Daily painting #445. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel
So how does a random match, screw and a dead bee land up on my canvas for my daily painting you are asking, right? Well the story is actually really lovely...yet also quite random!
We have an elderly Zulu man that works for us and lives on our property. Patrick has worked for us since before my daughter was born and he is like a member of our family! While we were away last week, Patrick took care of everything at home...most importantly feeding my animals for me! When we arrived home I found on my easel shelf a match, a little screw and a dead bee. Being of little significance I didn't pay them much attention until this morning when Patrick asked me if I found my things on the easel? I was confused! "A painting?" I asked him. He looked at me and laughed..."Haybo Cha (Zulu for 'yikes no!!') .....all those things you paint!" Well I was still confused. "Woza (come)" he said as he beckoned for me to follow him to the studio. He bent over my easel and I watched curiously (and confused) there was nothing on my easel....until he opened up the palm of his hand and revealed the match, the screw and the dead bee! I laughed and he smiled back and said "I found them on the floor ....all the things you like to paint!" I was so touched by his thoughtfulness and by the fact that 3 seemingly useless and arbitrary objects could be valued enough for him to leave them for me to paint. As my mind shifted to thinking of how random the objects are that I often paint (and yet they hold significance to me in some often strange way), he laughed and walked out my studio saying in broken English that I paint strange things! I was left alone smiling gratefully. My way of showing thanks was to paint all 3 objects. When I thanked him and showed him the painting, he shook his head and walked off laughing ....not sure if he was approving the painting but he clearly thinks I am nuts (crazy)!!
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