Wednesday, April 20, 2011

When the spirit intercedes

This image is actually a further variation on yesterday's piece: I suspect it was strongly influenced by the fact that we had sunshine almost all day yesterday (for the first time in what seems like forever!)

The tide was low, the moon was magnificent, the tulips, daffodils, and cherry trees are all in bloom... somehow all those things together put me in a softer mood, and so the colors in this image are more like Easter eggs; more like the colors I surrounded myself with when my girls were just babies.

Somewhere recently I ran into a quiz that asked what are some things my brain seems to just know, and my answer was song lyrics, editing/proofreading, Bible verses, and color. 

It's not that I take pride in any of these things -- they're just a part of me, and have been ever since I can remember; the kind of knowledge you can't articulate -- it just sort of springs up when you least expect (or sometimes even want) it -- as if "the heart knows what it wants."

So there I was, yesterday, creating this image, and instead of a song lyric popping into my head (as often happens), it was instead a Bible verse: "The spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."  (and, no, I never know what chapter and verse they are, it's just the words, almost always RSV or King James).

So I think perhaps the heart of this image is just that spirit interceding, with a longing for Easter, for the sense of freedom and rebirth that arises as new life finally begins again to emerge from the Earth and the long trial of Lenten introspection draws to a close.  It's a sigh: a sigh of anticipation, of release from a long dark winter, of hope for joy and light to come.  These are not colors I would necessarily choose to live with (though that dull purple in the background looks very like my bathroom and closet) but today... well... they just make my eyes feel good!

2 comments:

Maureen said...

The image looks like a beautifully packaged gift tied with long multi-colored ribbons. And, of course, the gift is the metaphor.

Louise Gallagher said...

And it's beautiful.