Stefi- My Trip to Holland - Red Headed Angel
by Jan Dappen
Original - Not For Sale
Price
Not Specified
Dimensions
16.000 x 20.000 inches
This piece is not for sale. Please feel free to contact the artist directly regarding this or other pieces.
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Title
Stefi- My Trip to Holland - Red Headed Angel
Artist
Jan Dappen
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
This is My Stefi, my red headed Angel, my first daughter with special needs, Down's Syndrome. This is my first oil I have attempted to capture her infectious smile and loving heart. The following Essay says it all...
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
Any profits from this painting will be donated to the Intermediate Care Facility, Parkwood Developmental Center in Valdosta, GA that provides a home and individual specialized training to their special needs residents. Many thanks for visiting my Gallery
Uploaded
June 29th, 2015
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Comments (36)
Jan Dappen
Many thanks to the buyer from MN for purchasing this painting of my daughter. I would love to know why you chose my little beauty. Please contact me at [email protected]. Thanks again 😊. I hope you enjoy
Jan Dappen
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your touching comments. This is very special to me and your responses are uplifting.
Ellen Levinson
Jan you've done your angel justice! Absolutely beautiful portrait of Stefi! And such an intense,beautiful essay.