My mother actually came to my birthplace, Sauda, to help out a friend. There she fell in love with my father, married and settled down. They loved each other dearly all of their days, but there was a but. My mother never really adjusted to the strange scenery of Sauda, situated at the end of a narrow fjord, surrounded by steep mountains. She would always long home to Jaeren, where sea and sky are meeting, where she could dream of The Land of Elves by sunset time.
My mother loved the color blue, blue sky, blue sea, blue flowers, blue clothes.. and she had the most wonderful blue eyes.
Once she decided that her gray brick walled washroom needed some color. She jumped on her cycle and bought a beautiful, expensive, blue mural painting. The work was finished before my father came home from work, and the result was rather dark and gloomy.
I guess we all laughed at her, but that didn't stop my mother.
With white paint and a old brush she painted songs, birds, flowers and funny verse and thus made her washroom both funny and so very personal. Gunnar saw the art in her work and shot lots of photos with his old camera.
Gunnar made us stop laughing and see what a brave, creative soul my mother really was. we were used to her painting elaborate flowers and birds on fine china. I guess she took us by surprise, and she won.
While decorating the room, she never spoke a word. We were busy outside in the bright summer garden.
Naivism at it's best. Honest and made in a hurry. I love it.
What did I learn? If you fail, don't give up, be brave and smile to the world and the world will be smiling back.
