Aging Gracefully

"To Age with the Grace of a Trillium" 10" x 10" SOLD

I'm finally back in the studio after a busy month of art shows, end-of-school-year events, and a beautiful vacation to Glacier National Park.

This is a painting I began some time ago while painting at the Woodinville Plant Sale in May. Sometimes you think you plan a painting out carefully, and then it takes on a mind of its own and becomes something different. This is one of those paintings. It has taken me a while to post, because the painting took such a change of direction for me that I really wasn't sure if I liked the end result.

The original plan was to paint a small, simple cheerful flower. I selected a photo from my garden of a native trillium. These trilliums begin as white as snow, and after they are fertilized and begin to die, they become even more beautiful by turning pink or red. This is an aging trillium.

Somewhere in the last month, I also had a birthday and growing older was rattling around in my mind as I painted. The trillium painting subconsciously became more of a contemplation of graceful aging than the cheerful flower painting I had originally intended. The flower becomes more beautiful, more rich in color and intensity as it dies. The trillium is surrounded by dead and dried ferns, symbols of the last season's passed life. The shadow is rather menacing and dark - like the shadow of what is to come, yet on the trillium shines. And of course the little tree frog hides among the leaves, suggesting that life is in balance as it should be, and it is all part of the greater cycle of things. Oh, to age with the grace and beauty of a trillium!

So much for a simple pretty flower painting.