As Peg discovers, life is defined by what you leave behind…and what you decide to take with you.
I’ve decided to leave Victoria, but this isn’t really about that.
I’ve decided to sell most of my belongings, but this isn’t really about that either.
The one thing I WILL be m
oving right along with me is my artwork. By “my” artwork, I don’t mean artwork that I have created, but the artwork I have purchased over the years. These are the pieces I love to hang in my living space. No matter what else I sell off, the art will come with me.
To sell off everything but art requires a lot of cleaning and clearing. I photograph for UsedVictoria.com the pieces that I can sell, some things I cherish I need to photograph for posterity, with the plan to write the story about that item to keep with me instead of the actual item.
Some of this I learned from a young woman who helped me clean and clear the last time I felt the need.
You see, I’ve lived in this dwelling for ten years, and things have been piling up. Clever gal that she is, she actually went to the library to find some helpful hints, and we did an admirable job of making some space here. However, it is now time for another whack at it – a final whack – major decisions about what to take to another province, and what I can let go.
The last thing anyone preparing for this kind of life change should be doing is buying something new. Anything is too much at this point. Try as I might, there is no way I can justify a purchase of any kind. However, in the eleven years I have lived in Victoria, I have purchased jewelry, prints, cards and glass, but no traditional hang-it-on-the-wall artwork.
Some say that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear; in this case, I say when the buyer is ready, the artist will appear. I have met several visual artists since being here, and yet I’ve not purchased one original from any of them – until this week.
This is a young man with a yet untrained hand who shows a lot of talent. There is movement and light and depth and whimsy in his work, and he had for sale a bright and wonderful almost-abstract representation of tulips. What better piece to remind me of my time in the “City of Gardens”?
And so, in spite of the fact I’m supposed to be getting rid of things, I am the proud owner of a sizable new artwork. Yet another piece to package carefully and take with me to a land far away from tulips and trellises; from boats and sea breezes. Even though I am not gone yet, this artwork already brings me a great deal of joy. Every time I look at it I smile. Regret this particular purchase? Not for one nanosecond!
Image Credit
Liam Odell, Contemporary Artist
Greetz, Pegz. Ye dooz moves huh? Keeps safe. Nice noogies. OXOXOXOX Hugs an tagles tooz. Kay.
From a back pack, to the back seat of a VW Bug, to half ton pick up to a 28foot box truck to a semi to a “barn load of possessions”…life’s journey…a calculus for dreams and stability, new directions and old habits. From what I read the new piece is the first step of a journey to the new life. Good luck and as i remember tulips grow every year in the early spring.
Hi Peg, I recently did something similar in my efforts to streamline my life. It’s amazing all the “junk” I sold, but what I kept were the precious pieces, the art… For me, it was a true exercise in deciding what was really important. Thanks for yet another reminder of what endures.