It’s become extremely apparent to me recently that almost all of my projects have two major themes - they’re sentimental and they’re records of memories. I want to hold onto and cherish happy memories for myself and for others. Also, a lot of my projects are long-term - often they take 2+ years. Even though sometimes I feel rushed to keep up with the fast pace of the world, I keep reminding myself that often the things I’ve created that I’ve loved most have taken lots of time (patience is not one of my virtues, and as someone with lots of ideas, I constantly want to move on to “newer, better” things). And so I’ve been pushing myself to finish projects I’ve started.
This project is all of the above. Started in March of 2022, I just completed it a few weeks ago in 2024. It started as a bit of an “isolation creation” exercise - an ongoing mini-practice in painting when our family was still not out and about in the world. It was also the moment that my daughter started remembering and reminding me of things, and I wanted to see if little visual paintings would help her remember some of her first memories.
Our long-haul renovation is still in full-blown construction mode, and the kitchen will be the absolute last on the list. I decided to paint some tiles as a backsplash behind our stove area, and fill them in over time with little paintings of things our family did together. Low budget, low time project, using leftover paint from one of our paint samples.
The very first one was our daughter’s 2nd birthday. It was the first year she cared about the cake (SUPER-memorable), that there were two candles on it, and that she was now two:
1. Her 2nd birthday cake! Flowers in icing and two candles.
The rest were filled in when I thought of something she really loved, an experience we had together, or sometimes just to fill something in when it matched our kitchen.
2. The bell in front of the fire station that we went to every evening on our walk. She would get out of her stroller, ring the bell, and sing "Panie Janie" in Polish to celebrate. 3. Tattoos she got with her dad and me on our wrists. 4. A felt heart with a magnet that we have on our fridge, made by a dear friend of mine for Valentine's Day years ago, that is one of her favorites to play with.
5. First pierogi (she liked them). 6. When my dad visited, we went to a park where planes fly overhead. 7. We often went to the park where there was a walkway over the water - one really sunny day all of the turtles were out sunning themselves on a log! 8. I like flowers, and felt I needed to add some to the wall. 9. I asked her what she would like me to paint, and she chose this cup from our cabinet. 10. I have tried to methodically get her to fall in love with seals as much as I have, and I think it's working. 11. Another filler piece, but we have a lot of lemon-themed kitchen items, some brought back from a trip to Capri. 12. A duck in the pond we often visited. 13. Some dried lavender I bought and arranged for the house.
As our life opened up and she got older, we started taking more trips - West Virginia in the summer and later to ski in the winter, Georgia/Florida on a road trip, our two-week camping trip up the East Coast last summer, then Spain.
14. The worst of the "filler" tiles, but I had committed to a lack of perfection and left it to be. 15. We took our first trip and met my dad in Blackwater Falls, WV. He rode his motorcycle back to St. Louis! It was very memorable for K. 16. She also couldn't stop talking about all the huge windmills on the tops of the hills in WV. 17. She finally met my brother for the first time! He got her a beautiful Snow White princess dress, which has been her favorite ever since (she still asks to wear it most days). 18. A magic wand that was part of a Halloween costume. 19. A bunny we saw on a walk near Grandma's house. 20. A gingerbread house we built and she got to decorate. 21. The trees in Georgia on her first long road trip. 22. Our second long road trip ~ 2 weeks ~ camping in a rooftop tent around Maine and Nova Scotia.
23. Her first time skiing in WV, which she loved/hated in equal measure. 24. Our most recent trip to Spain, where when I asked what her favorite memory was that she would like me to paint, she said "jumping over the waves at the beach holding Dziadzio's hand". 25. A specific party favor she chose for her 4th birthday party!
At the very end, I told her we were done with the mural but we needed to fill in one last tile - and we all needed to sign it. She is learning how to write now, and was thrilled to sign the painting! She wrote our names in pencil, and I painted them over exactly:
26. "Tata", "Mama" (backwards, she always likes to do this), "KH"
Such a beautiful way to memorialize these moments from her childhood! Love!