SNOWDROPS IN THE CHURCH YARD
The Story
This painting was inspired by a photo of Holy Trinity Startforth in spring 2020, before any idea of covid 19 had cast a shadow across the year. It is painted on a wide canvas and is loose and is not too detailed. The snow drops in fore ground are precious to me because of a childhood memory of my mum reading Flower Fairies by Cicely Barker. The Song of The Snowdrop Fairy speaks hope and light into the cold days of winter:
Deep sleeps the Winter,
Cold, wet, and grey
Surely all the world is dead;
Spring is far away.
Wait! the world shall waken;
It is not dead, for low,
The Fair Maids of February
Stand in the snow!
As a child I was influenced in three ways by Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, in founding, a love of nature, a love of art, and love of literature built on my childhood love of narrative and poetry.
This little painting speaks about hope; hope of new life, hope of light and warmth to come, and hope built on faith read in the detail of a small flower heralding new life.
