it wash off you, look ahead for the next one but don’t dwell on it.
- The lighthouse – hope, a light house is built to withstand the “storms of life”. It’s light shining through the darkness and stormy seas, gives hope to the sailors that they are close to the safety of home.
Even though we can find ourselves in difficult, rough scary times if we focus on the beacon of hope to guide us past this rocky situation, that light we are focused on gives us hope, we will reach it, we will get past it and be safe once again.
There is another aspect that came to mind while i was painting this one, yes it represents hope for you to focus on but what if you are the lighthouse and shining for someone else to see and guiding them through what ever life is throwing at them. You could be that shining example of hope. Everyone, at one time or another, needs a beacon of light to guide them through the “fog” and “darkness” of life.
All the above is complex but the message is simple – there is always a light shining, to guide you through the storms of life.
I’ve named this series the Landscape of Love and I’ve written a poem for that series, but I think I may have a separate poem for a few of them as each one speaks to me differently. But for now here is the poem for the series as a whole.
No matter what the landscape looks like for you, love is still at it’s core. Your landscape may have just you in it but loving yourself and the life you have is self love and essential. Your landscape may involve the outdoors, the love of nature, the love of exercise, the love of animals, it all looks different for everyone but love is at it’s core. Your landscape my involve another, relationship, siblings, lovers, parents, friends, all have love at their core.
Your landscape may involve hardships, pain, storms, inability to see a resolve, loss. Even this landscape has love at it’s core because if you feel no pain from loss (a person, a job, a material possession) then you didn’t love. When you feel pain inside your heart it is the loss of that love that you are feeling so the more you loved the more it hurts. Your landscape may look rough like the seas in a storm but whatever drives you enough to sail through that storm to get to calmer waters, I bet it involves love.
Love is at the core of everything. To love is the meaning of life, so get out there and love yourself, love others, love nature, love your life!
Cheers,
Lisa
