The "Spirits" of Christmas Past
"Love's Last Light" by Susan Marlowe

Charleston, South Carolina, a locale where romance,
legend, and history come together, is a living history
museum. Proud of its past and accused of worshipping
its ancestors, the region is filled with old tales  and
folklore.

Susan Marlowe has chosen to give artistic detail to this folklore by choosing the attic of an historic residence in Charleston, home to eleven consecutive generations of the same family, to create a pictorial expression of the emotional  encounter between spirits.

The tale goes that in the attic of an old house in the country there is an old trunk filled with lettersbound
together in blue ribbon which on occasions is
mysteriously left unbound and scattered about. On
other dates the letters are restacked in the old chest,
neatly tied with a blue ribbon.  Why would these
letters be disturbed? One answer may be that they
were written by a true love who left for duty in the
military, but who never came home to the loved one
and whose last and closest memories were his letters.
The last light of love appears as a spirit illuminating the area behind  a widow reading the letter sent to her just before her husband was killed in the war.
Though gone and missed for some time, the departed
husband seems quite near when she irresistibly
reviews his written thoughts from a distant date and
place. Her soul, though full of sorrow from his absence, finds peace  and  his presence in his written
expressions of his deep and undying love for her.

Madeline Carol, Capturing the Spirits
The "Ghost Prints"
That which is preserved and passed on to generations is still a part of all those generations.  The ghost prints of Madeline Carol bring all the elements together in such a way that we find ourselves being lifted into a time that has no beginning and no end.
We become A part of all the generations.

CAN YOU FIND THE "SPIRITS" IN THE PRINTS?
I can see the timeless visitors sitting on the park bench, but perhaps I have been staring at this too long, because I declare I think I see a Santa Claus flying up past the moon!
"Timeless Visitors" by Madeline Carol

The painting, "Timeless Visitors", recreates and brings together our history and memories of a country
which was a place of quiet. Pristine marshes and century old oaks draped with Spanish moss.
Successful planters put their earnings into these beautiful  homes,installing the luxuries of the Old Country.
Gracing the landscape were ladies in large hoop dresses and gentlemen in
their coated outfits.
This way of life, which seemed certain and prosperous, existed until
the War Between the States.  A war
which caused many of these plantations
to become unprosperous or to fall into
disrepair because of the death of their
inhabitants, the loss of their fortunes,
or the desolation brought to many by
Union soldiers.
That saga continues to live in the
painting which  recreates a beautiful
place along with Charleston's defenses
and conveys a deeper message -
that  we all are  timeless visitors.

"Love, The Spirit Of All Seasons"
by Madeline Carol

As you look at this remarkable painting, you can see the
little girl, warm and secure, gazing out of the window
into a cold but heavenly scene. You wonder, is she or
isn't she really seeing the apparition of love Madeline
has suggested to you in the ghostly appearance, or is she
looking for Santa Claus? ? There is that spirit of love
symbolized by the guardianship of a now gone but not
forgotten grandmother, whose love makes her seem so near.
Through the timeless window you know you are still in
Charleston, but you also know that all around you singing
out in glorious color is the reminder that love is the spirit
of all seasons which transcends all time and place.

"Family Album" by Madeline Carol

Once more nostalgically we are reminded of our family
ties and our ties to the land that made us who we are.
A spirit of love extends like a force beyond time
encompassing all the seasons of our worldly existance.

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Next..The Christmas of 1862

Credit and thank you to Art Select for the information and use of
The Madeline Carol prints.
Thanks to Vanart for use of the Marlowe print.