Bare: Open to View; Exposed

I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

(Isaiah 45:7 NKJV)

 

Bare canvas, what will you reveal? Our potential placed upon the easels.

She asks, are you nervous?

I was nervous. How did she know? She's my sister.

At the art supply store, her canvas was grabbed up and in her hand.

Aren’t you going to look around?

Nope, let’s go. I want to paint.

I tag behind her to the checkout counter. We head home.

Barely in the door, I grab the easels, paints and brushes.

The bare canvas asks for paint, for brush strokes. We feel exposed. What color should we use? We close our eyes and then pick. She mixes gray. I decisively choose black. We try different techniques. The broad side of the brush, then the narrow, and then swish and skip the brush.

I pause to photograph our beginnings.

 

 

 

 

Little by little we unfold. Immersed in the process, we pause occasionally to peek at each other’s progress. We applaud; we interpret, adding meaning to each other’s work. I am glad she wanted to paint today.

How do we know when it’s finished, she inquires.

I don’t know. Just keep painting.

And then slowly, we come to completion. She adds a little more detail. We marvel at what we’ve done. We encourage each other to sign our work. We each add two little initials, claiming and saying yes to ourselves.

 

"Untitled" by Juniper Gillian

 

 

"Many Suns Rising" by Kel Rohlf

 
 

 Linking up with: