Seasons of My Life

AUTUMN

MARISA GARCIA-ROMERO

I have been a professional interior designer for 25 years. While it has been a very fulfilling career, I have put my dreams of being a painter on the back burner. In fact, I really did not have enough confidence in my skills, so I had art materials but never touched them. I felt insecure.

But then my mother got ill and had to move in with me.  She needed much attention and care.  Even if she had caregivers, my presence was significant to her.  I soon realized that my career had to be put on hold.  Besides, I was developing allergies to the toxins I was exposed to in construction like paint, dust, etc.

This was when I felt the urge again to finally pick up the brush, get an art teacher, and gather some like-minded friends to muster the courage to paint. That was in 2000. I had my first exhibit in the same year. Some eight exhibits later, I still paint weekly on Thursdays with an intimate circle of friends and budding artists. We paint not simply to be skillful on the canvas but, in the hours together, to share our life journeys as mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and artists.

These last two decades have been an advantageous period of my life. Many have passed and painted here in my home, and I feel healed, recharged, and reinvigorated to face life and its daily challenges.

The gift of time I had given my mother has returned to me as a grace to become an artist and a channel of blessing to others.

SPRING    

SUMMER

MARCH 12, 2025

*WINTER*

My winter scene was made at the request of a friend who missed the season when she relocated to the Philippines.

I find myself in “winter” now.  It is a time of shedding my verdant leaves and lush blooms. This is my period of letting go as the trees lose the luminosity of their emerald gowns.  It’s a letting go of stuff, things, an overgrown house, some friends who do not encourage my growth, unforgiveness, control of my children, and outcome of decisions.  Simply put – winter is a time of being laid bare and being my one true self, minus all the trappings and expectations. Winter is serene and pure; I can be my unadorned self as if I were born again.

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