longing for home
encaustic and mixed media
6×6 inches
I am coming to a realization that I have a permanent case of homesickness. The strange thing is I’m not quite sure what home I’m longing for. Maryland, where I grew up and where my family is? In Maryland, when I am with my sisters, I feel a sense of belonging and comfort. Or Seattle, where I made my first real home and whose landscape makes my whole being hold its breath? Or Chicago, right in the middle, where I have a strong sense of personal history?
This homesickness, or longing, has always been there, a part of me since I was a young girl, so I am also realizing that it is not really about “home”. It is more about me. I have found that Home is with me- in my husband and my children. And yet, still, this longing.
And so I paint. Always searching.
Oh God do I know how you feel. The longing I feel is haunting me. Always there with me. How to resolve? Where to go to silence it?
Thanks for sharing.
I share your feelings. I love this piece of art..
Come to Maryland and be my friend???
(I totally understand…xox)
For me, the only way to speak to that longing and to silence it(even if for a moment) is through painting and creating. Thank God for that!
Thanks katelen and jane~ how I would love to meet up with you jane at Miss Shirley’s cafe and chow down on some crab cakes and grits in baltimore. 🙂
My dear my dear….this is a painting of me, of my heart tonight…looking off toward home, ready to fly….any moment now……
…your words resonate with my own soul’s longing…..as does this lovely visual…
Peace to you, my friend….
Thankful for your gift,
“H”
I always wonder who shares this feeling with me. I have no desire to return to my hometown. I have moved a handful of times since my childhood, never feeling I have belonged. I feel my inner compass is always turning.
Perhaps this is why we create. Some people make a home and then go on contentedly with their daily lives, always seeming to belong, making easy attachments. I am constantly wishing to try out new homes and new places. Not sure the hubby is into that.
My only advice is to continue creating your beautiful pieces and loving your family.
I completely understand what you mean when you talk about that feeling of longing. It seems that others do, too. I wonder if that’s what art-making is all about- trying to create that feeling of home, inside ourselves.
Beautiful piece; it speaks to my soul.
I know exactly what you mean, Bridgette and I’m relieved to hear others feel it. Creating art in solitude seems to help that feeling in me, but coming back up for air in the frenzied world starts it all over again….. sort of like a fish out of water. Your work gives me the feeling of coming home. It soothes.