"Childhood Adventures" Contemporary Expressionist Figurative Painting by Debbie Schramer

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I have always loved the paintings of Chagall, the floating people and the animals and the scenes of nature, all … Read more I have always loved the paintings of Chagall, the floating people and the animals and the scenes of nature, all set in beautiful, dream like colors and filled with stories and history. I love art that is ethereal and mysterious, that has a magical childlike feeling to it. My own childhood was very magical and it was truly wonderful and memorable. My parents are musicians and composers, so I grew up with the beauty of music surrounding me. We lived quite a bohemian, artistic life with a wondrous amount of freedom and excitement.

My father was a jazz musician and music teacher, he was also a composer and played many different instruments. My mother was an opera singer and also sang the old pop and show tunes like "Porgy and Bess", "Carousel" and others. She was also a classical pianist. I remember when I was probably only about five years old, we lived in Surfside, California, when it was just a small community by the ocean. Our little bungalow house was right across from the beach and the sea beckoned to my brother and I to run in the waves and make angels in the sand. No one was allowed to build in front of the houses on our street. Now, it's all different. Our charming little house at B57 has been replaced with million dollar condominiums and across the street, lines of similar houses now can be seen on the beach in front of the memories I have of my childhood. I remember sitting in a corner of our small living room, watching and listening to my parents and their wonderful musician friends, talking and laughing and trying to remember who that actor was in that movie that they all loved. My childhood was such a curious, wonderful time, filled with newness and amazement and fun!

I have always felt that the kind of childhood I had growing up shaped my entire perspective on life: the creativity that abounded in our family moved me to be creative my entire life. I so admired my parents for the love of life that they instilled in me and the appreciation they showed to me through all that they did, of the beauty in life and in people.
This painting is filled with dreams and stories. I'm not even certain what I was trying to say as I painted this canvas. The colors and fanciful characters and animals seemed to create and envelope the canvas themselves, I was just the conduit for them to be able to come alive and speak their magical, enchanting language. I want to honour the wondrous childhood I had through my art and show that our lives can still be filled with wonder and curiosity and excitement even if we are 70 years old, as I am. I can still be a child, I can still feel the soft breezes from the sea and look up at the glorious stars at night and ask myself, "what is this all about?"

This is one of my most favorite paintings, though I have many, but this one really speaks for me and to me. I hope you find something in this painting that brings you wonderful new thoughts and dreams that will spark a memory of something in your childhood that you remember so deeply and have held in your heart for a long, long time. See less