What the Wicked Queen and Dracula Never Saw in the Mirror
I grew up in the last remaining old growth forest in my county. To be honest in summer it could be a bit dark and solemn under all those trees. But peppered through the forest were small stands of white birch. Even on the cloudy days their bark shone out with delightful energy. No wonder that's a theme I so often return to in my paintings.
Yesterday I hung two of my birch paintings alongside a decorative mirror. Stepping back to look I saw the oils and mirror resonated with each other. Got to thinking about how they connect.
We put a lot of stock in mirrors. There's the Disney film where the evil queen relies on her mirror to tell her if she is still the fairest of them all. Even worse, in the 1930's classic, poor Dracula's image wouldn't even reflect in the mirror, apparently because he had no soul. In any case we all use mirrors to try to find out who we are.
Light in the Forest, oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches, 2020.
Some say a painting is a window into another world. I'd add it's also a mirror, reflecting back to us sometimes elusive parts of our inner selves.
You can see a dozen paintings in a row on a gallery wall and feel neutral but then bang- there's that one that just grabs you. It feels as it it reached into you and has struck an inner chord.
Those special paintings are like mirrors that shine back on you a glimpse of something that feels both excitingly new and strangely familiar. I think they're letting us sense of parts of ourselves that are hard to know. Those exceptional paintings invite us to enjoy an elusive something that puts a wind into our inner sails.
Two very different personalities come out in my two most recent paintings of birch trees. Deep Forest Pool has that closed in, intimate feel of a private corner of the world. When I look at it I feel a profound quiet and stillness. It seems to hint at things that are permanent and endure. It's a reflection on those things that have stayed with us through all our years.
Light in the Forest is my newest painting. Birches again, but the spirit of the picture is all about liveliness. The wind easily blows through the open spaces, stirring the branches. Light and shadow sweep back and forth over everything. There's an optimism and expectation of about the painting. Maybe it's saying get ready for the movement and change that's coming in our lives. Maybe even celebrate it.
Here's that mirror I mentioned- (I know better than to ask it if I'm the fairest of them all).
