Ashes To As..--Painting?

There are many ways you have heard of to honor the deceased loved one from scattering the ashes at sea,tossing them from a helicopter over the mountains and even more recently sending them into space.This is a "different" approach...

"Widow uses dead husband's ashes for painting
A widow has immortalised the memory of her husband by commissioning a painting using his ashes.


The oil painting depicts a photo taken on the couple's final holiday last June Photo: CATERS

As well as following tradition and scattering some of his ashes the mother-of-one she chose to have the artwork made as a permanent and everlasting reminder of the former toolsetter.

"I always say that when I look at the painting I can feel George holding my hand," Mrs Filkins said.


Mr Filkins died of a heart attack last September following complications with a stomach ulcer.

The oil painting depicts a photo taken on the couple's final holiday last June, and is the view from their apartment in Menorca, Spain.


Just two weeks after their trip, Mr Filkins became ill and spent the next six weeks at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.

After his death Mrs Filkins, of Bradley, read an article on Sunderland artist Val Thompson, who specialises in incorporating ashes into her paintings, and decided to post some of her husband's ashes to her.

"I saw it in the paper and thought it was a nice idea to have," said the 55-year-old.

The painting cost around £900 and now takes pride of place in her living room. Mrs Filkins added: "It was on an easel when Val uncovered it I cried and fell in love with it.

"It's a happy picture and gives me the feeling I had when we were on holiday."

The couple met in 1972 when they both worked at the Lowe & Fletcher metal factory in Hatton Street, Bilston.

Mrs Filkins spent eight years as a secretary, while her husband was a tool setter for 40 years. They married at St Leonard's Church in Bilston, two years after meeting. Their only son Lee is now 29.

Mrs Filkins, a Wolves fan, also scattered some of her husband's ashes under his long-held seat in the Jack Harris stand at Molineux Stadium."

IN THE LIGHT, By ELEANOR GILPATRICK

This is a feature from an Etsy Artist centered about one of her pieces.You may see her work at her Etsy store.Some are included in the video.

Now retired from the faculty at Hunter College, her previous creative research, study, and teaching could give way to her first love,painting.She incorporates her travels as well.

She read about Etsy in the NY Times.but did not really expect to sell her art on line where it would not be seen in person.
However to her delight a painting sold.She is involved in Etsy and appreciates the community.

Her favorites to paint are landscapes,people caught unaware,especially children in her life.She says "But I just finished a series of 9 paintings about the war. They contrast our peaceful places at home with the terror in Iraq. The nine "In The World" pieces are on display at my website: http://www.gilpatrickart.com/gallery3_featured_series/art_gallery3.htm
and will be in my solo show in May (details are on my Etsy shop page)."Her Etsy shop is http://Egilpatr.etsy.com

When asked what were her thoughts about the supernatural,Elenor said:
"I use the concept of the spiritual, not supernatural, because supernatural has a distorted history of usage. I have gone through being an agnostic, to atheism, to a spiritual path I found that opened me up to the concept that consciousness is primary and matter secondary. That turned me upside down. Later I explored my Judaism by looking at Kabala. I have not been able to submmit to being a member of any specific group for long (organizations are so....you know...), but I know there is a spiritual reality out there, and when I open to it, it moves my life richly forward. As a scientist I know that science has not been open to looking at dimensions it cannot deal with in its old paradigm. I do not paint the themes of the supernatural; but my spirit is what drives me to celebrate beauty and love; and the awe and terror of reality."
In the Light is based on the architecture of the Mosque of the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha in Istanbul, and is a statement about inter-faith peace.

I was in Istanbul with friends on September 11, 2001. We were due to see this little gem by Sinan the next day. Still devastated, we asked to climb upstairs in the empty mosque, and each of us meditated or prayed in his/her own way.

As it happened, the three were Jewish, Christian, and Muslim; the experience was nourishing. I began to think about the way this experience made a statement about what was possible in the world.

The Christian Church of Hagia Sophia, built by Justinian when the city was Constantinople, was the model for the mosques that were built after the Ottoman conquest. Under the Ottomans, Jews were welcome and flourished, taking their architectural style for Synagogues from the local practice.

So the little mosque in the painting could have housed any of the religions, except that the location of the Mihrab would differ a few degrees from that of a sanctuary. In the painting, light streams in through the windows, and in the lower interior the symbols of the three faiths are united in the light.

Acrylic on stretched canvas. Dimensions are 30 x 26 inches; framed dimensions are 32 x 27; $900. Free shipping.