Italian Hibiscus, Original Watercolor, Marcia Carole – Hanging in my daughter and son-in-law’s home in Alaska.
On my second grand visit to Italia, I painted quite a bit in Lucca, Italy. I paid to get into an arboretum to paint blooming flowers. I had brought a little folding chair, and got right to work, on a lovely summer day, in front of some bright red hibiscus. (Painting above.) I wanted to be an artist full time, but I had scant idea how to accomplish that goal. The only thing I could think to do was to make art, as much as possible, each and every day.
As I sat painting, a couple from England strolled by. “What a lovely painting.” they said encouragingly. “Do you have a card?” they asked. A card??? It had never entered my head to have a card to hand to anyone. Didn’t they know I wasn’t really an artist, yet? And then again, just maybe I was an artist? I still needed to believe who God made me to be, and that would take another few years.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. Psalm 139
