Wednesday in the park with the artist nun! by Michael Malzone

In Ringwood State Park this time of year the autumn colors and open space seem to transport you to a quieter time. In fact after awhile walking the grounds, your brain muffles out the sounds of passing cars nearby and if you’re lucky, it shuts out any meandering thoughts as well and you can enjoy the moment at hand.It is the perfect place for the outdoor painter and on any weekend morning you’re bound to find up to a dozen artists spread around the park, capturing the fall colors on their canvas. Since I teach on Saturdays I mostly paint outdoors in the middle of the week, early in the morning. The combination of the soft morning light illuminating the landscape and the fact that I'm getting paid to play outside while other adults are at their desk crunching numbers brings me an unspeakable joy!     It is on one of those brisk fall days in Ringwood where I first met Sister Matthew. My subject that morning was a small patch of trees with the warm yellow light breaking through, traveling across the cool, frost covered blue green field. I was in the zone, perfect weather conditions, solitude, great light, and then....the sound of a car door slamming closed in the distance. Through the soft fog and light, I could barely make out the silhouette of a small nun emerging from an old station wagon, a site I certainly didn't anticipate that day or for that matter any day! After expressing her delight upon seeing an artist paint her beloved Ringwood, Sister Matthew introduced herself. She told me about her career teaching, her passion for art and opera, her early life in Queens, NY, and her true mission in life,…running the St. Francis monthly garage sale! If you're from Ringwood or any nearby town you've either attended or know the legend of the great garage sales at St. Francis retreat in Ringwood. After knowing Sister for ten years, I am convinced that running the garage sale was the third of Sister's three callings in life. The first calling is her love and devotion to the Church where Sister Matthew epitomizes the teaching of Jesus, a life of joy, sacrifice, and humility. Coming in a close second is her love and devotion to art and painting. As an art teacher Sister shared her passion for art with students for decades. Upon her retirement she was finally able to spend more time at the easel painting the beautiful landscape that surrounded her at the St. Francis retreat, settled in the heart of the Ringwood Mountains. Now ten years after my invitation that she join our Friday morning adult paint class, we’ve been painting together every week since. Along with my other students, she has made our Friday mornings incredibly fun. All fun and joy aside, Sister Matthew is an incredible painter as well. A few years back she had an exhibit of her paintings at the Pequannock library. When I pulled in the parking lot of the library, there was a line out the door of the library! Everyone who saw here paintings were in awe of her work.This humble nun had a hell of a following! At the end of this month Sister Matthew will be retiring to Aston, Pa. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the reality that we won’t have Sister in our Friday morning paint classes anymore. And although our class might be a little less joyful, a little quieter, a little less sacred, I take consolation in the fact that she will most assuredly bring her passion, love, and experience for art to some lucky nuns in Pennsylvania.
If I were to make a short list of the most influential moments in my life, that unusual meeting in the woods that autumn morning with the artist nun would rank there at the top.

(Michael Malzone is a professional painter and owner/instructor of the Creators workshop Art School in Pompton Plains, NJ where he teaches painting, drawing, and cartooning to children and adults. To learn more about the Creators Workshop, you can visit their site online at: www.Creatorsworkshop.com