Stencil

I chose to stencil two roses and a leaf on my sketchbook this week. Similar to Professor Lopez, roses have always been a theme of wonderment in my life. As a little girl I grew up in Chicago. Chicago has brutal winters and I remember as a young girl experiencing the icy cold months that would sprawl on as if warmth was a distant memory never to be had again. But of course, after months and months of frigid weather, the first signs of spring would appear and the city would be abuzz with new life. There was a small, very old, rose garden near my house that was next to an old green church. I simply called it, "the rose garden."
When the spring months would roll around I would beg my dad to take me to get a donut at the local bakery and then go to the rose garden and play in the beautiful bursts of color and lush grassy lawn. I recall some of my fondest memories spent on a Saturday afternoon with my dad, a donut and the roses, we would wander through the isles and talk about spirituality. He would tell me that roses are some of the most resilient flowers because the bushes last generations and generations, but they must be properly maintained. Thats why roses are held in such high prestige for gardeners and green thumbs alike. Now as an adult, I look back at that rose garden and can associate it with my own spirituality today. Similar to a rose bush, we as humans are resilient and all go through icy times, its part of human nature, nobody can escape it. But if properly maintained, we can swing back around and burst with the reds and yellows and pinks of life, love and gratitude.