THORNS

I spent the morning of the Autumn Equinox 2023 in Hamilton's Gage Park. I was looking for the goddess - I wanted to talk to God.

I took my shoes off and walked on dew-soaked grass. I watched the sky brighten and gave thanks.

The most magnificent rose blooms appear in autumn - so do adult, darkened thorns. They are razor-sharp. 

Roses were once how I made a handsome income. Now, the flowers are a symbol and reminder that the beauty of life has thorns and that too much caution makes life ugly and incomplete.

I quickly memorized as many roses as I could as I drifted from one rose bush to the next - not unlike a hungry bee. I absorbed the colours, filling myself like a quill drinking ink.

As autumn's first sun burned off the mist - I left with the magic I wanted. I felt ready.

I was steeped in the scent of roses and felt the harmony of the divine. 

I was scratched but blessed.

FUCHSIA ROSES / self portrait, 24" x 24", 2023

ROSE PATH, 24" x 24", 2023

GOD AND THE GODDESS, 24" x 24", 2023

AUTUMN THORNS, 24" x 24", 2023

TRANQUILITY, 24" x 24", 2023

THE AWAKENING IN THE ROSE GARDEN, 18" x 24", 2024

,,,bewitched, bothered and bewildered - no more,      Ella Fitzgerald