Sanctuary
2009 - Mixed Media: Pencil & Acrylic on Canvas - 20 " x 30"
"Sanctuary" features some of the same components of earlier paintings - the desert, the stone, the face and ribbons. The face is designed into the ribbons, which are flowing freely. The stone forms a steady hand that holds and anchors the ribbon face, keeping it from flying away and becoming lost.
One end of the ribbon turns into a stone butterfly. The stone in many earlier paintings symbolized a hardness, but now as a butterfly it's also flying in the air, just as a butterfly should. This represents how there's freedom even with some of the old heaviness still present. Another old ghost is present in the form of the smaller, more muted and obscure face in the ribbon, a bit further down from the main face. That darker side will always be present, though with a much more subdued influence.
If the background is read like a timeline from left to right, it begins as a hard, barren desert, as I was when I began this journey. But the desert in this painting develops a few bumps which become bushes, which then become trees. Most significantly, there is finally a city - the unmistakable sign of the presence of other people. As with me, there are finally humans in the vicinity, though still at a distance. But the important thing is - they are there.
Though the process will always continue for me, the series must come to an end. Sanctuary, as a place of safety, peace and refuge, is a fitting end to this series that tells the story about the healing of my Soul.
