Alchemical Nature

Alchemical Nature / 72" x 54" / acrylic on canvas

 

Amy with the rocks and river.

 

This painting is dedicated to my eldest daughter, Amy. These particular rocks are found along la Rivière du Diable in Mont-Tremblant National Park. I have canoed, hiked and painted this river for many years. These rocks have become the landscape of my soul. It has taken me a lifetime to understand their wordless language of textures, colors and forms. Being a part of the oldest mountain range in the world, these patient beings have profound and ancient ways of knowing and seeing that I sometimes catch glimpses of when in their silent presence. Several years ago, Amy and I canoed this particular stretch of river and I have done a whole series of paintings from that memorable paddle:  River Solitude, Cloud Spill, River Revelations are a few. This particular painting began with a photo that Amy took of these beauties and inspired a whole new vision. When paddling this meandering, lazy section of the river on a hot summer day, you are lulled into a blissful tranquility as the shoreline drifts by, suddenly you turn another corner and there they are! This magnificence takes you by surprise as you come around a bend in the river, just as  life often does. 

"I would like to live my life as a river, constantly surprised by my own unfolding" ~ John O'Donahue

The river and the rocks have been teaching me for years to listen patiently within. An alchemical reaction takes place as imagination is united with nature and soon we are no longer sure where our own wildness ends and the wilderness begins. 

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