The Craftiest Workshop

I often read on my brother’s Facebook page, Russell Thomas Art, that a particular event, photograph or story inspires him to paint something.

I had a similar moment of inspiration during my Aunt Betty’s memorial service in late October.

I decide to make these wood burned and painted wood slices as a memorial to her.

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First there was something that my cousin Marcel read.

It was written in 2008 by my aunt entitled “The Song of My Life” and it mentioned the principles that she felt that one should use to lead their best life:

PEACE…..LOVE….RESPECT……CARING.

Those four words really resonated with me.

Later in the service my brother mentioned seeing an owl on the morning of my aunt’s death and it was mentioned that when you see one, someone has passed away.

The owl is also a symbol of knowledge and intelligence; traits that many people said my aunt possessed.

The wood I used for three of the owls was reclaimed from the Fort Mac 2016 wildfire and is so dry that it allows light to seep through. The fourth piece is from the root of a Maple tree that had to be cut down from my husband’s parent’s yard. As Betty liked thriftiness, this is my way of honoring her love of reusing and recycling.

I decided to create four of these owls with different colours to represent the four seasons.

In the tiny hearts at the base of each one are the initials J & B( Joe & Betty).

Joe and Betty had five children. I sent one owl to each of the four sons living in Canada in early November. It took a long time for them all to arrive at their destinations but the last one arrived just before Christmas. The fifth son is living in Venezuela and I discovered, as I was creating the owls, that there is no snail mail there…thus the reason for only four owls.

I see the four owls as Joe and Betty still watching over their extended family through all the seasons for the years to come.