A Warrior's Heart

This is a new little watercolor that I painted in my journal last night. I had tried several things but they were all too "heavy-handed". Portraits that turned out to be clowns because I put so much darks in, teeth too big, hair too garish. Watercolor isn't very forgiving once you start adding the darks. And the more I try to fix them, they just get darker and more heavy-handed. I look forward to the day when my touch has more finesse in it. So I just went for the bold color here in this abstract piece and I like it.

I get the bold strokes from both sides of my family. Let me just say that God did not give my folks the spirit of timidity. No soft spoken, gentle soul among us. You could hear my mother in the kitchen from clear across the house because she actually stomped her way around, and slammed cabinets as if she were mad and she wasn't. She's a trooper- and a loud one. We always knew she could run a company or be chairman of the board if she wanted to. You put my Dad on a project and he will die on that hill before he quits it or gives up. I have two brothers on either side of me that make up the brick fence that is my original family. We are loud and strong and bold and sometimes over-bearing. We are not shy about anything. We are like a bull-dog if you sick us on something. We pull ourselves and you and everyone around us up by their boot straps and slap you on your butt and say, "keep moving - no pity party today. We don't give up easily and we don't give in as soon as we should. It's not something I'm proud of.. but it's not something I'm necessarily ashamed of either.

It's true that I must learn to control my bold strokes with more finesse and my color to balance out my compositions and my life. But I won't give it up, I won't resist it. For it is a huge part of how I am defined and who I am. I expect this art thing to take me into my 90s. If you follow me there, you will see an old woman with a bold painting because I will still have my warriors' heart and my vibrant spirit. Life will fade my color a little bit, I accept that - and I should be just right by the time I hit and paint my last wall.