Anna Kilpe. Fair-haired Anna, the one who would walk along the sea at the end of the day and look for the amber hidden in the sand. She was drawn to the sea for as long as she can remember. Born in 1877 and brought up in a farming family with nine brothers and sisters.
Anna never questioned this love of hers, she simply followed it. Quite small, she imagined how she would grow up and become a painter.
Then she would paint the warm summer sun mirrored in the waves – so it could warm her in the winter, at home on the wall. Nothing came of the painting.
Once in the manor house where Anna worked as a servant, there was a wedding. There she became acquainted with Jānis Kilpe, the son of a wealthy and well-respected Latvian family. Little did she know that together with Jānis they would become parents of nine children.
All the time in the world belongs to her. The children grew and Anna gave them all her mother’s love. In her free moments she would sketch something, but didn’t show the sketches to anyone and hid them in the only drawer in her secretary desk with a lock. Mere trifles, she said. A feminine hobby, she laughed. And next day she set off to fish with her son.
No, she was not afraid of hard work. She also had a knack of turning simple everyday things into something quite grand. If you could find fault with Anna, then it would only be a touch of pedantry. Then again, other women displayed more serious character flaws.
When Anna passed away forever, the key to the locked drawer could not be found. In wartime many things, not only such, were lost. The key was found many years later. The desk was unlocked by her great-great- granddaughters. The drawer was full of many small pieces of paper, each with a fine candlestick or two. In a silvery colour, like mirrors. Mostly though, adorned with small pieces of amber. Finally Anna had figured out how the sea warmed by the summer sun could bring joy to people also in winter.