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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Burgess Street by Sweet Repeats Studio Shoppe

8 x 16 Mixed Media Acrylic Painting on stretched canvas

"Burgess Street"

burgessstreetfrontcrop
A lovely street close to town where I lived growing up, the first house is a whimsical interpretation of the duplex home my Mom bought and raised three girls in.

burgesstop
The street sat at the bottom a great big hill that led to our school. There was a place across the road where we could go sledding in the winter or race our bikes down in the summer.
burgess sideview2
The simpler times when life seemed so carefree.
burgess1
My new series of whimsical villages is turning into a journey of all the places I've lived and it's funny how you can forget things about your past or your child hood until there's a reason to fast forward them to the future. The first home my Mom purchased on her own after Dad and her had split up was this house on 5 Burgess. It was a modest duplex home with three bedrooms and a pool in the back yard. Our next door (literally) neighbors were another single family with three kids. Our schools were right across the road and friends dotted the neighborhood up and down the hill. It was the kind of place where we planted roots for many years as Mom began to rebuild our lives.
burgess sideview3
But as all good things must come to an end, we moved on to another town when I was in 8th grade. I'll never forget how distraught I was at leaving all that I knew, the friends I had in my circle since I was 6 years old. It was truly devastating to leave but then again, most children find it hard to move when they are young, I was no different than many others who traveled that road many times before me. My 8th grade year was a year that I had some life changing events happen, which helped shape me into the person I am to day. It was also that year that I was hit by a car, just down the road from the new home we moved to after we left Burgess. All is well now--but it was a long road to recovery for me in more ways then one. I hadn't thought about all this in a very long time, that is, until I started creating this whimsical piece.

What do you remember about your Burgess Street?

10 comments :

Raesha D said...

This painting is gorgeous!!!! My street was Lester Road - we lived there in a house built by my parents from when I was just about 7 til I was 15. We had a community center at the end of the road where we had a community potluck each month. We rode our big wheels up and down the street all the time - it was a very rural area so there was very little traffic. We lived on a beautiful wooded lot just about 5 acres and had a tree house, wild blackberry bushes, and lots of good places for hide and seek. I loved our time on Lester Road - I dream about that house quite a bit and everytime I'm in WA I drive by it - it's fun to see what the various owners over the years have changed.

Anonymous said...

Lovely painting! And such a wonderful story behind it =). My street was filled with sweet memories of family, love and simplicity. I miss my old home/street so much!

Patti Edmon Artist said...

I think you are doing fabulous, life altering work now. Having also moved at a tender age (16) I can so relate but here's the weird thing. When I was 8, I got hit by a car! Yes, a long recovery but no life long damage (well, that might be debatable?:)
Love your stuff girl!

Heather Robinson said...

Oh I love visiting your blog, Lucy. You write so beautifully and so personally and it is like a journey to get to know you better and better through your musings and your very evocative artwork.

Anonymous said...

I like Burgess Street -tho for the love of Pete, I cannot imagine getting hit by a car. Gawd that musta been so traumatic.

Anyhow, what I really like are your magnets. Personally, I think you should take those and enlarge them into a series. Or take any other singular motif (like one house) you've painted on an individual canvas then mount it to board like I saw below with the dragon fly and make that your background.

Make sense? It's like you're building depth w/canvas then on board (or more canvas).

Nice job.

Paula said...

I love the story with your artwork. You've probably already thought of this, but I think you should print that and attach it to the back of the piece.
My childhood Burgess was small and pink, lots of raspberry bushes in the side yard and just down the street from Grandma & Grandpa's. A wonderful place to be a kid...

Denise said...

Are you working entirely from memory or using pictures? I can still see my childhood street so clearly although I can barely remember yesterday.

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely painting and the memory that goes with it is so substantial. I agree with Paula, this post would be the perfect accompaniment to this piece. You should write a book after your finish this series and include each painting on one side of the page and it's memory/story on the opposite page. What a wonderful book you would create so full of color and joy!!
My Burgess Street was in the Indian Hills section of my birthplace. We lived there until I was 11 and then we moved. Oh how I did not want to move and leave all of my cousins and friends behind. The one thing I remember is my upstairs bedroom window looking out over our street (I don't remember the name of the street). Another memory is all of us kids gatherng at the center of the community at the playground/community center. I took many craft classes and piano lessons in the center and I lived on the jungle gym, viewing my world upside down. How was I to know that move really would turn my life upside down.

Anonymous said...

Sweet Lucy, I read your post and could not believe...we lived in a home just like you painted but attached to all the other homes on the street when I was a child in Yonkers, New York. I went to the same grade school and had the same first grade teacher that my father had. PS number 23. It was like the United Nations. Every ethnic group lived either on our block or the very next one. But, that life ended for me when we moved to Texas. I was such an outcast. Even my teachers said I talked too fast and was really put down for being different. Gradually, I learned how to fit in to a very slow, very different lifestyle. And now, I don't want to be anyplace else in the world but Texas. Hey, thanks for that trip down memory lane (I think, lol).

glimmering prize said...

Yes gurlfriend- I hve been busy-life as you know has a way of being crazy...
that said you've been busy too! thanks for thinking of me and popping in to say hi!
LR