Flurry on the Lavender Fields, ©John O’Grady
8″ x 10″ x 0.75″, oil on canvas, ready to hang.
I was driving home the other day when to my surprise, the first snowflakes of the year pirouetted down to disappear as quickly as they came.
Meanwhile, high on the mighty Mont Ventoux, a white thin layer coated its summit.
On seeing these flurries, I remembered a drive through the mountains around Ferrassières one moonlit night. The white snowflakes, lantern-like, were standing out against the darkness.
This is lavender country and in summer, the whole area is blanketed with blue-purple flowers.
On this quiet December night, the lavender had long been harvested and the cushion-shaped plants looked as if they were cosy tucked under the snow shroud.
The pale blue moonlight lingers in my memory. It transformed the mountains in sculptures glowing in the night sky.
I’d love to read your comments.
The term “as above so below” comes to mind John. The innocent bleached fall creates a delicate canopy under which our reflected memories, hopes and dreams lie hidden. The scented road alongside like a breathing mantra takes us on a journey deep into the landscape of our souls. A very soothing painting..
Hello Irene,
Thank you for your comment full of poetry. ‘The bleached fall’ is a beautiful phrase. I agree with you I think it is a ‘soothing painting’ too.
It is indeed a very soothing painting John; calm, serene and ‘tingly’. The ‘blanket’ of snow and the ‘pillows’ of lavender add to this air of sleepy peacefulness created with your wonderful colour and composition.
Hello Chris,
Thank you very much for your comment. Yes even though it was very cold there, snow can have that soothing blanketed feeling to it can’t it?