#1 4′ x 4′
Appreciation is one of the most pleasant surprised one can encounter. To have your work loved and appreciated is validation like no other. A couple of years ago, I was asked by a friend to paint his childhood home, which has long been torn down. He had one photo of the house and wanted the painting for his aging father, who was in early dementia. He hung the painting on his wall and brought his father in to view it. He told me his father just stood and looked and looked at it, making comments about the house and its past.
This past year, as I was driving home from town, I got a cell phone call from his aunt, who wondered if I could paint one for her as well. She said her husband saw the original one and really loved it. When it was finished, they loved it and even gave me a tip! She called me up a week later saying how much they appreciated the painting. What a pleasant surprise to fell this kind of appreciation.
Our old house is gone
Many great mem’ries remain
Painting preserves joy
#2 4′ x 4′
Paintings: Dwight L. Roth
This was written for: https://dversepoets.com/
Frank Hubney asked us to write a Haibun with the prompt — Pleasantly Surprised.
A Haiban is a poem composed of a short prose followed by a Haiku. The two when combined make the Haiban.
It’s wonderful to be able to make people happy!
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Yes, Peter, it really is great! Thanks for reading.
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In absence of the house, I am glad they have the painting to remember it by,
and I am sure it kindles old memories as well.
Appreciation goes a long way in fueling the life of many an artist
as at times, those tips are few and far between.
But neither of them is what it is really all about,
now is it?
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No, We write and do art because we can’t really help ourselves!! :>)
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P.S. I tried to leave a comment on your site, but google would not take my wordpress signature.
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That was a nice thing to do for them. The paintings look nice. I remember chairs like those blue ones in the second painting that my brother and I used to play with as children. We’d tip them forward and set on the tubing in the back pretending the front was part of our space ships. Your paintings even bring back my memories.
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Thanks Frank. I am glad they stirred your memories as well. Loved the old metal porch chairs.
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That was so sweet of you!
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Thank You. I did get paid for painting the pictures. But, I really loved the project.
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that’s lovely that your painting evoke memories and joy. Very cool. Enjoyed the haiku. (as a haiku writer, I also liked how you dropped a syllable in memories — very useful 🙂
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Thank you very much. I am just beginning to write haiku. I find it very enjoyable.
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You have done a very good thing. I know they will love the painting, as it stimulates memories, things you don’t know. When they look at the painting, perhaps they don’t even see it? Only the memories?
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I love your thought that it is not the painting but the memories that are triggered! Thank you so much!
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grrrr….I posted here several hours ago and my internet connection went out right when I hit Post Comment. So —
What I commented was that perhaps the most significant appreciation of your creative talents in this recounting is the son, repeating to you the father’s response to the painting. In other words — so wonderful that your brush strokes “brushed” out some of the cobwebs in his mind that he could talk about the house and remember and be lucid with his son….and how meaningful that was in obvious in the retelling of that conversation by the son to you. So meaningful to the son as well.
And by the way, I love the painting! Praises to your creativity deserved in many ways here 🙂
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Thank you, Lillian, so much for your kind comments. It is indeed very rewarding to realize that something like a painting can trigger memories from the past for someone who is losing theirs. It was on of my most fun commissions I have done.
Thank You,
Dwight.
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I think that no matter what we do… appreciation is the best of things. Love that you could give a memory to them…
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Yes, I agree. Giving memories is a wonderful thing. I believe that is why writing memoirs of our life is so important to pass on to our grandchildren.
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Love the painting and story behind it. A wonderful way to keep a part of the past alive.
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Thanks, I loved being part of it.
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Those houses look well loved. (K)
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They definitely were, in both cases. Thanks.
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