Oil on Canvas 9″ X 12″

‘Snowy Cedar In Flight’

A dark, snow-laden November day.
Low, heavy, clouds have settled in, bringing winter.
The forest depths are deepened by the greyness.

A day that invites flights of fancy ~ the cedar boughs and I take up the invitation . . . spread our wings and fly.

This, the first snow of the year, graces the forest; the dark day made beautiful by the bright eiderdown frosting.

~

These are Western Red Cedar trees.

Cedars are symbolic of cleansing and purification, and are considered to be entrances into sacred realms.

~~~

~Barbara Brown, from Volume I, SYLVAN REFLECTIONS, Wanderings, Paintings & Ponderings From the Forest, Page 63

Oil on Canvas Board  12″ X 16″

‘Fallen Cedar / Rising Dragon’

•

This fallen cedar, toppled perhaps a hundred years ago, still commands such a presence.
It draws my attention, calling me into a deep contemplation of it
when I come upon the sight on the bank of the creek in the forest.

I see Celtic knot-work in the patterns of the tangled roots ~ this speaks to me of ancestors.

I smell the richness of the oh-so-slow return to the earth, its mother;

the ancient tree providing sustenance and mothering, in turn, to the myriads of mossy & microscopic lives that blanket its every surface

~ this speaks to me of the cycles of regeneration and immortality.

I feel reverence ~ this speaks to me of sovereignty and power.

~

Then I see the dragon, rising, and understand;

now I know what to paint to best express this experience.

~

Dragons are symbolic of the recurring cycles of death and rebirth, of ancient subterranean energies stirring.

They are guardians of treasures and keepers of secrets.

They are wise and clairvoyant; embodiments of life force, great potency and primal energies.

Cedars are symbolic of longevity and nobility, rebirth, purity, and sublime loftiness; entrances into sacred realms.

The upside-down tree, roots reaching skyward, symbolizes the esoteric return journey.

Celtic Knot-work is symbolic of connectedness, immortality and continuity.

~~~

~Barbara Brown, from Volume I, SYLVAN REFLECTIONS, Wanderings, Paintings & Ponderings From the Forest, Page 25

Oil on Canvas 12″ X 12″

‘Yew Swirl’

Chancing upon a Yew tree in the forest is always an enchanted moment.

They are wild, straggly, unsymmetrical trees with branches shooting off in unexpected directions;
and with many dead branches or even trunks, as if they originally thought to grow in one direction but at
some point changed their mind.

New trunks can grow out of old seemingly dead wood.

There is an ancient feeling of struggle and prevail about them.

~

Sacred to the Celtic peoples they were revered for connecting life, death and rebirth with powerful magic.
Their wood is very dense and has been highly treasured by all ancient peoples for the making of tools, especially bows and wands.

It has been found to hold potent cancer-fighting properties. The needles are a rich deep green, but I came upon this one on an early Autumn day just as the sun was shining through its branches creating this bright yellow/green swirl of branches. And, lo and behold, it had berries!  Very rare in my forest. I felt gifted.

~

The Western Yew (Taxus brevifolia) is an evergreen shrub or small tree. It is a conifer but produces red berry-like fruit (poisonous), rather than cones.  The bark is a smooth deep rose/red with dark purple scales. It is an ancient tree, having survived the last Ice Age.

~~~

~Barbara Brown, from Volume I, SYLVAN REFLECTIONS, Wanderings, Paintings & Ponderings From the Forest, Page 49