Happy Girl

Happy Girl is a painting of my daughter when she was 4. As I worked, I thought about the times she ran to me with a handful of dandelions, thrilled with the flowers she had picked for me. And later when she was fresh from her bath, wrapped in a towel and cuddling in my arms. Or when she told me a joke that made absolutely no sense.

As I chose the colors for the painting, mostly pinks, and blues, I thought of how chlorine in the swimming pool turned her hair green; and how rosy her cheeks were when she slept. She was such a sweet baby, sleeping through the night her first night home from the hospital.

“It’s important to give up – maybe daily – The old longing to be perfect… of course. I think we want it strongly because if we reason that if we are perfect, if we do a perfect job we will be perfectly lovable… what a heavy burden. Thank God we don’t have to earn every bit of love that comes our way.”   Fred Rogers

"Paintings With Personality"