Life does imitate art!

Darling daughter, Elizabeth and her husband, Robbie, are here for the Thanksgiving holidays.  This makes me happy in one way but sad in another.  As usual, I am elated to have them here but, then again, it makes me sad knowing that they will not be here for Christmas.  This is the year that they will travel to visit his folks for the Christmas holidays.  So we have had to cram some of our Christmas into these holidays.  On our list of things Christmas related to do this weekend was to paint our octopi!  Last year, (for those who do not remember) we initiated a new annual mother/daughter Christmas tradition.  While other mother/daughter duos were doing things like shopping, we painted.  It was Elizabeth's idea to do this so I gave her the option of choosing what we painted.  She has a great sense of adventure (and humor) so her answer was an excited "Octopi"!  No problem.  I was sure that I could paint something similar to an octopus anyway (hopefully)! We had a blast painting together.  With only one minor incident of spilled paint and a few gallons of coffee, we turned out some pretty decent paintings.  Now, it was time to create again.

The Christmas tradition continues!  My painting of an octopus on top and Elizabeth's on bottom!

After spending the afternoon dabbling in the acrylics (and another incident of spilled paint!), we, once again, were pleased with our paintings. We both did our version of octopi.  I finished mine in a short time.  Elizabeth took longer.  As matter of fact, she is still not quite finished with her painting.  I pondered why I finished so much quicker.  When she took a break, I peeked at her picture.  Ok, that settled that! My painting was extremely different than hers.  It was then that I realized that hers was so much like her while mine did, indeed, imitate me.  Hers is a very elaborate painting that looks near lifelike.  Mine..not so much. My painting is a blend of two colors, black and white.  Hers has a ton of color.  Mine is simple whereas hers is full of detail.  Life imitates art or art imitates life.  She is vibrant, full of life, full of color.  I am less so.  How two paintings of the same thing can be so different explains a lot about the artists doing the creating.  She is meticulous.  I am simple.  Life sometimes truly imitates art..or vice versa.

The "New" Christmas Tradition!

I have been talking a lot about "old" traditions of the holidays and how nostalgic items can make a place feel warm and homey.  The Little Bayou House was decked out in all sorts of antique Christmas decorations and childhood items this year just because at times I need to be reminded of all of the traditions of times past.  Today being Christmas Day, Elizabeth decided it was high time to start a "new" tradition!  Off the top of her head, she proclaimed that we would paint Christmas Octopi!  (Just so everyone will know, octopi is one of the many plurals of octopus along with octopodes, and octopuses!)  Anyway, this new tradition would be recognized each year with a new octopus picture painted by each of us!  I was game!  As storms ripped through the area creating a big mess, she and I created paintings of octopi!  We gathered the canvases, paints and brushes and set to work.  Neither of us had any idea of just what we were going to paint..we just started.  As we painted, we talked..we giggled..we spent a wonderful afternoon and on into the late hours of the night sharing.  Sometime during the late afternoon, we compared pictures and realized that even though the paintings were very similar, they were very different.  Our similarity in styles cannot be denied but each painting had its unique touches.  We both decided that this was definitely something that we would love to continue doing..our tradition had been born.

The Christmas Octopi Paintings!  Mine on top and  Elizabeth's on the bottom!

Once we were finished with the paintings, we exchanged them.  She will take mine home with her and I will hang hers in the Little Bayou House.  These paintings will not go any further.  As our first, we will keep them as cherished mementos and each year, the new Christmas Octopi paintings will be exchanged as gifts between us.   This might seem a tad strange to a lot of folks but to us, it is perfect.  We share something other than a painting..we share a time spent with each other.  Our love grows stronger each day and our collection of Octopi paintings will grow each year.  And we all know that you can never have too many Octopi paintings! New traditions are fun!