Usually, I write about one painting on Friday, but this week I’m stretching my rule. Here are four small still-lives with a common theme.
I’m indifferent to the aesthetics of Christmas, but I do love seeing my decorations come out each year and remembering the people who made them or gave them to me.
Santa Claus was a gift from my dear friend Judie. She’d gotten him from a German exchange student, and he has a luxurious platinum blonde beard, which was jarring to her sensibilities.
“He’s a very old man,” I told her. After all, Father Christmas was born in the 16th century. “Unlike my grandmother, he never knew about blue rinses for white hair.”
Judie wasn’t convinced, which is how he came to live with me.
I was raised by forward-thinking parents who didn’t believe in Santa. He may not be ‘real’ in the way literal-thinkers put it, but he’s a symbol for generosity, love, and kindness. We can always use more of that.
The second painting is long gone from my inventory. It’s a burlap-covered, plastic-headed, cardboard angel that I made in 4H about 55 years ago. My pals Diane, Beth and Sue have similar ones in different colors. My mother gave me an exquisite porcelain-and-satin angel to replace her; I promptly gave that to my oldest daughter and kept my happy, handmade angel for my tree. She’s worn in places, but so am I.
The black velour and pink boa reindeer buck has pride of place in my creche set year after year. This was a gift from my sister-in-law Kathy. As different as we are in almost every way, we both love that deer.
In recent years, he’s been joined by a glittery red doe with a white boa. And this year, I bought a sparkling coral fawn for a gift exchange. “Would it be wrong for me to take home the same ornament I brought?” I asked my daughter Mary.
“No, but there might be something even better,” she said. That’s hard to imagine.
When I painted Papa deer (or Papa Dear), I decided he’d be happiest out-of-doors, so I put him by the birch tree in my front yard. I gave him a double rainbow because that’s the kind of fella he is.
The toy monkey belonged to my friend Marilyn’s son. My kids had a similar one. It was passed from oldest to youngest, and I thought for a while that it was lost. But, no, it lives in the toy-clutter under our front stairs, and my grandkids dig it out when they visit.
Painting these was pure happiness, for they blurred the lines between fantasy and reality. That’s just how kids see Christmas. If you feel that joy and want one of these paintings, use the code THANKYOUPAINTING10 to get 10% off your order. And don’t worry about it being something you can only bring out at Christmas. The angel painting lives 365 days a year on a wall in its forever home.
(By the way, my holiday discount codes are all at the end of this post. They come to you via my daughter Laura. This week she figured out how to make drop-down menus that give a choice to pay a deposit or full fee for a workshop. It’s particularly slick on Sea & Sky at Schoodic, where the buying options are complicated. I’ve been having so much fun toggling the options that I’ll probably accidentally buy one of my own workshops.)
Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025:
- Canyon Color for the Painter, Sedona, AZ, March 10-14, 2025
- Advanced Plein Air Painting, Rockport, ME, July 7-11, 2025.
- Sea and Sky at Acadia National Park, August 3-8, 2025.
- Find Your Authentic Voice in Plein Air, Berkshires, MA, August 11-15, 2025.
- Immersive In-Person Fall Workshop, Rockport, ME, October 6-10, 2025.