Young artist – Page 2 – Iris Grace Painting

Kuendelea, 55cm x 75cm

Iris is listening to her favourite African music while she paints, making me laugh as I watch her body sway to the music. Cloaked in blue cotton with little tassels on her cape dancing to the beat. Her arms shoot out this way and that as she works quickly from one side of the paper to the other. Then disaster strikes! Her cape drapes into the paint and spreads it’s mark across the paper. Iris is in shock, standing perfectly still for a while as I make a plan to help her. First by trying to get as much of it off her cape as possible, she points to the paper and I give her a hug telling her that it will be alright, we will sort it out. She is miserable and I have to take her away into another room to calm her down and we leave the painting to dry. Later when all is well again, the cape washed and dried, she returns to her painting and I fill with pride as I watch her try again. This time she uses the sponges to create different effects on the paper and a beautiful image grows and evolves before my eyes. A dramatic and incredibly expressive painting lies before her on the coffee table in the kitchen. So here it is, Iris’s new Painting called ‘Kuendelea’ a Swahili name meaning growth and evolution.

Iris Loves a tree stump in our garden so for her Birthday I have found a special poem about one just like hers describing the special relationship between her and the stump.

I Fell in Love With a Tree Stump

a poem written by Dane Smith-Johnsen

I fell in love with a tree stump.
A quite curious stump was he.
No branches to thump.
No fall leaves to see.
But a very special stump was he.
There in the woods, other trees grew tall.
Swaying their limbs and leaves in the breeze.
But one special tree stump won my awe.
Once, tall and stately was he, before the freeze.
Now, short and sad hearted because of the saw.

I was weary, downhearted, and lonely.
When, I spotted that stump beside a pile of wood.
A perfect place to rest, it seemed to me.
I rushed right over as quickly as I could.
Then, sat right there, relaxed, and feeling so good.

While trees all around made their showy stance,
I sat and enjoyed from my comfortable stump.
He had no limbs nor leaves to wind-dance.
He had no branches to thump.
He was there for me to rest myself…by chance.

Pining alone, I fell in love with that tree stump.
A quiet refuge was he.
No longer sad, life became plump.
And my soul soared higher than one can see.
For he was there when I needed him…and he needed me.