This painting was first begun with a stone wall. But one day I dreamt of an egret family at the end of a garden arch, and soon the vines replaced the wall.
This became my quick impression of graceful birds, pure and
affectionate. I thought that their free spirit and fantastic
ballerina-like dances would be the light at the end of a tunnel. I
decided to finish it in an impressionistic - dreamlike style rather
than realistically detailed.
The white feathers here represent purity and honesty. The affection
represents love. The blossoms represent joy, and the arch represents
the path of life – the bird dimension that is never complete without
both the flight and the ground. The bottom of the arch is grounding,
and the top is the flight. No bird, even the strongest, can stay in the
sky forever. It needs both the sky and the ground. It is on the ground
where the bird dreams are born, but it is in the sky where they are
realized.
The Garden Arch
Acrylic on canvas, Age 12 (2007) 48" x 48" Original & Prints Available