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Aug 5/13 - Behind the Canvas

8/5/2013

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I've been meaning to publish something on this subject for over a month now, but just never
have got around to it.  Lauren took Art in the second semester last year, and brought home the remainder of her creations and projects at the end of classes in June.  Among them, was the below painting of a young boy.  Both my daughters have very strong artistic and creative streaks in them (though they are expressed in different ways), but I certainly wasn't expecting
something like this.  I was almost floored when I first saw the piece!  Had Lauren managed to put all her emotions aside and paint a portrait of Darrel??
 
While most of the photos I've posted on Darrel's website or other forms of Social Media are of him smiling, or at least when he was having a reasonably good day, there are countless others that still rip my heart up to even look at them.  This painting, with its shadows, dark lines, and piercing sorrowful eyes immediately brought back of memories of Darrel during that final
month, when he began the rapid downward spiral.  I could not believe that Lauren, who was only 8 when her brother passed away, was able to create such a work, especially in a public setting like her classroom at school.  As astonishing as this would have been, even more bewildering is the fact that she didn't paint the portrait...or have any idea who did!
 
It seems that the painting had been unclaimed for quite some time, and was just taking up space in the Art Room.  Lauren's teacher had suggested that she could paint over the existing piece, and reuse the canvas for a creation of her own at some point in the future. And here we are, almost 6 weeks later, and the painting is still sitting at the foot of the stairs (granted, Lauren was gone on a trip out West for much of that time, but the fact that no one has
moved it elsewhere in that time does say something).  My wife is usually right on top of things that are out of place around the house, but not with this particular item.  I'm not sure if anyone other than me notices anything different about this painting, and/or any similarities to Darrel, but it hasn't been mentioned out loud if they do.
 
I'm not suggesting or implying that there is something "more" to this painting other than it being a piece of art that has struck a personal chord with me, but since things like this don't happen very often, I thought I should make note of it.  Now that I've pointed this out, it wouldn't surprise me if the painting finds a new location in the house, or that Lauren finally decides what she wants to use the canvas for.  Since they don't regularly read my blogs, I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Picture
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    The majority of all these entries were written by Darrel's father, Stephen.  For those that are not, efforts have been made to give proper credit where it is due.

    The bulk of the posts are in the June 2011 Archives Section, as that is when I transferred them over to this site.  Category Tags should allow you to find entries easier.

    I've tried to correct spacing issues on many of the entries, as most of the older ones have been copied from different sites I've used in the past. I apologize if some have been overlooked.

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