Dreaming of Cherry Blossom, ©John O’Grady (click on the image to view richer colours in the lightbox)
8″ x 8″ x 1.75 acrylic on canvas ready to hang.
SOLD
The silence in the room is palpable. The door quietly opens and man-made light floods in.
A person is lying in bed, still, undisturbed, bathed by moonlight. Are they dreaming of nature and cherry blossoms?
The curtains, left open, give us a glimpse of the splendour of the cherry orchard.
This 2nd painting is a quiet and mysterious piece that borrows some of its decorative qualities from the larger artwork published three days ago.
I’d love to read your comment about this piece.
Something about this image went straight to the heart. It’s often not useful or even illuminating to try to explain why. The reasons are as mysterious as the painting.
The warmth of the room contrasts with the coolness of the distant view — and that coolness also envelops the dreamer, who is covered in white, with blue and violet shadows. The observer in the doorway, in that golden shaft of light, is very much of the interior scene, the waking life, a sort of benevolent guardian, while the dreamer has become one with the dream.
Hello Jo
Thank you for your lovely comment. Indeed, I struggled with the text, as I didn’t want to describe too much and then take away from the mysterious quality within the piece.
Really different John and in a way relevant to now…we are dreaming of something else right now, in a bewildering world, with messages we are given, we are not sure of……hope you are ok…..who would have thought it.
Hello Julia,
Thank you for your comment, yes it seems to reflect in some way the times we’re going through, bewildering is right! I hope you are both keeping safe and well
Hi John
Hope this finds you well.
Such a departure from your normal style I was taken aback but of course it’s so current.
Ever the incurable symbolist am trying to make sense of all the paradoxical imagery 🙂 and all the contrast with red and blue (are they opposites on the spectrum?) Then I thought blue and red make indigo? – a merging
The borders, the frames, the screen, the doorway, the observer; the patterns and swirls; sleep and enclosure dreaming as an in- between place, the interior space and something about absorbing and occupying space occupying both passive and actively engaged with an object.
So this is what I came up with, hope that’s alright : )
~Occupied~
On the threshold
encapsulated gaze
interior design
sky breathing blue
dormant but merged
borders are framed
remind me
the blossom
indigo flowering cherry
and the reach
occupying half light
fiery enscrolled
the liminal space
swirling between
When.
Hello Maggie,
Of course it’s alright. I really appreciate you taking the time to pause and look upon my painting for a little while. The result the wonderful and thoughtful ‘Occupied’ I think your use of certain words in the poem, really resonate with me. Threshold, Liminal and my favourite line ‘Sky breathing blue’
Thank you very much
Hello John, there is something about the diagonal shaft of man-made light that separates the the person in the doorway from the the dreamer and dream which do indeed as JR said ‘become one’. It illustrates how lost we are from this world when we are in a deep enough sleep to inhabit another world. The viewer can see but is cut off from the interior mind who appears vulnerable. The strong pale blueness of the horizontal sleeping figure, with hints of cherry blossom colour, contrasts with the rich, warmth of the interior and brings the moonlight of the outside within. I can also relate to Julia’s comments about our current situation and how we need to go to places denied to us, at least in our imagination. A very intriguing painting which one would never tire of.
Hello Chris
Thank you for your thoughtful comment on the painting. I read it with interest, as It never occurred to me about the man made light separating the two figures. I do like the idea of the light from outside finding its way into the room full of hot colour.
Certainly Julia’s comment struck a chord with me too