19 January 2009

Raining Stars

I have been following the work of Heather Smith Jones since I saw her art. I'm drawn to her use of color, different techniques, gorgeous transparency and opacity in her watercolors, and the words and phrases she uses. There was one piece that I especially loved, and when I finally convinced myself to buy it as a thirtieth birthday present to myself, it had already been snatched up. Rightly so, but I was very disappointed.

Well, what I got was even better! She did a small piece for me that contained certain elements similar to the first piece. I did not want her to feel confined to recreate something. I told her what I really liked about the other piece, but told her I would love whatever she created for me and to use her artistic license.

This is what she made for me.

Sky

When I read the title on the piece, it says, "It was raining stars that night, yet one shone the brightest." I was really touched when I saw that. You see, my Dad had a star named in memory of my brother, Andrew. So unknown to Heather, sometimes we think of Andrew as our star in the sky, since he always wanted to go to space!

Star Chart

My dad gave the star chart to me, and Mike reframed it to include a favorite photo of my brother and me. I showed my friends the new art and the star chart. I had forgotten, but there's a red circle highlighting Andrew's star.

Star

My friend Vic had to point this out, but we realized that my new piece also had a red circle highlighting the "brightest star" in the title.

Star

Some may think that these things are just coincidences, and you can find a correlation between anything. In fact, I sometimes think that. But I also know that if I want to feel comforted that these little coincidences mean something, I'm allowed.

When I don't know what I believe, it's those random little things that give me hope for a place I can't even imagine, hugging my brother again, or just the unlimited options for the unknown. At the very least, I think of those little things as Andrew telling me that he is okay. Or that he can still see the huge history that happened yesterday, and oh, would he have been celebrating!

So thank you to Heather, for bringing me unexpected additonal joy on my thirtieth birthday. If you want your own piece of magic, you can visit the shop for
Heather Smith Jones here!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow - I don't know what to say really, except how touching it was to see both stars outlined in red like that. And we were celebrating on this side of the pond, too, yesterday!

Shona~ LALA dex press said...

What a wonderful birthday gift to yourself- with unexpected extra goodness.

Laura said...

What an awesome story!

Nadia said...

That is fantasticly beautiful -- both the painting and the story!

Happy Birthday, Mariss!

Jamie Welsh Watson said...

Wow, that is truly amazing and beautiful. I am nearly speechless at how the world operates sometimes. It makes me happy. Thank you for sharing this.

Nic said...

[chills] I love it when little things come together in such meaningful ways, especially for you... you definitely deserve it!

Robin said...

I don't think it's a coincidence. I got chills (and a little teary). Who knew that about your brother, but that he must be up there orchestrating ways to show that he is still in your life and always will be. :-)

Anonymous said...

"In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen."
William S. Burroughs
Maybe he was helping to say happy bday

cevd said...

i teared up reading this. what a lovely story and birthday present. i really love heather smith jones' work.