Bonnie Van Moorlehem Pattys Story page 6

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	Excerpt from Patty's Story	Artist Comments -Bonnie Van Moorlehem
(click on thumbnails for larger images)	Painting 13 - Patty’s Story My Dream 4 0” x 30”, acrylic on canvas “I would like to live in Arizona where it stays in the 70’s and 80’s all year around. I would like a small purple house with a fence for my dog Kasey to run around and play in. I would like to live in town close to my neighbor. And I like to live close to downtown malls and grocery store. I would like to have plenty of money so I can take Driver’s Ed Class. I can buy a new 1998 light purple Oldsmobile that I can drive. I would like a telephone in the car and a radio and a tape player in my car. I would like to know what it’s like to use two hands at the same time. I would like to know what it’s like to walk in a straight line without tripping or falling all the time. I would like to know what it’s like to be in good health all the time. I would like to have a job being a nurse so I can help the sick people. I would like to have two kids of my own. I would like one to be a girl and one to be a boy. I would like a man as my husband to help take care of the kids. I would like my husband to go to church with me every Sunday. I would like to have a very handsome and a friendly husband. I don’t want a husband that goes out drinking or does drugs. I would like a husband that has a good paying job and that is a good worker. I would like to go places like weeknights or weekends. I would like to go out to a dance club and do some dancing once in awhile. I would like to go to a good movie once in awhile. I would like to have my lady friends over sometimes and play cards." --excerpt from Patty's story	Painting No. 13 – My Dream – Being the eternal optimist this is Patty’s favorite painting. It represents the highest degree of hope for her. I struggled with this painting in the way to paint with my abstract style yet to allow enough symbols in the painting for Patty to recognize I understood her dream. The painting is in bright colors to represent a dream and not reality. This painting is comprised of symbols of Patty’s yearnings to own a house, with a fenced in yard for her dog to run freely, a cross for her devoted faith and a steering wheel for her desire to drive a car. Her dream is what most of us take for granted. --- Bonnie Van Moorlehem
	Painting 14 - Patty’s Story My Reality 30” x 40”, acrylic on canvas “I wanted to be more independent and to start a new life. I moved to a city in Minnesota to find out what other jobs I could do besides dishes. I worked at the Rehab Center to start with. Melissa, my youngest sister, who lives in the same city with me, opened up a daycare center. She offered me a job helping her. Then my sister sold the daycare center so she could spend more time with her family. The new owners allowed me to stay and work for them. I take care of babies for six weeks to eighteen months. I also do a lot of dishes and a wash many bottles. My current boss, Carolyn is so good to me. There are times I wish someone would listen to my problems once in a while. I get the feelings my problems are not that important. There are many things I wish I could learn how to do. One of them is learning how to drive a car. I really want to learn how to drive a car really bad. I feel left out on a lot of things in my lifetime. I feel like everybody is learning how to do things in their life and people do not let me try things because I’m handicapped. People seldom give me a chance to try anything. Many people do not know what it is like to deal with these problems the rest of your life. I know it won’t always be easy but I will have to find a way to deal with it and move on with my life.” --excerpt from Patty's story	Painting No. 14 – My Reality – represents Patty currently. This painting is the conclusion of this project. In the painting, My Reality, Patty is represented by a flower shape like the first painting when she was born. The shape of this flower reflects how her life is now. Patty survived her surgery and recovered much more than we expected her to. She is medication free and surprises us at how well she learns. Since Patty recovered from the surgery, she has not had any more seizures and lives independently. Now the petals of the flower are no longer straight and in full view. This reflects that her physical body has changed since she was born and that her body is no longer perfect in the eyes of the world. This painting has darker colors yet still is bright and vibrant to show that she has gained experiences both good and bad and has matured. The bent petals on top of the flower also reflect that the world can no longer see the entire person, but only the physical challenges. Much like when people buy a flower, they will only pick out the perfect flowers and by-pass the flowers that have a bent petal, they fail to acknowledge that the flower still has beauty. The result of seeing all that Patty has endured has taught me to be furiously protective of those I love and to stand up for them. Even if it means by doing so, I will not be accepted by society’s norms or rules. I have learned more from Patty than I have from anyone else in my life. No matter what obstacles she encounters and has to overcome she remains devoted to her faith. I did not feel like I was painting alone but was totally inspired and carrying out a job that I was suppose to do. As Patty reminded me once, I was lucky to paint her story; otherwise, I would have been painting boring things like flowers and fruit! --- Bonnie Van Moorlehem

Excerpt from Patty's Story

Artist Comments -Bonnie Van Moorlehem

(click on thumbnails for larger images)

Painting 13 - Patty’s Story
My Dream
4 0” x 30”, acrylic on canvas

“I would like to live in Arizona where it stays in the 70’s and 80’s all year around. I would like a small purple house with a fence for my dog Kasey to run around and play in. I would like to live in town close to my neighbor. And I like to live close to downtown malls and grocery store. I would like to have plenty of money so I can take Driver’s Ed Class. I can buy a new 1998 light purple Oldsmobile that I can drive. I would like a telephone in the car and a radio and a tape player in my car. I would like to know what it’s like to use two hands at the same time. I would like to know what it’s like to walk in a straight line without tripping or falling all the time. I would like to know what it’s like to be in good health all the time. I would like to have a job being a nurse so I can help the sick people. I would like to have two kids of my own. I would like one to be a girl and one to be a boy. I would like a man as my husband to help take care of the kids. I would like my husband to go to church with me every Sunday. I would like to have a very handsome and a friendly husband. I don’t want a husband that goes out drinking or does drugs. I would like a husband that has a good paying job and that is a good worker. I would like to go places like weeknights or weekends. I would like to go out to a dance club and do some dancing once in awhile. I would like to go to a good movie once in awhile. I would like to have my lady friends over sometimes and play cards."

--excerpt from Patty's story

Painting No. 13 – My Dream – Being the eternal optimist this is Patty’s favorite painting. It represents the highest degree of hope for her. I struggled with this painting in the way to paint with my abstract style yet to allow enough symbols in the painting for Patty to recognize I understood her dream. The painting is in bright colors to represent a dream and not reality. This painting is comprised of symbols of Patty’s yearnings to own a house, with a fenced in yard for her dog to run freely, a cross for her devoted faith and a steering wheel for her desire to drive a car. Her dream is what most of us take for granted.

--- Bonnie Van Moorlehem

Painting 14 - Patty’s Story
My Reality
30” x 40”, acrylic on canvas

“I wanted to be more independent and to start a new life. I moved to a city in Minnesota to find out what other jobs I could do besides dishes. I worked at the Rehab Center to start with. Melissa, my youngest sister, who lives in the same city with me, opened up a daycare center. She offered me a job helping her. Then my sister sold the daycare center so she could spend more time with her family. The new owners allowed me to stay and work for them. I take care of babies for six weeks to eighteen months. I also do a lot of dishes and a wash many bottles. My current boss, Carolyn is so good to me.
There are times I wish someone would listen to my problems once in a while. I get the feelings my problems are not that important.
There are many things I wish I could learn how to do. One of them is learning how to drive a car. I really want to learn how to drive a car really bad. I feel left out on a lot of things in my lifetime. I feel like everybody is learning how to do things in their life and people do not let me try things because I’m handicapped. People seldom give me a chance to try anything.
Many people do not know what it is like to deal with these problems the rest of your life. I know it won’t always be easy but I will have to find a way to deal with it and move on with my life.”

--excerpt from Patty's story

Painting No. 14 – My Reality – represents Patty currently. This painting is the conclusion of this project. In the painting, My Reality, Patty is represented by a flower shape like the first painting when she was born. The shape of this flower reflects how her life is now. Patty survived her surgery and recovered much more than we expected her to. She is medication free and surprises us at how well she learns. Since Patty recovered from the surgery, she has not had any more seizures and lives independently.
Now the petals of the flower are no longer straight and in full view. This reflects that her physical body has changed since she was born and that her body is no longer perfect in the eyes of the world. This painting has darker colors yet still is bright and vibrant to show that she has gained experiences both good and bad and has matured. The bent petals on top of the flower also reflect that the world can no longer see the entire person, but only the physical challenges. Much like when people buy a flower, they will only pick out the perfect flowers and by-pass the flowers that have a bent petal, they fail to acknowledge that the flower still has beauty.

The result of seeing all that Patty has endured has taught me to be furiously protective of those I love and to stand up for them. Even if it means by doing so, I will not be accepted by society’s norms or rules. I have learned more from Patty than I have from anyone else in my life. No matter what obstacles she encounters and has to overcome she remains devoted to her faith.

I did not feel like I was painting alone but was totally inspired and carrying out a job that I was suppose to do. As Patty reminded me once, I was lucky to paint her story; otherwise, I would have been painting boring things like flowers and fruit!

--- Bonnie Van Moorlehem

SPECIALTHANKS TO THE FOLLOWING:

I want to thank Patty for allowing me to paint her story.

I also would like to thank the following people who have given me words of encouragement and suggestions during the last two years, while working on Patty’s Story

--To my Mother and my siblings Dave and Melissa for their support.
--A special thank you to my brother Michael who sent me countless e-mails helping me
with the turning points of the story and who critiqued my paintings.
--To my daughter Sara who originally opened my eyes to the art world and for our
numerous art discussions and her painting critiques.
--To my husband Roger for his patience of proofreading and putting up with all of my
late hours of painting into the night.
--To my son Jon for putting up with me when I had the attention span of a fly, when the topic was not art. (Jon's words)
--To my sister Becky who gave me encouragement and for her painting critiques.
--To my sister Candace and my brother-in-law Jeff for giving me advice on my website.
--To my associate and mentor Ed Evans for encouraging me to paint and sparking my interest in art.
--To SMAHC for the artist grant for promoting my artwork.
--To Rebecca Day for all of her support she has given my artwork since I started to paint.
--To the PraireNet Cluster Broadband Grant helping making this website possible.
--To all of my friends and relatives who have given me encouragement and who so freely gave me feedback.

----- Bonnie Van Moorlehem

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e-mail: bonnievm@mvtvwireless.com	© Bonnie Van Moorlehem 2006