Some Thoughts On Connection and Home

I was thinking, as I too often do, about my paintings and what connection they have to each other, if any.  (Aside from the fact that I put the idea onto paper or canvas or glass...)  In "art speak" this is referred to as a body of work.  What is the overarching theme that shows up?

I have considered this before without coming to any real conclusion, but this time a thought surfaced.  I have an affinity for the sky and clouds, and the space and openness they convey.

Stay with me. . .

I also paint ornaments with houses on them.  But the idea is that these are more than houses, they are homes.

They are places that bring forward a memory, an emotion, a connection for the person ordering, and the person who receives it as a gift.  I love hearing how those sparks happen.

Are you still with me?

Clouds, houses. . .

"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. " Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Some of my canvas paintings aren't necessarily houses, but there is something that to me, makes a connection, creates a memory or elicits an emotion. 

Through A Glass Dimly

Come to the Table

Coming Storm

"Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey."
Tad Williams

Clouds, houses, home, connection. . .

This painting seems to have a little of everything in it.  It is a painting I started in college, and then 20+ years later I started re-working it.  It is a view from what was my grandma's kitchen window, looking out toward the cow barn. We spent many summers helping put hay up in that barn, or playing upstairs in the house.  

My Heritage Painting - in progress

It has clouds, a house, a connection - to home. 

 

    

Home isn't necessarily a place but a feeling.  A sense of belonging of being in the right place.  We may have a connection with a particular place, a memory that lingers about fitting in and being comfortable there.  But how do clouds fit in to that idea? 

Well, for me as a Christian, this might be part of it:

2 Corinthians 5: 1-5   For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ² Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, ³ because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

 And this:

Ecclesiastes 3:11   He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Sun's Rays

There you have it - well, at least part of it.  That is as far as I have gone in my thoughts about the subject.  I don't know that my art will continue to follow this pattern, but for now this seems to be my direction. . .

As you look at some of the pictures in this post, here, and in the gallery I'm curious if you see other patterns or have other opinions about connections.  Leave a comment and let me know!

Part of the reason I began the Art Story Friday series, is to share some of the background and story behind these works.  Visit again, or subscribe to receive updates via email. . .