If I had a nickel for every darling piece of art my 3 children have made for me over the years, well, you can just imagine. But this painting in particular is very special, and here’s why.Soon after we moved into our home 9 years ago, (and during Camp Crafty, Isolation 1999) I painted a folk art-style family portrait to surprise my returning campers. It hung in our family room for years. (The painting is shown in the first photo of the Shed Gallery.)
Then, in 2003, my oldest sister, who lived in Arkansas, passed away suddenly and Jeff and I adopted her youngest child, Sarah, when she was 5. And so there came a time when I felt that painting no longer represented our current family. I replaced it with some other decor and my older children, who had grown fond of the painting, often questioned why I took it down and tucked it away. I replied that even though that was a picture of our family before Sarah came, I didn’t want her to ever feel that she wasn’t a part of the whole picture, anytime she entered that room. They wanted me to “paint her in”, but I never felt that was the right solution.
Fast-forward to Christmas Eve that year (my birthday.) This is the gift my son, Bennett, painted for me. A portrait of our whole family.
It is the most priceless of all the art I own and it hangs at the grand central of our home.
14 comments:
What a sweet story! I'm so sorry to hear about your sister though.
I read a few entries down and love the one finger touch method.
I enjoyed reading this very much :)
Now THAT is a work of art...what a lovely post.
Gorgeous!!
Very precious! I was also adopted and am so happy about the love that you and your family have for Sarah! and each other!
Very nice story!
That is such a sweet (bittersweet) story and a wonderful painting!!
alisa R.
thats super sweet how you hung it up by that awesome table.
That is sooooo sweet! It looks great hanging there too!
My nephew is adopted from Korea, I am thankful everyday that we are so lucky to have him a part of our family. My son Sawyer and Kaden (my nephew) have always been best friends and cousins. When you talk about your sarah, you can feel the love that your whole family feels for her, that is so sweet.
A beautiful family. : )
Delightful little painting -- and a very sweet post.
where is the shed gallery? I'm curious to see your painting because I was so impressed by the early-morning napkin art!!
Sarah, click on the words SHED GALLERY in the paragraph.
I know this post is well over a year old but I felt the need to say how wonderful and loving your family is! I stumbled across your blag when i was looking for a tutorial for the birdsnest pendants and have been coming back every day looking at new posts and going through the old ones, I hope that when I have kids they will be as sweet and loving as yours
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