Rosemaling and Our Nature is Beauty

This exquisite piece, gifted from my soul sister Jessi True, was painted on cardboard with a classic Telemark style called "Rosemaling." Per Jessi's elegant exposition, "Rosemaling was started as a way to decorate furniture and walls on long winter nights when farming was impossible and one longed for the colors of spring...It's my favorite thing. It's why the flowers are all stylized. There were no flowers to look at. During the season of flowers there was no time for painting because the growing season is so short, so by the time there is time for painting there's no flowers to look at. It is the memory of flowers and the feeling of growth and hope and warmth expressed in oil and pigment." 

But Jessi's eloquent retelling of her ancestors' creative influence also lead me back to the same conclusion that commenced my journey: that at our core, we are meant to to create beauty, regardless of heritage, educational background, or where we are on the socio-economic ladder. The moment we are allowed even a temporary reprieve from survival mode, we seek to create beauty in our own ways, be it carving doodles on the walls of caves with primitive tools, or recreating our wistful yearning for the colors of spring with delicate lines and warm pigments to pass through the cold winter days. Because in the very depth of our hungry souls, we know we are here for much more than to simply exist.