Two stories, two images.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post
This is a favorite photo of mine.
It has two stories: the story of the day my dad, my grandpa and the hired man ate their lunch out in the field, and the story of the day I drew it.
It was after the Red River Flood of 1997 and the house was full; my sister and her family, displaced from Grand Forks, were there. My parents. Myself. I'd just graduated from college with an art degree and no idea what to do next. I was sleeping in the living room on the sofa since all the bedrooms were full. There were three households of furniture in one house and I was feeling completely closed in, in every possible way.
I found myself, one afternoon, sitting in a back room of the house, surrounded by unpacked boxes, a tiny counter space to work on. A few art supplies were all I had access to: some watercolors and colored pencils. I had a sheet of paper.
I was miserable. I felt like I had to draw something or I would somehow "lose" whatever meaning the meaningless art degree provided me. I felt like I needed some kind of small success.
Flipping through a box of old photos, I found this one. I didn't know where to start, or if I wanted to. But I did, and in some small gift from God, the image literally fell from the photo onto my paper. The brush and the pencil seemed to work on their own.
It's one of my favorite drawings today, that even though I mark as "sold" never plan on selling it.
It has two stories.
(See the drawing here)
Labels: art, clippings, family
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 3/06/2008 10:31:00 PM
Like this post? Subscribe to the feed.
Help support this site.
Facebook |
Stumble It! |
Del.icio.us |
DiggIt! |
Technorati |
Blinklist |
Furl |
reddit |
Newsvine
5 Comments:
What a great painting. My wife, a middle school art teacher, needs to work on her own art to keep herself sane. She is teaching ceramics to her students now, so she spends her free time in class with her hands in clay.
By 
TimB, at
6/3/08 23:12
I can see why this is one of your favorite paintings. You so wonderfully captured the moment, the expressive faces of the three having lunch and a respite from work.
I've said it before but it bears repeating: I love when you post photographs of your family. This is what I try to convey to my students - that the real history is found in old photo albums and shoe boxes, in those images that will never be in a history textbook but truly reflect the story of us.
I look forward to future postings of these gems.
By Rey, at
7/3/08 03:11
A beautiful post; a beautiful photo.
I agree with Rey. Anytime your dad's around, take a picture. His face is a story.
By girlfriday, at
9/3/08 21:44
It has occured to me since I posted that comment last night that I don't know which man is your dad.
By girlfriday, at
10/3/08 09:02
Dad is the young guy in the middle; Grandpa is to the right.
By Julie R. Neidlinger, at
10/3/08 09:50
