4 October 2017

I digress a little from Nicole's thoughts today, as two years ago 4 October was a Sunday and she shared sketches and doodles from others following her 31 Days of a Quiet Heart in 'Seeking God Sundays'.
nstead, I thought I'd share a special picture with you - she hangs above my nature altar and I bought her from here earlier this year with my xmas pennies.
This is me, as a young girl, lost in a book. I imagine she's snuck into the vestry of her village church to find some peace and quiet, and perched herself on this rather elaborate chair. I adore the handmade frame from reclaimed wood, and its gothic shape - I just love arched windows and doors 😍
I also love the bright blues and gold - they remind me of mediaeval religious paintings where blue and gold were the most expensive pigments to buy. And her bright red book... what could she be reading so avidly??

I identify with her so strongly... this painting shows so much of my quiet heart, my love of books, the cool peace I found in church as a child (after the hot anger of home), the adventures I went on in my young mind - dreams of Oxford (having read Jude the Obscure as a young teen, I then went to study there aged 18); dreams of Africa (having read Out of Africa, I then spent a year in Kenya in the 1980s); dreams of America (having read Huckleberry Finn, I then married an American and loved in California for 3 years.

Who would have thought when I read these books in my small Lincolnshire village all those years ago, I would go to such places?? I certainly didn't!

3 comments:

  1. what a fabulous piece and such a great post to coincide with it... simply wonderful..

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  2. Uh-oh. I read George Orwell's "1984"... and now look who we have for president! Maybe there's something to this book-reading as fortune-telling thing!

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