Rose Colored Glasses
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18" x 24" pastel and Prismacolor pencils
and archival gicle'e prints by Ellen Rice This is the painting that gave birth to my Children by the Sea Series, which will eventually become a line of greeting cards based on the healing power of looking at life through a more childlike perspective. Original sold. |
'Rose Colored Glasses'
by Ellen Rice
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My pencil portrait, Rose Colored Glasses, was inspired by a joyous revelation that came to me during a years of very difficult challenges. Mental stress and unhappiness had taken its toll on me physically. Things felt hopeless. I couldn't see a way out and I'd become wracked with debilitating pain, which made things feel even more hopeless. The angel message that brought the breakthrough was the Bible verse: "...Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." - Luke 17:18. No matter how many times I'd come across that verse over the years, I had never really understood it. Why would heaven only be reserved for children, I questioned. Then in one moment of study it became clear. You can't enter the kingdom without childlike perception. I questioned what that was, how we look at things as small children compared to how we see them as adults, and started monitoring how I was looking at things. That was the first step toward spiritual and physical healing and a new course in life. In the midst of everything going on, I started disciplining myself to dwell on the good rather than the negatives. It was hard at first. I started making a gratitude list. So much was going on that it was difficult to see the good, so I started the list on the suggestion of a friend with such simple things as being grateful for gravity because it established order. Instead of seeing brown leaves and twigs on trees, I focused on the greens, the new growth, the buds, the upward reaching branches, on and on and on. The more I sought out and concentrated on the good, the easier it became. Not only did the physical pain leave, but the rest, a long, abusive marriage and other situations, were resolved in ways never imagined. It is not what is going on in our lives that controls our peace; it is the way we see it, and we have that choice. I sought a way to illustrate this in a way that would benefit others, and one day a snapshot my mother had taken of my youngest niece after she'd put on her grandmother's sunglasses came to mind. I hoped those viewing the painting would question why the painting was called Rose Colored Glasses when the happy child's glasses were blue, and realize it was the way she was viewing everything that made her life look "rosy". I often write the Bible verse in the margin of the prints to help get the message across. It is possible to retain or regain our "rose colored" view of life in the midst of losses and difficulties by seeking out the good that is in truth always surrounding us, even if we have to look for it, and by then reflecting it in all we do. It just might make someone else's life rosier, too, and that brings the greatest joy. It's my hope this has helped you. With love, Ellen |
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