CRISTY DUNN FINE ART
  • HOME
  • WORKS
  • PURCHASE
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • SHOWS AND EVENTS
  • Classes
    • Landscape Painting
    • Trompe L'oeil Online
    • Painting Water in the Landscape
    • Portraits in the Style of the Old Masters
  • Murals
    • Clarence "Tom" Ashley
    • Birth of a Ballad: The Capture of Tom Dooley
    • First Sunrise: Fred Price, Clint Howard, and Sons
    • Historic 1925 Fiddler's Convention
  • CONNECT
  • PORTRAITS

5/31/2014

... and Still we Rise.

6 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
I have always loved birds and been intrigued by their symbolism, but it has only been recently that they have found a prominent place in my work. Somehow the process of integrating the experience of Shane's illness calls for these images. Sparrows here represent the courage to face a world full of good and evil that is so much bigger than we are. Sparrows know their place in the order of things, and they don't try to look too far ahead. These tiny birds face that big ominous world with eyes wide and full of trust. 

Sparrows figure into the folklore of a great many cultures. According to the ancient Egyptians, sparrows would catch the souls of the recently deceased and carry them to heaven. In Europe, there is a superstition that if a sparrow flies into your house, then it means someone will die. In some places, the person who catches the sparrow has to kill it or he will be the one who dies. In the Bible, sparrows were offered up by the very poor, and represent the concern of God for even the smallest and most insignificant beings.

Matthew 6:25-34: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

The sky in this drawing is from a day when we learned that Shane had a rare mutation (ALK) for which cutting edge research has found a treatment. This news turned a very dire prognosis into a disease that could be managed for some time. This is the sky that we saw as we drove home that day, and the rays of light somehow carried hope with them. 

Life is brutal, but we cannot be beaten down by it. The world lost one of its finest poets this week, one who spoke eloquently of courage in the face of hardship. Perhaps the sparrows carried the soul of Maya Angelou to heaven. I have shared a video here in which she recited "And Still I Rise."



What keeps you grounded and helps you find the courage to face life's hardships?  


Share

6 Comments

5/6/2014

Turning Ink Stains to Hummingbirds

16 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
This painting saved me. My husband, Shane, a healthy, young, non-smoker, was recently diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer. Of course, it was devastating to our family. How could we cope with the uncertainty that now plagued our future? None of us is ever guaranteed another minute, but now we were forced to face our mortality. How could we move forward with our lives and integrate this experience, forever changed, but not broken? 

There was a brief hospitalization a few weeks ago, and during that stay it was discovered that there was quite a bit of progression to the brain... devastation anew. 

Making Art is my way of coping when I am faced with difficulty. Somehow, I learned at a very young age that through the act of creation, one can feel the presence of a God so infinitely wise and powerful that our human concerns seem inconsequential. I remember the first time this happened for me, and coincidentally, I was drawing a bird then, too, a tufted tit-mouse, still my favorite. 

This, however, is a hummingbird. The tradition in the Andes of South America teaches that the hummingbird is  a symbol for resurrection. On cold nights, the tiny birds become lifeless and seem to die, but when the sun rises they miraculously come back to life! In our culture, hummingbirds symbolize living life to the fullest and making the most of every minute. Unless we are very fortunate, life will send us our share of troubles. These are the ink stains. We have to find a way to turn them into something more. The poem that follows is part of the painting: 

From Ink Stains to Hummingbirds


Blue Black Stains have fallen on us
We will be forever changed
No more the pale, pristine, uncolored surface

In time, the Darkness will dissipate
broken by Rays of Light
magnified and brought into focus through our Tears
brought to order by our Prayers

Colors will find their way to the surface
They will transform the Blue Black Stain
and we will become the Vision of the Hummingbird

We will learn to fly forward and backward -to stop time
to kiss every flower and love life with every breath

We will no longer fear when our movement ceases at midnight
Quietly, peacefully, we will wait for the Resurrection of the Dawn
                                                                 -Cristy


Birds are symbolic of a great many things. Does a bird mean something special to you? 











Share

16 Comments
Details

    Cristy Dunn

    Painting Makers, the Tools of Making, and the Magic of Creation. 

    Archives

    October 2022
    February 2022
    February 2021
    May 2020
    September 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    April 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories
    ​

    All
    ALK Lung Cancer
    Birds
    Ink Drawings
    Sparrow
    Trust

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

'Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty' - That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.
John Keats




  • HOME
  • WORKS
  • PURCHASE
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • SHOWS AND EVENTS
  • Classes
    • Landscape Painting
    • Trompe L'oeil Online
    • Painting Water in the Landscape
    • Portraits in the Style of the Old Masters
  • Murals
    • Clarence "Tom" Ashley
    • Birth of a Ballad: The Capture of Tom Dooley
    • First Sunrise: Fred Price, Clint Howard, and Sons
    • Historic 1925 Fiddler's Convention
  • CONNECT
  • PORTRAITS