HIS CHRISTMAS SPRITES

I giggled and smiled a good amount while painting the just-completed picture above. It is simplistic, but it brought back so many fond memories while I worked on it. During the hustle and bustle of this season, I HAVE to have a painting in progress at all times to find the doses of tranquility I need.

Backing up a minute, I received a gift bag at my birthday dinner. The contents of the bag contained things that I love love love. But before I even peeked inside, I was struck by the picture on the front and back of the bag. It depicted four faeries fluttering beside a Christmas tree. I said aloud, "I am going to paint this picture." And I meant it.

You see, I automatically associated the four faeries (which I have called sprites) with me and my three sisters. We are as close as can be. We are best friends. We have our own circles of friends we go out with and entertain, but we also include each other in whatever parties we throw. I suppose to some it is unusual to see siblings who genuinely enjoy and appreciate one another as much as we do. To us, it is simply normal. And it is the way I wish it was for all siblings.

And then my mind quickly took me to thoughts of my father. Yes, I know I talk about him endlessly, but how can I not? To me, he is the epitome of what and how a father should be. His passing affected me deeply, and I cannot push him out of my thoughts. And why would I want to anyway?

So, there we were gathered to celebrate my birthday. My sisters, their husbands, my husband, and my mother. The only person missing was Daddy. Yet, I knew he was really there. Probably shaking his head and rolling his eyes while I gave one of my brothers-in-law a very tame and fully clothed lapdance...yet grinning that crooked grin of his seeing I have not changed one bit. I do know he is proud of all of us. Proud that we have remained so close and include our much-loved Mom in our gatherings.

All of that combined made me think of him when I saw the gift bag picture. Daddy was Santa for many years. He pretended he hated the holiday. He uttered, "Bah humbug!" more than once each season. Uh huh. He disliked it so much that he shopped and shopped hunting for the perfect gifts for each of us girls. He freely spent his hard-earned money on us. He was so excited on Christmas Eve that he could not sleep. Yes, even when we were grown and married, he was pacing the house (according to Mom) waiting for all of us and our children to arrive there on Christmas morning at 11:00. And his smile erupted when the first of us arrived and never left his face until we had all returned to our homes. Bah humbug, indeed.

Anywhooooo, this painting was oodles of fun to paint. I was determined to make it a three-dimensional picture. I used watercolors first. To try something different, I painted on rice paper that had threads of gold through it. An interesting surface on which to paint. Then when all was painted, I glued tiny clear glass beads on the wings of the sprites and colored glass ones on the garland wrapping itself around the tree. Gold glass bugle beads made up the star at the top with little gold balls at the tip of each of the points. To finish it, I glued on crumpled colored tissue paper to make up the skirts of each of the sprites.

My son took one look at it, and he identified via color each one of my sisters. My eldest sister is the yellow one. My elder sister is the blue one. My little sister is the pink one. And moi is the red one. Perfect! I told my mother she is the star shining at the top of the tree. ::smile::

The name of this painting? His Christmas Sprites. Yes, I bet he is grinning once again recalling all of our Christmases...and laughing out a Bah humbug!

"Wherever is love and loyalty, great purposes and lofty souls, even though in a hovel or a mine, there is fairyland." ~Charles Kingsley