“Meaning is not something we find — it is something we make, and the puzzle pieces are often the fragments of our shattered hopes and dreams.
… It is an active, searching process — a creative act. Paradoxically, we make meaning most readily, most urgently, in times of confusion and despair, when life as we know it has ceased to make sense and we must derive for ourselves not only what makes it livable but what makes it worth living.”
Maria Popova, “Oliver Sacks on Despair and the Meaning of Life“, The Marginalian
My painting “Never Still” was one of Alistair’s favourites. He was quietly delighted it never sold despite the enthusiastic responses it solicited, and after a while he told me so and asked to have it in his office. Screwing it to the angled ceiling of our Skye house was, urm, challenging. Here in Aberdeenshire it’s in our bedroom.
Several of the community nurses who helped him asked me if it was one of my paintings, and were delighted by it. Alistair in turn was delighted when I told him. And now our dear friend Lisbeth, whose comments when I created the painting gave me its title “Never Still”, is here and enjoying seeing it in real life again.
As I sit and look at it, I am reminded of many things. That when I started painting it I thought I was perhaps being overambitious (see this blog post). That the orange and purple line, done with acrylic paint markers, had felt scarily vivid when I did it but so successfully convey the feeling of energy and movement of the location. How Alistair and I would laugh time and again at the misalignment of elements that cross the gap between the two panels (the branch at the top and the boulder in the centre) and debate whether it is a better painting for it.
In the stillness of our home without sounds made by Alistair, this painting reminds me to persist with hope. Never still.
Heartwarming story…I’ve had similar experiences…reminds me that love is in the heart and soul… the memories are bittersweet, but welcome. (( hugs))
Thank you for sharing this beautiful painting and a snippet of Alistair’s story. Life throws us curve balls, some much more difficult than others. Luckily we do have our love and our memories of good times spent with our loved ones. Keep them close. This painting and its title reminds me of a quote by Bruce Lee: ‘Be like water making its way through cracks.’ Sending hugs Marion.