Just this morning I wrote about the "mystery spectacular surprise" that my mom was sending me. My girls and I anxiously waited for the sound of the UPS truck. In the middle of serving up some hot dogs for lunch, we heard it! The doorbell rang and finally the mystery surprise was on our doorstep! It even said "Surprise" on the box. I looked at the return address and gasped.....instead of saying my mom's address, it said Blackbird Design. Blackbird Design is the name of my favorite artist's website. My favorite artist, as a few of you know, is Deirdre Friebely, who I have written about before on my blog. I have five of Deirdre's paintings hanging in my stairwell. They make me incredibly happy every time I walk past them. If this box was coming from Deirdre, I KNEW it had to be amazing and special!
This suprise was very well packaged. Under the first layer of box, was another box that said "Surprise from your mother." At this point, I was furiously cutting through packing tape with a knife. I felt like the little boy in A Christmas Story, Ralphie, when he opened up his Red Ryder BB Gun.....that feeling of anticipation like no other. Avery was worried about my careless use of the knife and told me to slow down because she didn't want me to get hurt!
After peeling off the many layers of box, bubble wrap, and plastic, I saw my treasure. Not just a Deirdre Friebely painting, but one that was personalized for my own little family! My mom actually commissioned Deirdre to make us a painting!!! It is so perfect in every way. It says on top "Our house is like a 3 ring circus." On the bottom it says, "Featuring Matthew the Marvel and Leaping Lindsay with Astonishing Avery and Prodigious Piper not to mention their sidekick Bewitching Bansh." Matthew (fittingly upside down) and I are balancing on top on a tight rope, Piper is in the middle balancing on a bike, Avery is waving a flag while balancing on balls, and our cat (Bansh) is resting atop an elephant. The quote on Avery's flag says "giddiness and courage." Photos do not do this justice. I love whimsy, so when Deirdre figured out a way to show the happy chaos of our home with her whimsical style, she hit it dead on! 
Below is a closeup shot of the part that says "not to mention their sidekick the Bewitching Bansh." This is so perfect because our cat is officially named Tabasco, but we only refer to her as Bansh for the last several years. Bansh is short for banshee. I can not explain why we refer to Tabasco as "Bansh" but we just do. We never, ever call her Tabasco. This tiny detail in the painting is so wonderful....something only a very few people know about us!
Here is the closeup of our Bansh, who is also orange and white in real life. Bansh (Tabasco) tends to hide from all visitors, so I find it fitting that she is proudly making her entrance at the circus on an elephant.
Below is a closeup of Avery. Deirdre always includes a phrase that inspires her paintings. The phrase, which describes us well, was "giddiness and courage." There is a lot of giddiness at our house. And sometimes there is even courage.
I am playing around with locations for the painting. Here it is on our mantle. I am not sure if this will be its permanent home yet or not.
I just don't know what to say. Thank you to my mom for going above and beyond to contact Deirdre Friebely. Thank you to Deirdre Friebely for being convinced to do a painting for us, especially since my mom learned she doesn't often do this for people. Mom said that she gave her no rules or limits.....pretty much just gave her our names, probably a brief description of us, and the secret name of our cat, of course. She told Deirdre to do whatever she wanted.....knowing of course that anything painted by Deirdre is wonderful. She also told Deirdre that she was fond of Deirdre's recent painting entitled "Apt Description." I still can't get over the whole thing. 
2 comments:
I am beside myself with excitement. I wanted to give you something special that I knew you would treasure. Clothing and trinkets can come and go but art is forever. I am so in love with her work. It was so worth it. I love my girl!
that painting is SO special...amazing
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