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I have painted sunflowers with an interest in how they turn toward the light and bend in the wind. In my art they become symbols of hope and resilience. I have memories of walking through fields of sunflowers with my children and seeing them blow in the wind before an approaching storm.
When great memories flow like special mercies, I am reminded God was always with me and I am less anxious about tomorrow’s challenges. I respond with artistic assurance for the future. I believe God seeds memories strong enough to express in artistic form. The seed is one hundred percent fertile and pure, capable of germinating from the imperishable blood of Christ. Every idea seed raised up in this way can grow to become a beautiful art form. For example, I can imagine a bouquet from God’s garden for me to paint. I would title such a painting “Cosmic Cutting”. If I could hold such magical flowers, I would turn the bouquet to view it from every side and see every shape and color. I would try to express what I saw before a wilting occurred. I would also see the flowers wither and die, but hope my painting would be like a prayer and live on in the mind of God. In the creative process, I know I would find joy in the painting experience. I have actually received a bouquet picked by a child. It did come from God and is now a memory I will share in this second story.
My daughter came home from school with some sunflower seeds. She asked if I would help her plant them. She instructed me: “The seeds must be covered with good soil, no dirt with weeds, you know - and we have to remember to water them!” “When the seeds sprout, we need to plant them in our yard!” I asked her what kind of flowers her seeds would grow to be? “Giant sunflowers!” she answered emphatically. Then she asked me- how tall do you think they will grow Daddy?” I am not sure how tall you will grow, but you remind me of my mother and she was tall! I replied.
Now, seasons have come and gone and Jenny is almost grown, tall in height, a fine volleyball player and a daughter I am very proud of. I have painted sunflowers many times to symbolize the strength God gives all living things and to remind me of this strength. Yellow flowers hang in a home on a yellow wall where I see them every day! My children are the best things I have grown. They grace my world with radiant beauty. I tried to help my children grow up in an environment filled with positive energy, faith and love.
Now, the seasons come and the life cycle moves ever faster. I still paint sunflowers and hope a painting of a sunflower field before a storm can be a metaphor of spiritual strength. They can believe it is possible to bend but not break like the sunflowers we see.
In the painting process I see flower heads in fields turning toward the sun. I see people growing in faith. I am comforted believing people will be like sunflowers and push out the weeds, be washed by rain, and dried by the sun, cleansed of sin by grace. They will fall like seed in the last days of summer; return to the earth in autumn, when frost covers the ground. In winter the flower stalks remain and extend up through the drifting snow, until the ground thaws and birds return to spread the seeds in another spring.
Every season is beautiful; this is why landscapes with sunflowers that make me consider- we are like sunflowers and are to wither and die in our brief season, but our prayers will remain like seeds in the mind of God!
As I paint, I reflect on time, and ask myself - where have I been? Where am I now? Where will I go from here? I have been with ones I love; we laughed in the schoolyard, learned Devine proportion in the studio, and shared our burdens in other places. I have been in the hospitals to pay visits and bid farewells. I have decorated these places with paintings of flowers and other natural beauties. It is not what I made. That I now remember, but the people I made things for that I recall. I am a father who is proud of his children and grateful for his many blessings. I hope I will paint many more sunflowers and plant seeds for another spring.