Art Connects Strangers

Pictured with me, her, a woman passing by that I had never met, to whom I dedicated the title of the piece, "For Her".

Although we had never met, we felt an instant connection with each other, and talked about life, what I was painting, and where we were from.

I found a familiarity in her that reminded me so much of my own grandmother as we spoke for a good 15 minutes or so. It felt almost as if my nanna Marie was speaking to me through this kind stranger.

She shared that she lived in the brick building that is part of this painting, behind the beautiful flower garden I was trying to capture, Monet style, without my glasses on. I had told her that I hoped I could finish the painting before dark, and before it started to rain, and she had said she would pray for me. She looked over me with such innocence and childlike eyes.

Later she would continue her walk around the block, only to stop again, and continue the conversation, encouraging me each time.

After the 3rd time she visited, I began to notice a bit of repetition, especially when she commented that my painting looked quite a bit better than the"other girl" who was painting the same scene.

It was then, that I felt even more closeness and compassion for this sweet stranger, for my own grandmother suffered in the same way. Dementia is a sneaky thing that creeps up on the best of us, with little discrimination.

It felt comforting to see this beautiful woman, in her innocence, and ability to speak to me with little inhibition, and so much kindness, so I felt a strong urge to dedicate the title to our experience together. I named it, "For Her".

I knew she would not remember me, but I will remember her, for as long as my memory serves me properly.

Most importantly, I will remember the way that ART CONNECTED two complete strangers in a very meaningful and spiritual way.

The day I painted the original, I was sitting outside The Chocolate Haus near a beautiful flower garden.  I sat for about 3 or 4 hours in the misty air, painting  mostly with a palette knife, without my glasses (I am not functional without them!) It was an attempt to avoid getting lost in the details.  I wanted to focus only on light and dark, and colors.  

This is just one of many sections of a plein air painting I created while participating in a plein air painting competition in the Amana Colonies, located about 45 minutes from Iowa City, Iowa.  

Plein air painting is a way to be more spontaneous with your painting, and I feel I did just that with this piece.  It was a nice break from the highly detailed portraits I do for commissioned works, and so much fun!  It was nice to zoom out, zone out, and dare I say, Zen out with this piece.  Paying homage to Monet, by painting without my glasses, as he once did.