Grandmother Willow Tree, a vision of Comfort and Healing

I created Grandmother Willow Tree after a weekend of reflecting on the women that came before us in our bloodlines... the grandmothers and their wisdom. While sipping tea over this cold grey weekend, I sifted through memory after memory of the images,symbols, and wise words that came from my grandmother.

Grandmother Willow Tree, a Contemporary Folk Art Painting by Jeanne Fry

 I replayed the short film -like snippets of remembered times when I was young and the times I spent with her. The things you learn from a grandmother are like no other. I even think that the things you learn from them may not even be the same things that they taught to their own children. I think a sense of ease comes with their age, a letting go of the overly-protective mode they were in when they were child rearing. I recalled many conversations sitting on the porch swing with her, and now realize that the things we talked about were about the "bigger picture", idealism, and inspirations. She didn't need to raise me to learn how to "walk" in the world" like a mother does, but passed her wisdom on how to "be" in the world.

As we would sit on the porch swing, I always gazed at the Willow Tree off in the distance. It was the first thing I saw when I would arrive on her land, and the last thing I saw when I would leave. Whenever I would see that willow tree then, and see a willow tree today, I feel the Comfort of a Grandmother's Love. I am so grateful for that memory.

The original painting has sold. It is available as an Art Print in our Fine Art America online shop, as an Art Print, Matted and Framed, On Canvas, On Metal, or as a Greeting Card.
Grandmother Willow Tree Art Print

Turtle Totem Whispers Wisdom, The Story and Painting

She took long walks in the woods every afternoon. Her movements were a slow pensive wandering, while her mind was racing like a marathon runner. She was not lost, but she was searching...asking...open to guidance. There was a space in heart where discouragement lived, and that space seemed to be  becoming a permanent resident.She had been working so hard to bring her dreams to fruition, so hard in fact that she had fallen out of balance. It was as if she had blinders on and only saw one path, one road, one way. Opportunities had become limited, for while she was looking this "one way", she didn't see all that was around her. After time she started to believe that there were no opportunities, and she slipped into a mode of scarcity.

While all of these thoughts swirled through her mind during her walk, she sat down on an old log that was laying on the forest floor. Surrounded by the lush botanical garden in the woods, with delicate ferns tickling her cheek, and flower buds whisking against her ankle, she closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath in smelling the sweetness all around her, and took a deep breath out, relaxed her shoulders and let the worries escape. Everything became still in the forest, not a bird chirp or a squirrel rustling, just stillness. And she heard a whisper.

Turtle Totem Whispers Wisdom, a Contemporary Folk Art Painting by Jeanne Fry

A turtle slowly stepped into view from the fern growth. Familiar it seemed. She thought back to childhood and how often turtles were in her life. The turtle whispered, and although it's mouth did not move, she could hear the words. "You are protected. You are nurtured. You are taken care of and watched over." "Everything you want and need is available to you in this abundant universe." "Remember the circle child, the flow of life, the giving and receiving, the balance." "Open your eyes and your heart". Then the turtle slowly turned and walked away.

Her Turtle Totem had returned. That old sense of connectedness returned. And that space in her heart that  discouragement had rented, was now vacated leaving room for hope and confidence.

She stood up from the log and bent down to straighten up where she had been. She stroked the ferns, pulling dead leaves from them and picked up small twigs and rubbish, leaving it better than how she had found it.

She took a deep breath in, and out, and felt her eyes widen to see more than she had seen in a long time. She saw Hope.

Thank you my Turtle Totem.

This story I wrote one evening, was the inspiration of my painting, "Turtle Totem Whispers Wisdom".
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