You have not seen a lot of paintings from me lately. That’s because I haven’t made any in the last couple of months. I have been feeling very tired and didn’t have the energy. All I could do after work was spin a little. I have only started knitting again a few weeks ago (since December).
I did draw a little bit, but that was more like doodling. I started a little diary in which I would write down stuff about the day and draw little pictures and use coloured pencils to liven things up. A bit like hobonichi. But without the planning. I’ve done that for some time, but lately I have skipped a lot of days, because I didn’t have the energy for it.
However, next Friday is my mother’s 65th birthday, which we will celebrate together with my brother and his family in the third week of June. They will be coming to the Netherlands (from Munich), which will be the first time they will be here since 2006! I’m really looking forward to seeing them again! The last time I saw them was in September, so that’s already quite some time ago.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what to give my mother. She’s not well, she’s been at home with a burnout since Easter. She may not be able to work again before retiring. I want to give her something special. We will go to her birthday next Friday and I have bought her a mobile phone + sim (she only had her work phone). That way, she can have her own private number (that not many people will have) and she will be able to use Whatsapp to chat with us and my brother’s family.
However nice a phone may be, it’s not exactly what I had in mind. I know that my brother’s going to make something out of wood (his hobby is wood turning), and I was thinking about knitting or spinning something. And then I suddenly got inspiration: I was going to make her a painting! It would portray a collection of things she loves, to give her a nice positive feeling every time she’d look at it.
Today I have started. One thing that should be in there is a peony. They are flowers that usually bloom around her birthday, and there were peonies in our garden that came from the garden of her parents. She loves them. So, that is the first thing that I added.
I’m still thinking about what else should be in there. Things like a butterfly, the sea, trees, grass land, but also things that have to do with music. And the sun should be in there too. Perhaps the stars as well. A cat. And a bicycle. I probably won’t have enough space for all of it, so I will have to think carefully about how to incorporate the essence of it all. I hope I will be able to do it.