Lost--In a Good Way

 

L's Home
10" x 14" watercolor

L., a friend of mine, moved to CO a few years ago and I finally was able to visit her. She recently bought a little house that she's remodeling in the foothills northwest of Ft. Collins. This is a view from near her place. The rocks and their shadows jumped out at me as we hiked the first morning, and I knew I would want to paint the scene.

I like this painting, maybe because I got lost while painting it yesterday. That does happen occasionally. Sometimes the question about whether it's good or not fades away to a simple absorption in the process and then finally the question of "What does the painting want?" arises and you get away from the photograph and just try to honor the painting's wish. This painting wished for some pink, even though it wasn't in the photo. It wanted the rocks, not the trees, to be the point of focus. Even though the sky was big and full of beautiful clouds, the painting still wanted the focus on the rocks.

I got lost as I thought about L and how much she has embraced--and been embraced by--her home in CO after living so many years in the Midwest. I thought about how where we decide to make our home also makes us who we are. She's flourishing here. She's both home and at home among these rocks, hills, and distant mountains. 

With this painting I celebrated L's new life and celebrated the way I continue to make my own relatively new home in CA...and the way it continues to make me who I am.  

The way even though I got lost as I painted, I'm not really lost. Because I, too, am home.