The Painting of My Life

Inspired by my colorchallenge post this morning I decided to tell you Steemians a litlle bit more about why the picture I posted is so important to me.

In September 2000 I decided to quit my job as an internal project manager at a graphic design company to go travelling through Southeast Asia for 6 months. On the day of my departure my dad was told by his lifelong mentor: he is entering the labyrinth, the labyrinth of life.

About four months after I had returned home my dad called me to let me know he would come by for a visit. Once he arrived he handed me a unexpected but fantastic gift. He had used one of the many pictures I had taken on my travels in a painting and wanted me to have it.

I have stood in front of the painting many a times, enjoying the sunlight playing with alle the colours, inspecting the different layers in the painting, and thinking how well my father had managed to create an artwork that fully represented me.

Years later, on a holiday to the Gili Islands near Lombok, Indonesia, I had finally overcome my fear of diving. Lucky for me one of my dive buddies had taken a beautiful picture of me decending on my first dive.

To me the picture means a lot because it brings me back to a moment where I managed to let go of all fear, completely trust in my training and equipment and resurface after 45 minutes in a state of utter excitement and bliss. Something I had feared so much had turned out to be one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

In July of 2017 that picture of my first dive came up in a conversation I had with my father. It turned out he had always thought that in the picture I was resurfacing. When I told him the reason I liked the picture so much was the fact that it was me going down, letting go completely, trusting it would be all right, he immediately decided that this significant moment in my life had to be added to the painting.

Admittedly, I had thought of that myself a few times but had never dared ask that of him. Who asks an artist to change his work? “But,” said he, “name me one artist who hasn't changed a painting or added to a painting every now and then. Rembrandt did it, Van Gogh did it, authors take the opportunity to edit or change their work as soon as a reprint is at hand...”

And so it was decided: the painting went home wih my father, as well as a large print out of the digital image of me diving.

A month ago my father brought me the painting 2.0. I am extremely happy with it. I never doubted my father's capabilities but I did of course sometimes wonder if asking him to change a painting that was already beautiful had been a good idea.

Until I saw it hanging on my wall. That's when I knew that it had been a good decision, in fact, it had been the only real option. For letting go of the old painting and embracing the new one only complemented to the meaning of the painting just the more.