Impractical Purchases/ A Passion For Art

Yesterday when I was visiting my great uncle he told me the story behind the painting hanging in his hallway (above). When he and my great aunt were first married and living in Johannesburg, she sent him out to buy some furniture for their bare apartment, specifically chairs. He came back with the painting instead!

He said he just fell in love with it and so he bought it instead of the chairs. And almost sixty years and on a different continent, he still cherishes the painting.

This story made me feel better about my own large purchase of a collage/painting this summer. When I was in Durham over the weekend I stopped by Craven gallery to make the final payment. Kathryn asked me innocently if I would like to take the painting with me. I freaked out and said no, then quickly asked if it would be OK if she shipped it to me later in the month once I had a place to live. You see, when I paid for the painting, I had not only no place to live but no real source of income, so I felt a bit silly, and even a tad irresponsible buying it. But I've learned I'm not the only one to make these passionate, impractical decisions-- my great uncle did so with this painting and has no regrets, and my midnight train seatmate and her husband made a similar decision with their trip to the Bahamas in lieu of furnishings for their new apartment and didn't have any regrets either.

My great uncle clearly loves art. He also likes creating art-- after he retired he took up wood etching/ woodworking and he has had a love of photography his entire life. My maternal grandmother was a professional artist, mostly watercolors, and my paternal grandmother started doing incredibly talented paintings once she entered a nursing home. Also, my uncle (my dad's brother), though most famous for his science, is quite a talented painter himself.

So I feel that art and photography is in my blood on both sides of the family. I am having so much fun with the camera this summer. I can't believe I didn't use it for over a year (of course it involved a bit of a battle to get it back from my ex during the divorce). Someday I plan to take up sketching, painting and maybe even sculpting again. It's a part of me I've denied far too long.