Tender Tears

Because this blog augments my art web page, I will occasionally be re-submitting some of my earlier art stories. This morning I decided to re-visit Tender Tears, and the mystery which surrounds this chalk drawing.

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I was 11 years old when my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Young, gave the class a page of black construction paper and a thick stick of chalk. I vividly remember drawing a fan of lines from the bottom of the page, with horizontal lines crossing where I thought the eyes, nose and mouth should be. Time seemed to slow as I gently smudged chalk into the darkness of the paper. Slowly a face emerged. I did not know who it was, but I loved the tender expression of his eyes.

My Mother liked it so well, she framed my drawing and hung it in the stairwell of our home.

Over 30 years later, I slid the picture out of its frame to scan it into my computer.

Here is the mystery.

Imagine my astonishment when I noticed tear stains soaking through the chalk, trickling from those wonderful eyes, seeping down the plane of one cheek. If you look closely you can actually see the tear stains pushing through the chalk lines. How on earth did they get there? My drawing had been sealed in its frame for more than 30 years.

Today the picture, which I've entitled Tender Tears, hangs in our upstairs hallway gallery. Every now and then I stop to look, and to ponder how those tear stains got there.

Sissy thinks the picture looks a little like my husband. I am not sure. Either way, it's a wonderful mystery.