mending


mending_my_spirit
mending
encaustic
8×8 inches
available for purchase

The original title for this piece was “Mending My Spirit” because it really has been because of my little ones that I have been able to get through this time of loss. Whether it’s due to the fact that having a wee little itty bitty one to care for really makes you be in the moment or to the fact that I do not have energy for anything else remains to be seen. It is so hard to come to terms with the death of a loved one, but knowing my father, he would want us to pick up and carry on. I have my moments, but as I’ve learned before, time passes and the pain gets easier to shoulder.

{Thank you to everyone who left me condolences in the comments of my last post or by email. It meant so much to get those messages. Like warm hugs through my computer screen. I am so grateful for your presence in my life, even if it’s just via my blog here.}

And while my children keep me in the moment, my art provides me with a release. Relief. Renewal. I am really excited actually because I have been painting up a storm when I can and I have a new series underway that has to do with mending, sewing, stitching up. Last year I took two sewing classes and there was something that just felt so right about sitting at a sewing machine. I made my first quilt for my baby girl that has been put to good use already. I have so many thoughts running through my head about all the metaphorical meanings this series will have for me…but I haven’t quite had the chance to put it into words. The important thing right now is to get it down with paint.

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wax_heart

Last Saturday I met up with a few other Chicago artists who work in encaustics at Jenny Learner’s wonderful home. As I was walking down her block, I spotted her house before I saw the address. You could just tell an artist lived there! This was a FusedChicago meeting and I am hoping to be able to participate a bit more. It is nice to leave the solitude of the studio and meet up with other working artists. Several FusedChicago members will have their work exhibited at the 4th Annual Montserrat Encaustic Conference in Beverly, Massachusetts which I so wish I were going to! Ah well, there’s always next year.

Jenny made the encaustic medium heart in the photo above. Love it! I took a photo of it in my electric skillet before it melted.

10 Comments

  1. “It is so hard to come to terms with the death of a loved one, but knowing my father, he would want us to pick up and carry on.”

    This is the statement that resonates for me as I flow with the sentiments you so eloquently share. Indeed…to carry on…is the very best legacy to embrace. I imagine your ‘angel dad’ is smiling at the sweet and nurturing way in which you are doing just that.

    Stitching, mending, joining…isn’t it delicious 😉
    One of the first steps in my long healing process was to take 3 years of private classes in tailoring, of all things (!!)…as an artist the act of hand construction utilizing a ‘soft medium’ provided a subtle and unsuspected form of self care.

    I applaud your most conscious choice to open these new doors…ahhh…the freshness of the release… relief… renewing air.

  2. sorry to read about your father. a parent dying is always traumatic. my dad died 4 years ago. i miss him so. take time healing. and love the painting.

  3. “Mending” is just beautiful. I understand what you mean about the underlying meanings behind your current pieces…my dad passed away just over a year ago and while I can explain the upfront ideas behind series I’m working on, I know deeper down there is a lot of grief processing going on.

  4. Dear Bridgette, I don’t know how I missed it but I’m so sorry for the loss of your father. It seems the older we get, the more loss and light come into our life and they aren’t always balanced. Blessing to you and your family. I’m glad you have your art to work through it all. “Mending” is a perfect painting with a perfect metaphor. Love, Gina

  5. this piece is so beautiful…i traveled here from carmen’s blog in may and had read about your father…when i lost my mother and sister(within 2 years of each other)i buried myself in art, it brought me to such a sweet place of grieving and healing…
    i am glad to see that you are re-surfacing…
    blessings to you bridgette…
    xo

  6. I could tell what it was about before you explained and I think your perspective, which comes out in this piece, will offer other people comfort too. It will be an exciting series and I love the stitches. Besides mending, they also remind me of footprints.

  7. I must have missed the entry that mentioned the loss of your father. I know you will miss him so much, but you will heal and the happy memories are yous forever.

  8. Bridgette: I have been looking through your more recent posts and reading about your summer of “emotions” at your Dad’s loss–we’d corresponded via Flickr earlier in the summer. Just wanted you to know that my brother and I had an interment ceremony last week for both my parents’ ashes to be laid to rest, and I brought that poem with me that you had republished. In a way, I had never truly grieved yet this year, with so many other things going on around me with friends, but now the finality/closure is hitting me. I find your work so inspiring and your pushing through and continuing to create. I just signed up for the Sketchbook Project and am now “over-ruminating” on what I will do!

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