Darlene Weaver Fine Art
The Sisters
In
the early 80’s, a friend asked me to accompany her on a drive from
Wisconsin to Indiana to visit her mother. As we neared her home on a
country road, we passed a quaint house with the sun setting on two
beautiful ladies, rocking together on an old porch swing. “Darn,” I
muttered to myself. “I wish I had left my camera out!”
My friend pulled off the road, got the camera out of the trunk, and proceeded to turn the car around. She knew I had to have that shot. We drove into the driveway, got out, and approached the ladies who eyed us suspiciously, but never got up from their spot.
“I was just wondering if I could take a picture of the two of you. I am an artist and I would like to paint you!” They were shy but thrilled. “What did she say,” one said to the other. “We’re gonna be in a movie?”
“Oh, the joy of being noticed” I thought. Even us shy ones crave it in some way.
Turned out they were sisters who had the privilege of growing old together, long forgotten by everyone except each other. I told them they reminded me of me & my sister Karen whom I love dearly – she with blond hair and light skin and me with dark. We never looked anything at all like sisters and either did they!
When I returned home, I stretched a large canvas and laid in an under-painting of their images in burnt umber. And that’s as far as it got. Until now. Twenty five or so years later! Life took me away from painting but The Sisters was my beacon, my symbol that reminded me that one day I would get back to it. I had to. I promised them.
Every time that I moved, I found a spot to set up my easel and on it would rest my roughed-in painting. One day I came home from work to find that my teenage sons had collapsed the easel and tucked the canvas away in order to make room to wrestle. I lost it! Even I didn’t realize how much of a symbol it really was, that I would one day paint again! So back up it went and they never touched it again!
So, this one is for you ladies, for helping me to keep sight of my dream. And for sisters everywhere who share a bond and the privilege of going through life close to the one who knows them like no other. May you find the joy of sharing and fulfilling your own dreams as did I, and of course, sunsets together on an old porch swing.
