From trash to treasure
It was an unwanted object, this 3’ x 6’ piece of unfinished plywood, a raw scrap destined to languish in the garage’s corner among the other project leftovers. But I saw a blank canvas.
It had been over a year since transplant surgery and improved health fueled newfound enthusiasm for creating. Nothing seemed off limits. Old furniture, terra cotta pots, the mailbox. Assorted types of paint and brushes accumulated and occupied spaces not meant for such things.
I set up a makeshift work area in the backyard and primed its surface. I started with a sunflower but it wasn’t what I wanted to paint. So why was I? Instead of abandoning the project, I gave myself a do-over.
As I painted and blended a summer sky between sunset and night, I heard my grandmother’s voice, I love who I am when I make something beautiful.
That my husband liked the finished piece of scrap artwork enough to hang it on our back porch gave the dormant artist within a nudge to keep going.
This is the 38th story in the Objects as Waypoints Writing Project series.