Title
Hope And A Future
Artist
Jani Freimann
Medium
Pastel - Pastel On Canson Paper
Description
The reference image for this piece is from a National Geographic magazine cover. Lots of layers of pastel to create the skin tone. The girl was cross-eyed in the original image. I changed her expression quite a bit. A more lifted head. More hope in the eyes. All that was intentional to express hope and promise. Her hair is fuller too. There is a saying, a woman's hair is her glory. So I filled in her hair to bring her more glory.
A blast from my art past. I completed this back in 1995 when I was practicing realism. It is soft pastel on Canson paper. It was really great practice for me and it spanned my artistic growth for about 4 years. There are portions of this painting that have so many layers of pastel that it has filled the cells of the paper (the texture you see in the piece is the cells) It was the first painting that my dad, who always intensely critiqued my work, could not critique and he hasn't since. I had grown past his critiquing ability. Expecting his critique may have been why I corrected her eyes to not be so cross-eyed. Or maybe it was because she seemed more helpless with crossed-eyes and I did not want to paint helplessness.
I was still working on this piece when I met my husband and who taught me a lot about just being free. One day, he said that he saw me in this painting. I saw that as well, but didn't know what parts at that time.
I had a big struggle with doing her hands. I worked them every chance I could get. Hours of frustration. The more I worked them, the more I made them look too old for her. There was no giving up.
One day I said, "Screw it! I am starting them over". And in the process of erasing, the pastel smoothed out the harsh lines and fixed the problem in mere seconds. The simplicity of the fix blew my mind. Hours of frustration that were completely unnecessary. I learned a lot that day. It took transforming my thinking to fix the problem and that fits one of my new favorite verses:
Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you can see God's good and perfect will for your life - Romans 12:2
After the painting was completed and hanging on my wall, a neighbor woman saw it in my entry way when I opened the door and was moved to tears, "You painted that?" She literally had tears in her eyes, but didn't know exactly why. It just touched her deep in her soul.
It wasn't the first time someone questioned whether I had done the art, but it was one of the first times anyone was moved like that with something I painted.
As I look at this again, the movie of my life over the past 30+ years plays quickly through my mind and here I am a better person than I was back then. So much healing and growth. It strikes me with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude because I see the path to my journey clearly. I can feel God's love over me and see all the people God put in my life to bring me to where I am today. I see how many stories it has witnessed in our lives. The holidays, birthdays, laughter and arguments. Times that seemed hopeless and times of great joy. It has been through my whole marriage. The good times and bad.
Today, I realized that it needed a new title because I now understand what moved that neighbor lady years ago. It represents hope and a future, and a promise of abundance to come. So it has gone from being titled, 'Flower Girl' to 'Hope And A Future'.
Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Uploaded
May 16th, 2011
Statistics
Viewed 634 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/01/2024 at 1:28 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet