Nebraska Sunset - Watercolor
Mar 24, 2020 20:40:03 GMT -5
Marshall, billhammond, and 8 more like this
Post by concertinagirl on Mar 24, 2020 20:40:03 GMT -5
I decided to take a long walk this morning. It was another grey & dreary day but I thought it would be good to get out of the house. I am still on a leave of absence from my job and am finding it a luxury to wake up in the morning with much of the day ahead of me to do as I like. Attending to all of the “details” after losing a spouse has calmed down and I now have extra time although I still feel emotionally exhausted much of the time.
As you can imagine and as I have written about here, Lar is always on my mind. Memories are constantly flooding my brain. As I was walking this morning something dawned on me.
Although I had seen lar play at clubs with Texas 55 a number of times, we had never spoken to each other. We spoke for the first time when he handed me his “Cottonwoods” CD as I was leaving the club one Saturday night. Even then it was just a few words. I found it puzzling. Why did he give me a CD? He didn’t even know me. I went home that night and I never really gave him or the CD a second thought at that time. The next morning I was in my studio working on a painting. I dabble in watercolors. Mostly I hand paint greeting cards and sell them at fairs, but I also do larger pieces. I always listen to music while I paint. I thought to myself, “I should listen to that CD I got last night.” I ran upstairs and got it. I put Lar’s CD in and was immediately captivated. That CD absolutely blew me away. I played it through three times.
The lyrics in one of his song’s speaks of a “Nebraska sunset.” I went to Lar’s Facebook page that day and thanked him for the CD and told him how very much I enjoyed it. I also told him that I like to watercolor paint and that one of his songs had inspired me to paint a “Nebraska sunset.” In his response on Facebook all he said was, “Thank you.”
The next day I received a private Instant Message from Lar. It read, “I’d love to see that Nebraska sunset when you’re finished painting it.”
Our correspondence took off from there and our simple IM’s turned into lengthy emails. Then I revealed that I once played the concertina (my turn to blow him away) and then, of course, there was that whirlwind romance thing that was picking up speed.
My paintbrushes grew lonely.
Once we got married and the whirlwind romance calmed down (yes, I know how funny that sounds) I started painting occasionally again. Often times Lar would play his guitar working on new songs while I painted. I always found it so deliciously romantic that in less than two years time I went from painting with Lar’s CD playing in background to having, my husband, Lar playing live while I painted.
He asked me recently (Oct/Nov - only a month or two before he was diagnosed), “Are you ever going to paint that Nebraska Sunset for me?” I told him, “I’ll get to it one day but I have to finish painting these Christmas cards now.” I never got around to painting that sunset for him. The one he asked about in the very first message he ever sent me. Sigh...
I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my way home. I bought some fresh watercolor paints and beautiful piece of cold pressed watercolor paper. I was driving his car and listening to his CD. When I heard the line about the sunset, I said out loud, “Lar, I am going home to my studio.” “I am finally going to paint you that Nebraska Sunset.” And I did.
As you can imagine and as I have written about here, Lar is always on my mind. Memories are constantly flooding my brain. As I was walking this morning something dawned on me.
Although I had seen lar play at clubs with Texas 55 a number of times, we had never spoken to each other. We spoke for the first time when he handed me his “Cottonwoods” CD as I was leaving the club one Saturday night. Even then it was just a few words. I found it puzzling. Why did he give me a CD? He didn’t even know me. I went home that night and I never really gave him or the CD a second thought at that time. The next morning I was in my studio working on a painting. I dabble in watercolors. Mostly I hand paint greeting cards and sell them at fairs, but I also do larger pieces. I always listen to music while I paint. I thought to myself, “I should listen to that CD I got last night.” I ran upstairs and got it. I put Lar’s CD in and was immediately captivated. That CD absolutely blew me away. I played it through three times.
The lyrics in one of his song’s speaks of a “Nebraska sunset.” I went to Lar’s Facebook page that day and thanked him for the CD and told him how very much I enjoyed it. I also told him that I like to watercolor paint and that one of his songs had inspired me to paint a “Nebraska sunset.” In his response on Facebook all he said was, “Thank you.”
The next day I received a private Instant Message from Lar. It read, “I’d love to see that Nebraska sunset when you’re finished painting it.”
Our correspondence took off from there and our simple IM’s turned into lengthy emails. Then I revealed that I once played the concertina (my turn to blow him away) and then, of course, there was that whirlwind romance thing that was picking up speed.
My paintbrushes grew lonely.
Once we got married and the whirlwind romance calmed down (yes, I know how funny that sounds) I started painting occasionally again. Often times Lar would play his guitar working on new songs while I painted. I always found it so deliciously romantic that in less than two years time I went from painting with Lar’s CD playing in background to having, my husband, Lar playing live while I painted.
He asked me recently (Oct/Nov - only a month or two before he was diagnosed), “Are you ever going to paint that Nebraska Sunset for me?” I told him, “I’ll get to it one day but I have to finish painting these Christmas cards now.” I never got around to painting that sunset for him. The one he asked about in the very first message he ever sent me. Sigh...
I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my way home. I bought some fresh watercolor paints and beautiful piece of cold pressed watercolor paper. I was driving his car and listening to his CD. When I heard the line about the sunset, I said out loud, “Lar, I am going home to my studio.” “I am finally going to paint you that Nebraska Sunset.” And I did.
