Aunt Mary Rides that Final Wave
My father and his two sisters shared some wonderful characteristics. They delighted in their families, lived with intention, and got a chuckle out of the ordinary pleasures of their days.
Aunt Mary, who was the youngest and longest-lived, passed this morning at 96. I was influenced by her because I admired her spunk and the way she lived. She was a woman who used cloth napkins at each meal, climbed ladders to pick blackberries well into her eighties, read widely, enjoyed a good discussion, stomped her feet when she crossed a footbridge with her grandchildren so that the trolls who lived beneath would be too frightened to come out, swam in the icy waters of Tomales Bay, and had a cheerful word for all the many people who came her way. She was an architect and carried this orientation to design, structure, and optimization into her life. She loved her family, friends, profession, nature, swimming, and all the serendipity that gave her life zing.
Aunt Mary lived with joy and goodwill and will be missed by all of us who had the incredible fortune to know her. This painting is my interpretation of what happened to her as she rode that final wave into the universe this morning.
Deliberate Sketching 
So sorry to see this..what a remarkable woman.
Love and Blessings to you all.
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Love the position of “surrender and acceptance” in her figure, and I can feel you, feeling Aunt Mary’s essence as you lay the gouache on paper.
Your words, expressing so much of Aunt Mary’s walk in this world, move me to my core! An incredible expression in both word and art. I am sending hugs and prayers to you and your family – for it is obvious Aunt Mary is very loved and will be very missed.
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Sheila, you always see so much in my art, thank you for sharing it.
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I am VERY moved by your tribute, both verbal and with brush, to your Aunt Mary. Her generation experienced hardships of the Great Depression and World Wars. But they had an ethical quality and found great pleasure from families and outside interests. God Bless her.
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Yes, Pam, thank you for bringing up the Great Depression and WW2, I wish I had included that in the tribute, I am glad you shared this.
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Beautiful tribute to your Aunt Mary! Hope to see you soon. Karen Beall
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Thank you Karen!
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What a lovely tribute!
On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 2:10 AM, Deliberate Sketching wrote:
> Sarah Sullivan posted: ” My father and his two sisters shared some > wonderful characteristics. They delighted in their families, lived with > intention, and got a chuckle out of the ordinary pleasures of their days. > Aunt Mary, who was the youngest and longest-lived, passed this m” >
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Thank you Alana!
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What a beautiful tribute. She was the last of her siblings to journey into the next life, and she leaves the rest of us bereft at having to say goodbye to such a shining and engaging soul!
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You are right Terry, you said this so well!
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This is really beautiful Sally. You described Aunt Mary so well. There was something so solid and simple about her. I really felt that when she was in Mazatlan with us one year.
You remind me so much of her!
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You are right, Lisa, She was an inspiration to us all.
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