Beauty, Inspiration and Family Heirlooms

I was taking a much needed break from all of the orders I have to paint and complete in time for the holiday season and I stumbled upon some beautiful artwork. As I surfed the web I discovered beautiful fine art paintings at a website called Invaluable.com. From landscape paintings to seascape paintings to oil paintings and portraits they have it all. I was inspired beyond words as many of the paintings made me feel as if I was actually alive and living within the scene. That's one of the best things about art...it can take you back in time and to places you've never been.

As I sat in my living room and continued relaxing I looked around me and felt even more inspiration. My husband's grandmother, Alice Loedding, painted as a hobby and quite a few of her paintings were handed down to us over the years. Grandma Loedding painted so often that I believe most of my husband's extended family have a few pieces of her artwork as well. We have a few small watercolor paintings and a few beautifully framed oil paintings of flowers. My mother-in-law has some in her home as well. Yes, Alice Loedding was incredibly talented and her memory lives on through her paintings.

Of all the paintings we have I cherish one more than any of the others, it's my absolute favorite. The painting that I treasure most is a painting of a local landmark in our town's community park. We live across the street from Buhl Park, a place we frequent almost every day in an attempt to get some exercise for ourselves and our dog. We love our beautiful park and spend a lot of time there. Our children grew up playing on all of the different playgrounds and swimming in the park pool. We feel blessed to live so close and have the opportunity to visit this spot pretty much any time we'd like.

The subject of Alice's painting is the Lake Julia Bridge as she saw it back in 1981...here's a photo of her painting:

The Lake Julia Bridge was recently renovated as it became very worn out over the years from so much use by the locals. While the renovation was much needed it did change the appearance of the bridge a bit. So Grandma Loedding's painting is even more treasured by me because it shows the bridge as it was many years ago. I look at her painting and the memories flood into my mind. I have tons of memories of my kids looking over the side down at the ducks and the swans swimming below us. We used to take them over there every few days and feed the ducks, swans and geese our old bread. I recall the many times we took them fishing and we held our poles off the side of the bridge. I remember so many times we just stood on the bridge and admired all of the beauty and nature that surrounded us. And my husband often shares a story of how his older brother, when he was a teenager, was fishing off the bridge and his eye glasses fell into the water below! Yes, we have many stories and happy memories to share. So you can see why this particular painting evokes such a sense of nostalgia for me.

This painting of Lake Julia Bridge by my grandmother-in-law will hang in our living room for years to come. Then someday in the future this family heirloom will be handed down to one of our children. I'm sure when they grow up they will treasure it as much as we do.

More fun and sharing to come...until then,