In 2016 I made the painting “The hopeful table with patches of consolation”. Acrylics on canvas / 150 cm x 100 cm.
It was the first time I used the golden “patches of consolation” in my work. In my paintings gold stands, among other things, for joy, happiness, spiritual treasure, the sun, immortality and pure light.
I used several symbols of hope in this painting. Like the swallow flying by. The path leading to the horizon. The little flame of the candle on the table. The aquamarine of the plates and the green of the stems and leaves of the flowers and the landscape.
I like to put these little secret messages in all my paintings. They are the visualisation of my emotions, wishes and hopes.
Normally the symbolism in my work is hidden and open for interpretation. So everybody else has room to explore their own feelings and emotions when they look at it.
This painting now no longer has any secrets left. But that’s okay.
It did give me much of the hope and the consolation I needed in this, the most difficult, period in my life. In which I had to deal with the loss of my beloved mother. Making art can obviously do that. Therefor this painting really has a very special place in my heart as it marks the end of an old and the beginning of a new phase.
The short photo-video shows the process of painting “The hopeful table” in my Amsterdam studio. Eventually leading up to an exhibition of the painting starting in May 2016 at the prominent gallery “De Galerie Den Haag” in The Hague.
If you would like to see more of my “making-of-videos” you can go to my YouTube video channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvB0zOnF8yq4bw9p28sHzEA
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Thank you for your time. Yours sincerely, Jacqueline Schäfer.
Jacqueline Schäfer 