I’m staring out my kitchen window into the wooded area behind our home and humming “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Disney’s “Cinderella”--and believe it or not, those two elements are connected.
Once, I had a dream to paint that woodland, to put onto paper some of the wonder and joy that fill me each day as I watch these trees live their lives. And a few years ago, I did just that, created a series of paintings, ending with a large triptych (40” high x 78” wide, unframed). That triptych -- three paintings that form one whole image -- symbolized for me the culmination of that dream of painting those woods. So that part of my dream came true…
The Tree Triptych, parts One, Two and Three, all together.
But there is another part of the dream. Because that painting needed to be out there, in the world.
Others needed to see it. I wanted to sell it.
Nonetheless, it sat quietly in storage.
I couldn’t afford to frame it.
I couldn’t exhibit it unless I framed it.
I presented its image as part of a proposal for a solo show. I was rejected.
The triptych waited, carefully packed away.
On a whim this spring, I took the three pieces out and showed a couple who came to visit my studio. After many ooh’s and ah’s, I put them away again. The triptych was not for them. But then it came out for another studio visitor. Each time it was revealed, it shouted out its beauty and glory to me, and I dreamed once again of selling it. The second visitor loved it, but chose something different.
Finally, friends came to visit and wanted a look at my new work. Obligingly, we toured the studio, and again, acting on impulse, I pulled out the triptych. It wasn’t new work, per se, but I had been seeing it with new eyes. Perhaps they would too.
They did.
And so the rest of the dream has come true: the Tree Triptych has sold, in its entirety, and will soon grace the walls of Ecosystem Investment Partners in Baltimore, MD.
One phrase from the Disney song quietly repeats itself in my mind: “Have faith in your dreams and someday…”