Grandmother Journal

Journey Reflection

Grandmother piece

While reading the material for the journey assignment, I connected with it in terms of journeys of the heart rather than to physical places. My thoughts immediately centered on my own life journey and those who have influenced, or carried, and loved me along the way thus far. While reflecting about the many sorts of journeys one can take, the subject of love came foremost to my mind and with that came the thought of my grandmother. My grandmother, Hattie, was the one person with whom I felt unequivocally, unconditionally loved. Connecting my grandmother and journeys really came about because the idea of love’s journey is symbolized by weekend trips to my grandmother’s house. Now, my Grandma only lived about twenty minutes away, so there was no actual “journey” or trip involved in a real, physical sense going there, but the difference emotionally was as if I truly went somewhere else. All this is not to say that I was abused at home or even unloved, but there was a difference in the sense of love and safety that going to grandma’s house created.

When I began creating the piece, I felt a strong need to use watercolor to create the figure of the grandmother in the center. The softness and blend ability of the medium perfectly reflected the emotional attachment that my grandmother and I shared. Whenever I think of my grandma, I see her quilted, pink robe with the crystal buttons down the front, which she wrapped around me in the cool, early morning. This soft pink color represents safety and love to me.

Underneath the “old woman, grandmother energy” my grandmother most assuredly had, there was and is (when she visits me) a joyful, playful energy. There is a part of my grandmother that is butterflies, hummingbirds, flowers, and fairies. It is this youthful energy that comes to me when I meditate, along with humming birds that fly into my “face” whenever I need reminding to feel joy. I draped floral, gauzy fabric around the figure holding the baby, who is me, of course, because that represents her essential being: light, joyful, and young. The stickers are the bright, incandescent type to represent those qualities.

I had little “choice” in this piece; it simply became. The piece symbolizes all of love’s voyages for me and what I wish to create in my ongoing relationships and future relationship journeys. And reminds me that life, attitude, and the passage through are what I make them.