It always seems a little funny working on and later posting new artwork that is months out of season, but my work seems to come together that way pretty regularly. I mean, it's the beginning of January and I'm sharing pictures of a bird, snake, oranges and sunshine. Still, I suppose it has been unseasonably warm with very little snow out here in the Rocky Mountains this winter, so maybe not too jarring... 51° F degree today, but anyway.
My new artwork at the top of this post is called "The Eternal Garden", and it was finished back in mid-November. I don't remember where or why anymore, but a while back I heard somebody refer to the universe as "The Eternal Garden", and I went away really liking the way that sounded. It's always seemed to me that the point of this grand ole universe was to continually create new and unique life. I mean, here on earth ("howdy there, Earthling!") we see new forms are always being churned out for life to live in, and I have every reason to think what happens here below also happens up in the heavens above. Also, it feels correct for me to approach our Mother Earth, the Sun, stars, and every other individual part of creation as living beings given form by Divine Imagination. It feels right to capitalize like that too.
Another thing that feels right is recognizing that Divine Creation is still and always being played out everywhere I might find myself. In the grass I walk on, the trees growning up through that grass, the serpent climbing through the branches, and the falcon protecting its nest. It's all so beautiful!
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
What else helped inspire this piece? Well, I started thinking about snakes climbing trees and up into birds nests years ago, and you can read more about why here. I had falcon on my mind because this summer, while sitting in a field of grass up in the foothills, I watched a falcon (not once, but twice, on two separate occasions!) dive to hunt maybe some 30 feet away, and then fly directly over my head with it's prey (same bird, different birds? I have no idea). Both times I could see the falcon was carrying a mouse as it flew off and, since it was flying so close overhead, I could see that mouse looking around all freaked out. I don't particularly like to see things like this or imagine what happened next, but I suppose it's good to be reminded that everything eats... everything is hungry. And when ya see something like that happening twice within a few weeks... well, it feels like some sort of glitch in the Matrix, if you know what I mean. It stands out. And the oranges in my picture? I dunno.. maybe because I was born in Orange County?
I'll be writing more about this in the next few days, but tomorrow I'll be dropping this artwork along with some 20-odd-other pieces to my neighborhood Salt Lake City Public Library's Marmalade Branch for display, starting January 6th. Please stay tuned!
You can check out a YouTube time-lapse video of my artwork's development and creation directly above.
Oh, and Happy New Year! Eden will always welcome you home.
