The Homes We Have Lived In

Today is the one year anniversary of the first time we saw what was to become our new home. It was a brand new building, and we saw four different units. I really wanted a western exposure and we finally made up our minds within a week or so. The contract was written up in February, our two DC condos were sold within a few weeks, and we moved in April. We had been searching for a new location even before I retired four years ago. We looked in Wisconsin, Florida, the DC area, and a few places in Virginia. Our time on Capitol Hill was memorable, but a bit inconvenient at this point in our lives. We eventually moved to northern Virginia ten months ago. That got me thinking about all the homes we have lived in. I once had a collection of photos of our homes over time. One photo is my husband’s home in Iran where he grew up. My childhood homes are in Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Together we had places in Wisconsin and DC. Now we are in Virginia. So I decided to highlight them all in a digital art collection. It always takes a while to figure out where to start. I have an idea in my head, and then it goes from there. It started out very uniform, then I tried painting the actual home colors but didn’t like it. Then I painted the background in a color that would match our living room decor. Still a no go. I added the location names, and our lovely borzoi in front of the Wisconsin house. Then I tried something different - moved a couple houses around and exaggerated the images and repainted each one. My husband didn’t like the colors. So I deleted the color but kept the original background. Somehow it looked better. That ended up being the final draft. I ordered the print, along with the family portrait and “me and my husband over time” and created a collection of memorable images for our living room space. Now every time we look at the images they remind us of something - happy things. They are all the places we have lived, our closest family members, and our life together. And I know it is one of a kind.