Sometimes There are No Words

Sometimes There are No Words
©2010 Melynda Van Zee
40" x 30"
Acrylic on Canvas

I finished this painting in June and I kept searching for the right title-something that could say what I was experiencing as I created the piece. The harder I searched, the more nothing would come, except sometimes there are no words. As much as I love words and on some days love to talk (just ask my friends), the lesson I've been learning in my art lately is that it is this is why so many of us choose to create-whether we are composing, gardening, sewing, or painting. When words aren't going to do it, when there are no words to be found, when the words are inadequate for whatever is in the soul...that is one time when it is time for me to paint. So often people will say to me that a particular work I created has so much emotion, and I think I began to think of many of my paintings as only portraying a particular emotional place-an emotional landscape if you will. But, I recently heard the soul described as the place where emotion, intellect, belief and passion all intertwine. That is the place I want to continually paint from-not just from my emotion, not just from my intellect, not just because there is a particular image I like and I have the physical ability to reproduce it. I want to paint from the place that takes it all-the intellect, the emotion, the deep belief and allow it all to mix and mesh together and from that place, create. The difficult thing is that I can’t just will myself to paint from this place-I’m learning it is more a process of allowing myself permission to simply be right where I am, and then paint from that place of knowing-and sometimes the knowing is messy, complicated, intense and beautiful all at the same time. I wish life came to us in neat packages-easily definable with a clear path...”untie ribbon, peel off tape, remove paper” but it doesn’t seem to work that way for me-for any of us. Life is full of uncharted paths, darkness we didn’t expect, holy moments of surprise and hope often mixed with uncertainty-that is the challenge of our humanity...and such a difficult thing to capture in adequate image or word, but try we do-because we can't not.

Detail of Sometimes There are No Words

©2010 Melynda Van Zee

Detail of Sometimes There are No Words
©2010 Melynda Van Zee

Detail of Sometimes There are No Words

©2010 Melynda Van Zee

Personalized Vintage Home Decor

Here I the photos I promised from the finished project mentioned in my latest post. What a delight to help a homeowner personalize her home with a vintage pattern excavated from below years of old wallpaper patterns!

The view from the kitchen into the dining room.

Look at that gorgeous original woodwork on the stairway and doorways in this restored Iowa farmhouse.

A close up detail of the motifs and links.

A peek into the process...

Karen Harrill from Co-Line Graphics created the vinyl stencil to the exact dimensions I needed for each individual wall. She also taught me the correct way to apply and remove the stencils. The vinyl stencil was totally the way to go with this project to create the aesthetic unity necessary and meet the unique needs of this project. Notice the "E" and the "N" in the corner of each stencil? That way we knew which pattern belonged on which wall-North, South, East or West.

Historical Reproduction "Practice Mock Up"

I'm going this week to recreate this historic stencil pattern in the dining room of a restored 100+ year old farmhouse. I've been looking forward to and preparing this project all summer.Using some very modern methods (scanning, computer CAD program, and a professionally cut vinyl stencil to lay out each wall to its specific dimensions) and some very traditional art tools (pencil and tracing paper, stencil brushes and paints) to recreate this vintage pattern. The homeowner found glimpses of this pattern buried under layers of old wallpaper when they began remodeling the dining room. They took some photos and traced the pattern, then turned the project over to me. This is very different work than most of the creative activities I have been engaged in lately, but maybe that is part of the challenge. I think that it is always a good thing to take on a new project that will grow you as an artist and stretch you into new (or remind you of old) places you have been. I know working with this project has made me ask some new questions and seek out specialized help. I've learned new tricks and enjoyed seeing and helping a family as they restore a precious family heirloom (in this case an entire house!)