As I was trying to get ahead in my gift-giving this year, I chose to paint my Mom a couple of poinsettias on a wooden canvas. I originally was going to hold onto this painting for Christmas, but chose to send it a bit early as I thought it would make the perfect Mother's Day gift this year. You see, her Mom's name is Carol, and was born on December 23rd. Every year she was alive, we would celebrate Christmas & her birthday on December 23rd or as close to it as we could get. She loved it when the whole family, her two daughter's, her son's in laws, and her grand-babies would come to visit her, and even more around her birthday and the Holidays. Every year, my Mom would get her something with Poinsettias on it. One year it might be a sweater, another year it might have been a card, or even the wrapping or box her gift was in, and some years my Mom would make her something special with poinsettias on it, such as place mats for her kitchen. This tradition continued more through the years and slowly faded a bit when she had to live in a nursing home due to her dementia. When the time came for her to stop receiving gifts, I tried my best to pass this tradition on to gift my Mom something with poinsettias on it to help honor my grandmother's life the very best I could and to celebrate the beautiful soul that she was. Her love for poinsettias now lives on through my Mom and the meaning behind these beautiful Christmas flowers goes deeper than we may actually know. So despite the red blooming flower of a poinsettia being a little out of season in the month of May, I chose to gift this to my Mom a little early this year. It's my hope that she feels the love from not only her daughter on this day, but the love from her Mom through the simplicity of a hand-painted poinsettia painting.
If you or someone you know has lost a loved one and something as simple as a poinsettia carries years of memories for you, please don't hesitate to contact me. I would love to paint your generational memories for you and your loved ones as I do for my family.