Before the Leaves

Before the Leaves

"Before the Leaves" - acrylic on cradled wood panel, 24" x 24" x 1.5".  Ready to hang (sides are painted; no need to frame.  Hanging wire attached)  Part of the collection "A View from the Gorge."  Available for a limited time exclusively at Get the Gallery.


Before the leaves can mount again
To fill the trees with another shade,
They must go down past things coming up.
They must go down into the dark decayed.

from  In Hardwood Groves, Robert Frost


​Late autumn in the gorge is stark and windy.  Leaves are gone for the year, trees stand bare.  The sound of the wind changes without the leaves.  Gone is the rustling.  Instead, the teams moan and creak as they reluctantly move and groan in the relentless wind.

I listen to the trees and think of the humans of the world.  We, too, groan in the winds of change - pandemic,  news, fear, loss, loneliness.  We are reluctant to embrace this thing, and who can blame us?  But we must, it seems, "go down past things coming up" for a little while longer.   I hold in my one hand the fact that I desire spring,  warmth and companionship without worry.  In my other hand, I hold the knowledge that it won't be today.  In a recent interview with Brene Brown, Barack Obama spoke of the ability to hold opposing truths  and to function in that place of discomfort as a sign of strength and resilience.  

As 2020 goes "down into the dark decayed", I wish for you (and for me, dear reader) the ability to hold opposing truths as comfortably as you can.  And perhaps a lovely, warm slice of pie.  Whatever flavor is your favorite. :)

---

About the art: using the same technique as "Blowing Like Shadows", this piece was created with a strong underpainting and then masking with painter's tape before the final layers of color.  I was so immersed in the process that I neglected to get pics along the way....so you will have to.use your "imaJENnation" !!!