Not Just a Painting. A Piece of You: The Painting That Knows Your Name - La Gazette #18

“Art doesn’t just hold memory. It shares it—with those who come after.”

Hello dear friend,

When someone asks about the painting in your hallway,

you don’t just tell them where it’s from.

You tell them where you’re from.

I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to live with art—not just own it, but truly live with it. To let it speak for you, hold your stories, and quietly pass them on.

Last year, I painted a commission for a Canadian friend who have been living here in New Zealand for a long time. She asked me to capture a specific memory from her childhood: her father feeding blue jays at Clearwater River Lodge, where they used to spend summers together. She wanted the painting for herself. Once it was hung in her living room, her children started asking about it. And when they do, she doesn’t just tell them about the birds. She tells them about her father. About the summers. About who she was, and who she still is.

"The painting that knows Jen's name" (commission painted for her new home).

Art doesn’t just hold memory. It shares your story.

I know this feeling intimately. I was born in France, but I’ve lived in New Zealand for over twenty years. My children were born here. This house is their home—but it’s also mine, layered with memories they didn’t live through but still inhabit. The paintings on our walls carry those layers. They’re quiet witnesses to my story. My children walk past them every day. They know which ones I made during a hard season, which ones smell faintly of nostalgia, which ones I’ll never sell because they hold something too tender to part with.

One day, they might leave home with one of those paintings.

And when they do, they won’t just be taking a piece of art.

They’ll be taking a piece of me.

This is why living with art is different than owning pretty things.

Art isn’t a product—it’s a companion. A keeper of memory. A bridge between generations.

Decor fills a space.

Art fills a life.

If you’re ready to live with a painting that knows your name—one that holds your story and shares it with those you love—you can explore my available works, or reach out to begin a commission that speaks in your voice.

Let your walls remember you.

Let them tell the story that matters most.

Thank you for reading.

Wishing you a great weekend,

Marion V-W.