Art Journal Thursdays: The Ache

The farm on a winter day, similar to the last day I saw it.

I loved my grandparents, particularly my grandfather. They lived on a farm in Kansas. On the weekends, I would go there and my grandfather Papa would take me to the candy store, let me drive the tractor, and listen to me prattle endlessly about little girl things.

Papa unconditionally loved me.

In 1976, they had to sell the farm to make way for a dam. It was a very sad time. They used the money to move to a warmer climate and enjoy their retirement without the threat of snow.

The move was terrible sad. Now that I have done something similar (i.e., moved across the country to follow a dream), I find that I am even more nostalgic. I ran across this picture during my unpacking and it moved my heart. Before I left Kansas City, a dear friend and I went down to the farm. While it is now under water, I can still make out the ruts from the gravel road that took me to the place where there was so much love.

I truly do ache to go back to that place.

I used acrylic paint over a colored photo copy of the house. I wanted to capture the house exactly while incorporating it into the entire composition.

I used old book pages as the base of the page. I used a palette knife to make scrape the clouds across the uneven pages.

My handwriting on an old book page.

The original photo on which the page is based.