June 22, 2020
My mother recently passed away after an eight-year battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Shortly after I began a series of abstract paintings to help me process what had happened and the changes my mother had experienced, to her mind and body, as her disease progressed.
Shortly after my mom died a friend, while tryin to comfort me, a friend of mine said to me "you must have felt like you lost your mother a long time ago." I didn't hesitate for a moment when I replied, " no, I never felt that way." My first painting I call, Meeting Mom. For me the painting represents my journey to maintain a connection with my mom as her disease progressed and isolated her memories of the past and no longer produced memories outside the present. Meeting Mom expresses my journey to be present with her, based on conditions out of her control, and each day to meet her and enjoy her exactly where she waist at that moment in her journey.
The second painting I finished, I call Beauty. Beauty represents the release of my mother's spirit at the time of her parting. My mother had a gentle spirit and Beauty attempts to capture the moment her life's beauty morphs into spirit hummingbirds as it parts from her into the heavens.
So far I have completed three paintings in this series, The third one, I call Ginny. In Ginny I try to capture the energy of joy and happiness, and maybe a little something else I see in her eyes, from a photograph I have of mom when she was younger. Ginny for me represents LOVE.
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