"You be the Judge" Art Contest

Flora in Winter got picked to be a part of Brian Neher's "You be the Judge" Art contest.  You can vote for me at http://www.brianneher.com/you_be_the_judge_art_contest_2013_voting_page.aspx

Flora in Winter

 Well, it has been a while since I've posted, but don't think that I haven't been working. I've been working on four paintings since January, and they are all nearing their finish right now. I've been waffling over this painting for a month or so now, is it done? Does it need more work? Tweaking it here and there. Once I realized that all of my little tweaks and changes weren't really making a difference I decided that I'd best be on my way.  This painting is 18x30 titled: "Flora in Winter" The drawing is 15x25 and is a simple companion piece to it. 

The painting is about the surety of faith, the confidence we can have that spring will follow winter, that morning will follow night, and that joy will follow grief.  Through the dark times in our lives we hold onto the faith and hope that the light and life will come again.  Although Flora, the goddess of spring, is usually depicted in her heyday, surrounded by the bountiful blooms of spring, happy and carefree.  I decided to explore the time right before, winter, January and February when the only flowers around come from greenhouses, and the days are short and cold.  So rather than have her posed with bowers of flowers, she loosely holds hot house roses in her hand and the petals are falling. The light is only hinted at and the dark creeps around her feet. It is January and the darkest part of winter, but she tilts her head and gazes at you with the calm assurance that her time will come again, that she only has to bear the dark for a little while. 

Psalms 30:5

For his anger is but for a moment,
    and his favor is for a lifetime.^[a]
Weeping may tarry for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.