Paint Your Canvas

MeMo: Paint Your Canvas

I dedicate this post to my friend, Mary the Artist, who painted a life of unexpectedly beautiful things through the peaks and valleys she traversed in her time on this planet.

Paint Your Canvas

I was prepping to paint my youngest son’s room. We planned out the whole thing in two phases so we had a timeline of our project and can accommodate for his school schedule. Phase one involved painting the originally one-toned, light beige room and closet to have white ceilings and gray walls. His closet is a large enough room we call it his “office closet,” because it houses his desk in addition to an open wardrobe with drawers for his clothes.

His goal for the room was to create a cozy, outdoor-themed space to work on his schoolwork, build Lego projects, and more. He had already picked out the wall decals of aspen trees. I found a vine-like leaf light strand at Target, which are perfect for the ceiling tree-like canopy we imagined in his closet. After the paint cured, the wall decals, and vine lights are installed, it would be time for phase two.

Phase two involved adding a climbing wall, painted with a mountain design. We discussed the possibility of adding monkey bars and/or a swing like our daughter has in her room. The swing is high priority, so he will ponder if he wants monkey bars further down the line.

Anyone who has met our Walter knows that this room will combine his love of the outdoors with his active spirit. From the moment we started thinking about what he might want in his room, a climbing wall was top priority for him. We had fun getting ideas from Pinterest and thinking about how to orient the room to create a space he would enjoy and could relax in.

Prepping the paint, I began to mix the five-gallon bucket of paint that was left over from the basement project we finished last spring. As I stirred the paint, something stirred deep inside of me. I kept mixing, scraping the paint from the bottom of the container. As the paint swirled, so did my thoughts. We were preparing to paint a room which we could paint any color or design. The paint is the canvas for the theme in his room.

As I continued to stir the paint, I reminisced on painting my daughter’s room, which we finished last spring. Alice wanted a cozy place to relax, including a space-themed ceiling and we worked to create the masterpiece.

To practice my sponge-painting technique, we agreed that her “office closet” would have a mural of a galaxy on the wall by her desk, so I could practice sponge painting and blending colors to create a design like I would do on her ceiling.

(Photos below of the mural and the final photo with her desk installed.)

By the time I was ready to try my hand at being Michealangelo, painting my masterpiece on her ceiling, I was nervous, but excited. I had never done anything like that before, yet I was ready to create something magnificent.
See photo below of the finished ceiling, complete with a moon light fixture:

Previously, I would not have considered myself an artist, as I just dabble with paint and blending colors. I guess I must redefine that for myself, because these rooms are masterpieces of art I cherish.

My husband had already painted the ceiling a deep blue and I was ready to sponge paint black to create depth for the starry sky we were working on. After the black was complete, I began to paint the galaxy across the ceiling, featuring a palette of purples Alice picked.

I worked to fade the colors, creating an epic galaxy-like image across her ceiling. I stepped up and down from the stool countless times, checking my progress, adding paint, checking again, and adding more paint. As the project came together, I admired the progress as this labor of love turned into something any artist would admire.

My friend, Mary the artist (pictured on the right with her rainbow-colored hair and wearing her red, flowered dress), came to see Alice’s room and in awe said, “WOW! Its’ beautiful!” With no formal training other than watching some Bob Ross episodes of painting “happy clouds” when I was a kid, I took her compliment to heart. When Mary said “beautiful,” it was like a melody leaving her lips. The way she pronounced that word was beautiful. This compliment meant a lot to me, as my friend went to art school, had drawn, painted, and created so many pieces of artwork in her lifetime. She had a passion to create and share art with the world. Her words echo in my mind. Every time I go in my daughter’s room, I smile, thinking of Mary the artist and her words that are forever imprinted in my mind as she is in my heart.

I brought my awareness back to stirring the paint and dipped the stir stick in and out of the deep bucket, checking the paint’s consistency. The paint was ready and so was I. Dipped out two cups of paint, I cleaned up the drips, closed off the larger bucket, and went to work, trimming out the edges of the room. Walter, now age ten, was ready to help. He had worked with my husband and I many times on painting and renovation projects, he was excited to see his room transform into an outdoor-themed space he could enjoy.

As we began to paint, he turned on music and my mind began to wander. Thinking of my late friend Mary, who passed away only a month or so prior to this painting project, I reminisced on good times and thought about her love of art, specifically painting. Mary’s compliment of Alice’s room echoed in my mind, and I felt a smile come to my face. I could only imagine what she would say about Walter’s room that we were in the process of creating. Maybe she would say, “That’s SO cool! The closet really makes you feel like you stepped into a forest!” I smiled again to myself.

The thing about someone passing away, it seems, is that their impact on you is not fully felt until they are gone. The ripple affect Mary had on my life is incredibly immense. Rarely a day goes by that I do not think of her. She taught me how to make soup from scratch and so much more. I feel a piece of her spirit will always be with me, and for that, I am grateful.

I pondered as I painted. We each have only one life, one canvas, to paint. Mary painted her canvas with so much. If we are talking in terms of colors, there was dark and light colors, swirls of colors and shapes combined to represent the ups, downs, twists, and turns of unexpected challenge after challenge in her life. Yet, in the end, she had a light, fire, and passion of healing from trauma I had never seen so bright in her before. She was healing and hopeful. She was free and working to create the life she had always wanted. She dreamt of creating art for herself and the community to be displayed in the Denver International Airport. I loved her goals and passion to create something that would be displayed for thousands of people to enjoy. She passed before she could accomplish this goal.

I continued painting, moving myself along the room’s edges as the music sequenced from song to song. We have but one canvas, our life, to paint our work on. What is it that we are painting to leave behind? Are we throwing paint at the canvas to create an image? Are we intentionally blending the paint to create a specific color for the picture we are working on?

I thought about Mary, finally making her big life change, to have a space where she could be herself and create her art. I thought about my life, taking so many detours to where I thought my life was going. I corrected my course as I went along in life, adjusting for the ever-changing headwinds winds we faced in our aviation careers. I’ve thought a lot about my life, purpose, and mission. Something about losing my best childhood friend opened a new, internal knowing in myself. I feel it in my soul that life is short and that I must share my talent, passion, and skills with the world. So many people go through life, thinking that tomorrow is guaranteed; it’s not.

When Mary passed away, it shook me in a way I had never felt before. She was 38. We talked often and she shared her healing journey with me. She was letting go of hardship, having revelations, laughing, and really loving herself in the most beautiful way by letting her body relax, rest, and heal from the traumas she faced in her life.

Many people in the world are so busy bustling around from activity to activity, they forget to stop and be in the moment. At this moment in time, I feel all I can be is in the moment. As a new song came on, Walter shared it is one of his favorite bands, Imagine Dragons. I, too, enjoy their music. I hummed along to the songs I knew well and listened intently to the ones I did not. As I chatted with him, I wondered to myself about how his talents and interest might develop as he grew and shared his internal light with the world.

For so long, I thought I would be a professional pilot with a very defined path. The longer I am on my path, the more I realize it is like I am in one of those video games my kids play where you have to pick up supplies and skills to use on your journey. The skills I have gained since I began learning to fly two decades ago have continued to expand and I am baffled that here I am, writing, which is something I never thought I would ever do. Which, by the way, makes me laugh because the phrase, “Never say never,” I could go on and on about with the things I thought I would never do. Some include never give up coffee (I did for two years as I worked on some specific health things), never homeschool (we did for six years!), never own an RV (we have been RV owners for six years and counting and spent three years full-time traveling on the road!), and so many more things. To say life continues to surprise me is an understatement. In my time on this planet, I have learned to adjust and go with the flow of life.

What is that work? At this moment, it’s to mom, to advocate for and educate my children, write, network, and dabble in my interests like travel and aviation. It’s hard to quantify being a modern-day gypsy where I travel and dabble in so many things, thinking about things like a philosopher.

To share my life, my thoughts, and my heart in writing is no easy task; it’s vulnerable. Being vulnerable has taken me a few decades to be comfortable in order to be unapologetically who I am and who I am meant to be in this world. I have and will ruffle some feathers, sure, but as my friend Jenn says, “You will either trigger or glimmer people.” I always like that comment. I try to always speak from my heart with kindness. How my words are received and perceived are not up to me and have everything to do with the other individual’s lens of how they perceive the world and their journey and experiences in life.

One of the most beautiful things to me about each day is that there is a sunrise and a sunset. May each day you celebrate both the rising and setting of the sun in your life, creating the life you want each day. May your life bring light and peace to your world.

Go, paint your canvas; it’s a beautiful thing to leave in the world. May your canvas be the most beautiful representation of your life, love, and light you lived while you’re here.

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Signing Off,
“Auntie Birdie”
AKA BG Barnstormer

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Some photos of Walter’s room. I used THESE sticker decals from Amazon for the trees.
The tree leaves have lights and I found them at Target. THESE are similar and on Amazon.
The sensory swing in each of my kids rooms has provided hours of entertainment and sensory support. The kids cozy up in their swing, swaying back and forth and sometimes orbit in circles. I highly recommend these!
Walter helped in all aspects of conception and design of his room. He picked the paint colors, helped paint, and created a space he loves.