I attended a funeral yesterday of an artist friend, Wilma Allen. She lived an artful life of 96 years. She was always honest and frank but you never wondered what she meant by her words. You knew. She was a talented artist but also an encourager of others' art. She was a dedicated Christian. One of the pastors told a neat story about her. He said he was there under false pretenses as her pastor. He was not her pastor. She had attended his church for maybe 20 years but never joined. She was still a member of the church she helped form and felt she should always be but she had been very active in his church as a leader, Sunday school member and always present until she could no longer attend. The chaplain from the nursing facility where she had resided read the words from Psalm 139- " O Lord you have searched me and know me." The former recited these beautiful words from Rudyard Kipling.
L'Envoi
When Earth's last picture is painted,
and the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded,
and the youngest critic has died
We shall rest, and, faith we shall need it--
lie down for an aeon or two,
'Til the Master of All Good Workmen
shall set us to work anew!
And those that were good will be happy:
they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas
with brushes of comet's hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from--
Magdalene, Peter and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting
and never be tired at all!
And only the Master shall praise us,
and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money,
and no one shall work for fame;
But each for the joy of the working,
and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It
for the God of Things as They Are!
Rudyard Kipling
The only thing missing was music (it was a graveside funeral) but I think I heard angels humming in the breeze.
Image is another angel paperdoll piece I am working on. I think it just may be Wilma's angels. Maybe she's in the chorus.
