Deep Peace ~ Personalised Remembrance Calligraphy Canvas

The symbolism of the tree & water are popular elements on the remembrance canvasses I write…. the tree… the tree of life… a winter tree for when life comes to a close….  roots in earth and branches in air… the body, left behind on earth and the spirit moving on. Water…. cleansing…. A vast ocean with hidden depths…. a river…. flowing… life flows… continuity yet continually changing….

They have different meanings for different people, and never ever look quite the same…. colours, photographs, words & arrangements change, but this combination of creams & browns with blue & silver is without doubt the most popular. They're calming colours… respectful but not sombre… neutral but not dull…. colours that whisper words of comfort. Biblical quotations are always popular & many people find comfort in them, but any words can be used.

There's a gentleness about this one… a tenderness… and it actually took several attempts to ensure that the name was the best shade & size to harmonise with whole piece. That one word took as long to sit comfortably as all the rest put together… from too big, to too small, to too bold, to too pale…. but I couldn't let it go until it was just right for this particular young man. It often feels that they are there with me, nudging me to make small changes because it 'feels' necessary, that at another time may seem ok.

It feels a privilege to create something that can bring some comfort to those suffering a bereavement & it can take a good few emails to get the sense of what to do for a particular person. That conversation is often as much a part of the grieving process for a client as it is for me to decide on what to do…. but very necessary & welcome.

If this is something you may like, I can be contacted at suziscribbles@yahoo.co.uk.

Memorial Artwork

 I had quite a challenge to incorporate all the different elements requested in this series of canvasses. It was important to incorporate the skyline of a favourite view visible from a window, so using a photograph, I could tear along the length of the mountain ridge & use it as a template to paint over. My client also loved the blue-black skies & gold lettering seen in earlier work of mine.

Another element required, was a representation of the five trees that a father had planted for his children, and I needed to make each canvas similar but different for each child. This was a touching tribute to their father, and a way for the siblings to share something that honoured his memory.

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Although in reality all the trees had red leaves, I highlighted a different one on each canvas. The layout for the calligraphy was broadly the same, but there is some variation in the line-breaks, and how the trees worked out slightly also affected the placement of text a little. Rather than gold lettering I settled on copper, originally intending to use it for the full poem. However as I highlighted the red tree with a bronze-y red, I realised that it would also pull things together better to use that for the 2nd part of the poem too, especially as the two parts have a different feel to the words.

The poem is "At a Window" by Carl Sandburg~

Give me hunger,

O you gods that sit and give

The world it's orders.

Give me hunger, pain and want,

Shut me out with shame and failure

From your doors of gold and fame,

Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,

A voice to speak to me in the day end,

A hand to touch me in the dark room

Breaking the long loneliness.

In the dusk of day-shapes

Blurring the sunset,

One little wandering star

Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.

Let me go to the window,

Watch there the day-shapes of dusk

And wait the coming

Of a little love.