Having an artist in the house puts everyday items in a new light.
Take my son Ryan’s painting of the American flag. He created it with a digital watercolor program, but his magic touch breathes life into the design. Country singer Van Zant croons “These Colors Don’t Run.” The colors in Ryan’s flag aren’t running away, but they are on the move. That’s what makes this flag jump off the page as if it were alive. You can hear the heart beating, smell the sweat.
Ryan says it’s just his messy style. But to me it looks like the stars in this flag are starting to cry. Maybe they’ve heard the hateful shouts of protestors. The stripes are smudged with blood stains from all those who have died to keep this flag flying. A chaos of blue storms behind the flag. And yet the work is more star-spangled than ever. Strong, confident in spite of all it has been through.
Happy Fourth of July.