Grandma's House

Grandma's House by Sarah F. Burns - Three oil paintings in soft colors with white flowers.

Cottage vibes - meditations on comfort, safety, peace, everyday kindness. Memories of the feelings of my grandmothers' houses, and as I age into late 40's, creating a home, garden and body that is a peaceful place to be.  At 49 my body needs more careful maintenance, but my emotions, mind and life are calmer. I cherish being able to tend my home and garden and try to create a place of sanctuary for my husband, myself, and hopefully for anyone who comes to my home.

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It's interesting how a series of paintings evolves. I didn’t really start out to create a series that meditates on stability and grandmothers and the beauty of growing older. But as it emerged, I appreciated what it was about. I think this is a good way to make a series. Start intuitively, see where it goes. Learn about yourself in the process.  

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I started with the apple blossoms, because they were blooming and I could see a path toward making the painting. As I added to the series, I wanted to paint more soft and peaceful beauty.  Next up was a bouquet of white chrysanthemums and red carnations from Trader Joe’s. They felt vintage and reminded me of the 50s. I set them up in a Roseville pottery vase, inherited from my great-grandmother, on a backdrop of vintage scarves.  Just like flowers from Trader Joe’s represent working-class luxury, my cherished family heirlooms are pieces that were special, but not expensive.  

Once I had painted the simple apple blossoms and the busy chrysanthemums, I wanted to create balance with something in-between.  I could finally see the theme emerging was grandmotherly, and being early spring, I knew daffodils would fit right in. Does every grandmother have daffodils? I love seeing a cluster growing, knowing they've been in the ground for years. It's a subtle sign of stability.  I found a pretty peachy, fluffy bunch of daffodils at the farm and garden store, paired it with cyan to echo the chrysanthemums and added a houseplant at the bottom.  

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Both of my grandmothers are really important to me. I love them and miss them and think of them always. They made my life better.  They loved me, guided me and  gave me the freedom to be myself. 

Today I don’t have grandchildren, but I do have nieces and nephews!  I treasure the time I can spend with them. I try to create a sense of safety and love and welcoming. I just want to enjoy them, teaching them things too, of course. And I want to express to them, “I like who you are.” I also want to teach them little traditions that were taught to me. Playing board games, making food, garden chores.  Things I wish I'd had more bandwidth for when I was raising my daughter. 

All of these thoughts and emotions aren't necessarily obvious in this series of paintings. But that's what came out when I started writing about these pieces.  

Now here’s an important distinction. Did I think about this when I was painting them? No.  My conscious goal was to create something soft and traditional. Something that just felt part of my cultural background. 

What emerged, though, was this and that’s one of the things that can be interesting about the painting process. As we paint, the theme emerges. Often it's underneath, intuitive.  I don’t come to the painting process with a preconceived, fully realized idea. The seed of an idea is there, and it grows as the painting process takes place. That's something all artists can explore.

Writing about your work can be really useful. Firstly, it's practical. It helps people connect to your work.  More importantly, it helps you connect to your work, and it helps you uncover deep emotional truths, which is so powerful. This is one of the reasons why the creative process is so valuable for you personally and for the world.

So artists, let’s go out, create work. Write about it. See where it leads! 

These paintings are available for sale - click HERE to purchase.