As I promised, here is the story of the "painting" I showed you a short while ago. The artist's name is
Morri Sims and she lives along the St. John's River outside of Jacksonville, Florida. Some of you may remember her as Gypsy-He♥rt.
As she says on her website, "
Whether deep in a woodland or looking at a simple still life in the studio it is all about the energies I see and feel. I then find myself painting, drawing, and pasting on canvas and paper--what I am unable to say with words."
Many of her paintings are evocative - those "energies" she speaks of can cause a mental and physical tingle - when she captures them on canvas - such as those energies found (
here).
We are left to ponder the energies she felt and couldn't put to words when she painted "The Journey." She painted the original for a tactile show for the students from the
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in mind. The students were not only permitted to touch the surface, they were encouraged to do so, in order to "see" it.
What I have is a
reproduction of the painting, It has another layer; one over top of the oils and canvas, for it was created for a different reason.
Back around mid-2008, Gypsy-Hea♥rt, posted this painting in her blog (this blog still exists but unfortunately is no longer updated) and I found it to be rather intriguing. To me, the path curving over the horizon leads to a hidden destination. The journey of the person along the way was observed by the timeless spirit of the universe (as symbolically depicted by the wry smile of on the sage full moon). The overarching (and perhaps overbearing) trees offer both the promise of sustenance and fear of predators. But through all that - it is "The Journey" through life that makes life worthwhile and perhaps too, will be the final reaching of the unknown (i.e., hidden) destination.
The thought of it being painted for blind people heightened my interest in it for reasons those of you that know me
understand. Furthermore, my older brother had nearly taken a job at this very same school - and I myself am very hearing impaired, so there are a collection of links of sorts to this very school.
And so this painting was much on my mind when a young woman blogger came to my attention because she was terminally ill with cancer. There was no thought of anything other than how to show her support. With the help of some of the generous people working in my office, and Gypsy-Hea♥rt's willing and most generous assistance to the cause, this
reproduction was created, it is a "giclee'," a fine art digital print made on canvas by an advanced professional ink-jet printer. The original painting was purchased by a blind teacher from the school and is in her home in St. Augustine, Florida.
When the giclee' was ready to be shipped to the young woman, no one could get her address - and she ceased to answer her e-mails. Fearing the worse, I had someone in my office call the several hospitals in the woman's hometown including the one we were told she had entered, and found that no one knew of her. We later learned that the young woman, in need of attention, had "faked" her terminal illness.
I have been around the Internet long enough (basically since the year it was created) to know of the unseemly and nasty things that go on within it - and I know of the beauty and power that it has to bring people together. I am not too proud to say my instincts had been wrong - and I had been badly and completely fooled. I had made an embarrassing mistake.
At that point in time, we were faced with trying to decide
what was the right thing to do?The giclee' (as well as the hopes and expectations of those that had generously helped bring it into being) languished in limbo -- until eventually it was decided to have it journey to a local art gallery near Jacksonville, where a friend of the artist had a struggling business. It is through the artist, I "met" this gallery owner, and became friends with her. She was always bright, cheery, humble, and very helpful when I called her. I did some business with her and she was the perfect business person. Her business, however, struggled. So the giclee was offered to her at "cost" and should she sell it - any profit would be hers. The economy being what is it, is not one that favors those that purchase the art she had available - or the framing work she did and she closed up shop to pursue other opportunities.
So the giclee' took, what I would imagine to be, a sad journey back to the artist and was stored away. About a year later, the artist had a giveaway drawing on her blog just before closing it. She offered any of her available glicee' artwork to the winner. I was very surprised when I learned I had won. Moreover, when I looked through all the artworks she offered looking for one that "spoke" to me, I mentally stumbled when I found..."The Journey" was available.
From Morri Sims' blog, I found a comment I had posted - back when we learned that the young woman blogger had lied about such a thing as being gravely ill with cancer. I have removed her name and edited it slightly - but quote it in full.
----"Hmmm.. The path taken by 'The Journey,' - how encompassing those two small words are! I bet no one ever suspected their scope at first; [it] has brought about a number of personal journeys by those that 'know' [the young woman blogger] – some of these were journeys into the soul and into the darkness of the mind and the brightness of the heart – and for some, along the way, a number of battles with ethics and ponderings of how to 'do the right thing' were fought, within and without.
It is distressing in that there is no obvious right or wrong 'thing to do' [with the giclee' created with love and generosity for the purpose of support of a fellow journey taker] and here the needs of many when balanced against the needs of one has led [us] ... to a difficult situation.
Anyone with an ounce of compassion (and Gypsy-Heart has far more than an ounce) will feel [the young woman blogger]’s distress and care enough that she finds a better place – 'The Journey' [that the young woman blogger] must take – as with all of us, is a deeply human, very personal, individual, and sadly, often a lonely one. And as [another blogger] says, everyone is worthy of 'the gift from the kindness of [one's] heart' – and that gift will pour forth unabated – on its own volition and in its own time.
[Directed to the young woman blogger] – it is hoped you continue onwards to the realization of your own personal worth and merit – and that you learn to love yourself – there are many people in the world that will, and can, help you along the way – but in the end, we are all responsible for ourselves and must make our own way, making our own difficult choices on our own journeys. It is this individuality that can give us dignity and bring about great joy.
----So there you have it, the reason why my head overflows when I look at this work of art.
I wish to thank a couple people for helping me the writing of this blog entry, they know who they are - With the writing of this entry and their helpful words, I can bring myself some closure - and to demarcate the change I would re-title the giclee', but it already has the perfect title:
The Journey.
