JOURNAL & BOOK REVIEW - The Butterfly and the Violin

After church today, I felt the pull to work in my art journal.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to get some paint on my fingers.  As I sat down at my art table, I turned on one of my favorite Pandora stations, Classical for the Soul, and the violin strings became my muse for the afternoon.

Earlier this month I read "The Butterfly and the Violin" by Kristy Cambron.  The book takes place in both WW2 and today.  The plot revolves around the story of Austria's Sweetheart, a young violinist named Adele Von Bron.  Together with her boyfriend, Vladamir, they risk their lives to help Jews escape from Vienna and she finds herself a prisoner in Auschwitz.  It was a hard book for me to read because the descriptions of camp life seemed so real.  For me, it was similar to reading "Night" by Elie Weisel because you JUST CAN'T take anymore, but then you NEED to know the outcome.  The story set in today's New York is about Sera James, a New York art dealer, who has a sentimental attachment with a painting of our heroine Adele.  Sera finds herself in California with a gentleman, William, who owns a copy of the painting and they team up to search for the original.  In the book you get to experience two love stories both connected to the painting of a beautiful survivor who found her strength in God to produce creativity in a time of adversity.  Many a tear fell as the book came to a close - well, truthfully, I sobbed.

I tried to capture the idea of the book as my art journal page.  Please meet my vision of Adele in about the middle of her stay at Auschwitz- before she shaved her head, but well enough into her look of starvation.  The book says she had beautiful blond hair and I can't remember if her eye color was mentioned.  I knew I wanted her eyes to draw you in and I hope I was able to carry that off.  Although the butterfly was a brooch in the story,  I added this as a necklace pendant.  I used the idea of her tattoo as a way to date my page.  Since the search for the painting was key to the plot, I put a bold black frame around my image of Adele.  I really felt like "creativity in adversity" was being placed on my heart as I read the book, so I added this as text on my page.  As somebody who has her fair share of adversity, I know the impact creativity plays in healing.  It has been my salve many a time!