Collage of Life...the beginning
Collage of Life by Jeanne Henriques
As an expat, you learn to live
with saying goodbye
and the feelings that overwhelm
you with each move.
It starts with the family and friends
from your home country
and then it is for the
friends and countries you have
lived in and left behind.
The 'feeling' reaches in
and sits heavy on your heart.
I felt the best way to 'let it all out'
was to create a painting
representing everything I felt.
It was a challenge,
as I had never painted before.
Finding an art studio
and an art teacher to help me
set my ideas onto canvas
was no small task..
but I did it.
As I progressed,
I discovered many things about myself
and through the months
I slowly began to feel at ease
with my new home.
The images and words
in the painting above
represented my feelings
about 'home' ...in New England.
I called on poets,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson
and used their words as inspiration.
A few free word associations came about.
"A boy's will is the wind's will"
written in "My Lost Youth" by Longfellow
became
" A women's will is the wind's will"
for me.
Other words written into
the painting...
Return the traveler to the shore.
Often I think of the beautiful town
that is seated by the sea,
And my youth comes back to me.
I took the road less traveled by
and that has made all the difference.
A Quietness Distilled.
Shape the thoughts that stir within.
It was 2003,
and I named the painting
'Collage of Life'.
In 2009,
when I started to write
outside my journal,
it seemed natural for the
name of this blog as well.
Another outlet to
shape the thoughts that stir within.
This post first appeared on Collage of Life Archives
by Jeanne Henriques
