A New Season

I can remember many harsh Manitoba winters as a child. Everything seemed frozen and dead. The wind stung and had this bitter piercing cold that stung the eyes and penetrated to the bone. I hate winter, but the following season is my favourite time of the whole year. As the long and miserable winter months slowly warm and the six months of snow began to melt away, I feel joy well up within me, as if my heart was telling me that the death around me wouldn’t last forever. I would eagerly look for the first green blade of grass, the first buds on the trees to confirm that it really was spring, that life could once again begin.

This painting was never about the trees or the sunset in the distance. It was all about the seasons that each person has in their life. I textured the bark to symbolize rough paths we are often forced to walk. One of the tree trunks broke, yet it still has new buds developing on the lower branches. This painting is about life that can form after the darkest, coldest times in our life. As I created this image, I could hear a quiet whisper within my heart, praying that my spring would come soon. Whenever I reflect on this piece, I remember my desire to communicate that after death, there is new life, a new season. Sometimes the hope of spring is the only thing that gets us through the winter.