Nita here again. Here is my entry for the first round for the race. This one was all about the journaling to me. Straight from the heart. The graphic part of scrapbooking is easy to me but writing has never been one of my strong points. I'm learning!

The text reads as follows:

an Amazing likeness....

I cried the first time I visited the National Gallery.
It was this painting that did it to me.
Not the one above but the one to the left. That's the original.

The copy above hung in our dining area for most of my childhood. She watched me eat my meals day in and day out. The one above was painted by my Dad, an amazing artist who taught himself to paint by copying the great masters.

In March 1996 I got to see the original for the very first time. I stood in the National Gallery and wept. Dad had passed away unexpectedly just 3 months before. He never saw the original Kitchen Maid and my first thought was "I have to call Dad to tell him how amazing this is". Then it hit me that I could no longer call him and he would never get to see this masterpiece for himself. Yes, I cried, quietly and Gary understood without my having to say a word. Patiently he waited for me and then we continued to explore this amazing museum. A musuem that made me both smile and cry many times that day.

I was given this painting in February that year. It was a gift from my Mom as Gary and I headed to a new job in Virginia. The Kitchen Maid now watches over my family as we eat our meals and one day I hope to pass her on to one of my daughters.





credits are as follows:


Royanna Fritschmann StudioRA French Flea Market, French Grunge Papers

Kellie Mize Papers, KHM Web Challenge 062407 Freebie from Designer Digitials

Curled Edges, by Jan Hicks, Scrap Girls

Designs by KariQ Swirls overlay number 1

photos of National Gallery and Chardin's Kitchen Maid from public domain, Wikipedia.

fonts: SilverScriptFlourishes, Swis721 BT, Swis721 LtCn BT, Swiss911 XCm BT