Love Is In The Air

 

I remember when I was younger, I always dreaded Valentine’s Day. I was always fearful that my Valentine’s Day bag at school would not be filled with Valentines and that no one would give me a card. However, I think teachers pretty much took care of kids not being discriminated against. I remember right before the “Valentine’s Day” party, the teacher would remind each of us of the number of kids in class and to make sure that you brought enough Valentine’s Day cards to share. Sometimes the teacher would provide us a list of children’s names so we could put their names on the card envelope. When you get to middle school this is a little more complicated, because then it was a popularity thing. I know booster clubs or whatever would sell Valentine’s Day flowers or candies that would be distributed on the special day to students who received those things from other classmates. I usually was not one of those to receive a token gift. You knew though, who was popular and well liked on that day. The only time I received those token flowers or candies was when I attended a church school one year. Now when I finally started dating and getting boyfriends, I always got gifts from them — which was nice and I reciprocated. As a Mom, I always made sure that my kids always had enough of everything to give out to everyone. I also always had a plushie and candy to give my children on Valentine’s Day. Now I send out Valentine’s Day gifts to my grandchildren, since they live in Southern California which is away from my home now.

I love the concept of Valentine’s Day and the idea that there is a day to recognize someone you love, however, I THINK EVERY DAY SHOULD BE A DAY WHERE LOVE IS EXPRESSED and not just one one day, where it has become a commercialized event.  I’ve received some pretty nice gifts throughout the years because the day is celebrated.

I bring this topic up not only because the day is approaching us, but also because I’ve been doing art again and it seems I must in the back of my mind been thinking about love. For about three months now I’ve been contemplating what to do for an art piece for the 2026 Postcard Art Exhibit in Netherlands, which will be benefiting Alzheimer’s care and research this year. I settled on a piece and originally called in “Peace Beyond All Understanding” due to a study I had recently done which was pointing out God provides a peace beyond all understanding. For the purpose of a qualifying title with the right number of letters for the title, it ended up being renamed “Peace Beyond Understand”.  Also, because when I started drawing my piece I had a vision of a small chapel in what looks like could be in Italy somewhere. I’ve always loved those tall pine like trees that line the hills of Tuscany. Plus I know that there are a lot of olive trees (my favorite tree) in Italy. I’ve seen the pictures of Italy as well and movies that show the landscapes there and they are so serene and beautiful once you get into the countryside of Italy. So my piece reflects a very secluded area where this church was built and there is a path which leads out from the setting. I also included a white dove with an olive branch in its claws, which represents the peace. I put hearts hanging off the olive tree branches which symbolize love. See above.

Then two days ago I started using acrylic pens to start a piece on my easel where a canvas had been sitting blank for a couple months now. I leave a canvas on my easel to inspire me to get my brushes or another medium out to begin a piece. I started with must painting a hearts and then for some reason my brain started to think of melting hearts and the heart piece continued. I hadn’t named the piece yet until now and I decided on “Bounded and Melted Hearts” as I see I put gold hearts that appear to be in a boundary of sorts. Indirectly, it could be a reflection of my pasts hurts when it comes to the area of love, but then also could be on a more positive perspective of how you feel when you first fall in love and you feel all melty inside with all that first love infatuation. I used both acrylic pens and then the gold hearts I used my brushes and acrylic paints as well.

As you can see I had hearts on my mind this month and it was reflected through my art. The piece now above when I finished it,  I was not as satisfied with it as some of my other paintings, but I got some feedback and for some of my family and friends they really liked it. So yesterday I ended up ordering a gold antique type frame to mount it one. I’m sure I will be hanging it somewhere in my house, as that is what I usually do with my art these days. I ended up sending off my “Peace Beyond All Understanding” postcard and digitally saved a copy and had a 24 x 36 inch canvas print made by Canvas On Demand and it is now hanging in my dining room, which I have decorated with a European theme and fits perfectly in the room.

As I was reading my biblical resources this week, I was reading about how everything that was created first started as a result of God, which as you know is love. Life began with Love. Also, I read how because of His great Love for us how He gave us redemption by sending His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I also read that it wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus on the cross during His most torturous hour, as because He was God in human form that He could have easily called to the angels to save Him from the fate that had been set before Him for all of mankind’s salvation, but instead it was His love for us that held Him on that cross.

I was also reminded and read about grief and how before grief there was love for that person and that is why grief takes on different forms and durations for healing.

One thing is for certain, Love is a beautiful and very fulfilling emotion we have an opportunity of experiencing.