SOLD! BEAUTY IN BROKENNESS

Beauty in Brokenness

original watercolor painting

This original watercolor has found a new home with a very special collector! It has given me great joy to sell this particular painting, as the collector has connected at a very deep level with the symbolism of the egg shells: we are ALL broken people in some way, shape or form... but beauty can come from being broken.

Brokenness is NOT the end - it is simply different, a new course. We are changed in being broken - perhaps even transformed. We do not lose our beauty as precious humans simply because we have been broken. In fact, in this case, there is MORE beauty, because now we see more; we see more deeply.

As I write these words, I think I may have to do more eggshell paintings. But for now, I am thrilled to think that my friend will experience joy and love as she allows the egg shells to remind her of a very difficult yet special time/event in her life!

Beauty in Brokenness

               Beauty in Brokenness

          8 " x 11" on 300 lb. Arches paper

            an original watercolor painting

I generally do not eat eggs. When I was growing up, my mother did a lot of baking... but for some reason, she was not really careful when it came to breaking eggs into her batter. You guessed it - pieces of the crunchy shell ALWAYS ended up in MY piece of the cake, cookie, pie, or whatever it was that she had made. 

You might think that would be enough for one person, but no! My family is my witness... I have been in restaurants where I have had egg shell in mashed potatoes, a piece of glass in my dinner, hair, bugs, and on and on it goes. My kids refer to it as the "Giesbrecht curse" - but they really believe it is a blessing because the whole family would get free dessert, or I would get a fresh meal which they could then eat, or we would not have to pay for my meal. Whatever way you look at it, it somehow became a benefit rather than a deficit. 

I have had it in my mind to do a painting of eggshells for about a year. So, I told my husband that every time he had eggs, could he please rinse the shells and put them in a certain container for me. After several months, I had enough shells to create this painting. 

This is the same painting that I used to demonstrate how to create a dark background. As you can see, with an intensely dark yet varied background, the painting appears to be filled with light.

I have named this painting "Beauty in Brokenness" because we often think that when something difficult happens, when we are "broken",  that it is a dark and devastating thing. And it often feels like that - we are in pain and nothing will ever be the same again. But when you look at brokenness from a different perspective, it can be filled with beauty. New things can happen, and life can be different. Never the same again - but "different" often becomes "better" over time. The symbolism of the eggshell for me is beauty in brokenness.

I will be posting another background technique on Wednesday.

To purchase this painting, contact me: jogiesbrecht@gmail.com