Senior Moments: When a painting speaks to me, I speak back

Is a picture really worth a thousand words? I suppose it depends on the picture – and the words.

I have often thought that a well-crafted sentence could trump a picture because you read it and create your own visual. Maybe a thousand different people would have a thousand different pictures, and that in itself would be art.

But I want to talk about a picture that could actually speak words out loud, at least to me. This painting has a warm open personality as does the artist who created and gifted it to me for my birthday, my friend Suzanne (Suzy Staulz Fine Art).

From the moment I saw it, the painting “Flowing without restraints” proved worthy of its title when it started questioning me. “What do you think about the purple?” it was already asking as I removed it from its artfully packaged bed in a box. 

What I thought about the purple was that I wanted to have it in my line of vision from my desk, so I hung it just to the left of my computer. Since I suspect most creative types, and certainly me, are a little to the left of life in their thinking, the metaphor fit. 

“Are you happy here?” I asked as I placed the painting on its perch.

“You’re the one who needs to be happy,” came the response.

Granted I’m a person who converses with the moon when it parks its rich round realm at my garden window, so a painting engaging me in a Q&A session was not a total surprise, but definitely an unexpected delight. 

“Do you think you’ll write about Me?” the painting without restraints asked.

“Maybe, I love how your images move through each other and turn the colors inside out.” 

Suzanne, who gave herself permission to paint full-time when she retired from nursing, has successfully transferred her powers of positivity from patients to painting. I suspect that her pieces of art talked their way into existence and persuaded her to give them voice through her talent. It’s a charmingly effective relationship.

 Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net. Follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin and at patriciabunin.com