Under Construction

watercolor on Arches 156lb cold pressed. The reference image for this painting was taken while my family and I were vacationing in Italy. My sons and I met my husband during his 2 weeks of R&R while he was serving a 1 year deployment in the Middle East. I fell in love with the view looking out onto St. Mark's cathedral from the Doge's Palace. At first I was disappointed that we weren't seeing this in a perfect sate with a postcard perfect view, but I started to see the beauty in the restoration and rebuilding. The intricacies of the scaffolding and the care that goes into such an undertaking is pretty amazing. It's hard not to see this as an analogy for our own lives. I am always striving for perfection but in reality I am a work in progress. This vacation was a reconstruction for our family. Spending a year part for whatever reason is hard but knowing your spouse is in a combat location is just not normal and something our military families are asked to do on a regular basis. No matter how you handle it when you are reunited your family is under construction and in a period of rebuilding for a long time. This painting will always remind that we made it through another deployment.