Memory Lane

Photography is literally the preservation of our own personal Memory Lanes. I can’t tell you how many times I have taken a photo in the last 8 years purely for the purpose of remembering my life! Because if your life is over-full or on-the-go, and you are going and seeing a lot of things, you just don’t remember. Especially the quiet moments- which happen to be some of the best.

Tonight I was digging through my “Paint Anytime” folder on my desktop where I keep my favorite art images and ones I’d like to paint for any time I’m stuck on the phone. It’s something I can do that is creative but not distracting, so I can still carry on an intelligent conversation! Some of my best painting sessions happen on the phone with friends!

But, I saw this image that I recently painted this year, but it was taken in 2005 on my first trip to Japan. I’ve actually been to Japan twice since then, so many of those memories are barely in my mind, except for a few that wound up on my Christmas Card that year which is in a 5×7 frame in my house…. A-ha! Another case in point!! We REMEMBER the images we take and PRINT and view over and over! The rest of the memories and scenes get filed in our memory banks and eventually fall off the back of the file cabinet!

But this image…. I titled it “Enter In”; an invitation to walk down that lovely path…..

But I distinctly remember hustling down a busy street with stores and boxes and stuff piled up on the sidewalk—sale signs and trinkets– and then I saw it and stopped. This lovely gateway and long path (heading to a restaurant, I believe)…it was like a slice of heaven- a divine escape from the marketplace bustle and busyness to something so inviting and peaceful!

I printed it large years ago. [In fact I think a 24×36 still hangs in my church lobby somewhere]. But then earlier this year I painted it with Photoshop Mixer Brushes and printed it about 12”x18” and added heavy texture gel to the surface of the canvas. I love the texture which really increases the impact of the painting, and now it hangs in my bedroom. It is stunning and so vivid in my mind, that day I stopped for a mere moment.

So I’ve decided it’s time to go through the archives and resurrect the images, the memories and the journeys that have long since been forgotten in the scurry of the next trip. I have loved my traveling life the past 8 years and I miss it so much! I know it will be like medicine to stroll down those memory lanes, relive the sights and sounds and remember the joy of adventure.

LETS GO!!   And in the process, let’s PRINT and PAINT!  🙂

(I feel encouraged and inspired already!

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