Sunday, May 18, 2014

A view of Brandon University painted this morning with memory from the past

Pretty soon it will be my 23rd anniversary of coming to Brandon, Canada from China. It was 23 years ago in the middle of June 1991 when I first arrived directly from China. It was a very emotional experience for me  torn between almost agony and ecstasy: extremely sad to leave your loved ones behind not knowing when you would meet them again, and extremely happy that  I had finally got away from China in those post-Tienanmen massacre years of repression and depression  finding myself in Canada with a bright  future with a palpitating sense of freedom and opportunity. Just a few days after I arrived, I signed up the summer course at Brandon University  and one day when the course started  I found myself walking towards this building with a timid heart. Just wonder if anyone have had experience of always associating pieces of music or songs with a certain location you find yourself in simply because those music or songs touched you so deeply while listening to it in that particular place in a special moment of your life even the music by itself bears no association  to that place. However, years gone by all of a sudden  the music would stream  back bringing tears to our eyes with all those memories when one day you find yourself at that particular location again. This morning when I came to the quiet campus of Brandon University to set up my easel painting this view all of a sudden the memory came back ever more fresh and ever more sharpened and sweetened by the melodies of Chopin's first piano concerto , and the  second movement of
Saint Saents' 3rd violin concerto.

No comments:

Post a Comment