Moonrise with Dragonflies, © John O’Grady
10.2″ x 14″ x 0.75″, mixed media on canvas, ready to hang.
Not for Sale
I didn’t know whether my eyes were deceiving me!
At the foot of Mont Ventoux, a spring pours out of a cliff face clear and cool and nestles into a pool before meandering down the valley.
While I was sitting there on a bench, a number of people passed by and filled large containers with water. It was a beautiful afternoon with sunshine and fresh air, hawthorn trees and violets in bloom announcing the coming spring.
The temperature had started to warm a little to reach 19˚C.
I was looking with interest at the water. The trees’ bare branches were dancing on its surface and making sinuous shapes every time the breeze created gentle ripples while shadows and light drew intricate patterns.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, something darted across the pond in a flash, skimming the surface and then back again. It was the first dragonfly of the year, in early march. I don’t think my eyes were deceiving me.
In a second it was gone.
When I came to make this reflection painting, my thoughts immediately returned to the dragonfly and to last summer and another pool next to a spring at twilight.
On the far bank, a golden full moon slowly rose above the trees.
The heat of the day was starting to ease, I could now feel the moisture rising from the pool and brought by the breeze. Dragonflies were everywhere, darting back and forth, displaying their aerobatic artistry.
As darkness fell, the full moon climbed up into the sky and the dragonflies carried on flying.
This painting evokes that balmy evening in Provence. The harmony of reflected shapes above and below the waterline add balance.
Each of the colours used was created with blue.
Instead of using a complementary colour which tends to energise a painting, I worked with an analogous palette, a set of colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel.
So I used blue at the centre, next to it, blue greens and on the other side blue violet. This gives the painting a unified and quiet feel while retaining a sense of warmth.
The golden yellow moon attracts the eye and is the only complementary colour applied.
Can you feel the warmth of that summer evening?
What a calm and contemplative painting John. The blues are wonderfully balanced, their relationships subtle and skilfully executed. The silvery light of the moon plays on the water in fascinating ways. For me it evokes that reflective time at the end of the day when the light is fading and nature starts to blur in the twilight. So, in answer to your question … yes, I can feel the warmth of that summer evening and I can also imagine the magical sight of dragonflies darting across the surface. What a treat!
Hello Chris,
Thanks very much for your comment. Oh good, that’s great that you felt some of that warmth to. Blue is of course associated with coolness but I think because it edges towards the blue/violet it has a warmth I feel. Yes the dragonflies were a magical sight. I had one fly into my studio last year, it was enormous when seen in the confines of a room, again in a second it was gone.
Stunningly beautiful
Thank you Jan
Beautiful John. Well done, and enchanting story. ps: Full moon tonight
Thanks Eoin,
So it is, thanks for the reminder
This painting made me wonder whether dragonflies gave rise to fairy myths. It’s an enchanted scene, with the family of blues creating harmony and balance and the shimmering light hinting at mystery. The reflections in the water are like a hidden world behind the one we normally see. I like the way the surface of the water, made visible by the fine, scattered, floating vegetation, defines another plane in the image. Another “blue hour” piece, John? What a gorgeous, peaceful, mystical moment you have captured.
Hello Jo,
I actually went onto a site dedicated to Dragonflies and it mentions a little bit about the mythology,it mentions regeneration and self realisation. Here is the link ( http://www.dragonfly-site.com/meaning-symbolize.html ) but nothing about fairies, although I could just imagine these magical creatures being able to transmogrify into faeries couldn’t you. Thank you for your comment on the painting. The ‘hidden world below’ that you mention is really what the paintings about, the real and unreal. Perhaps the dragonfly is the messenger existing in both realms from nymph below water to the mature Dragonfly full of aerial elegance.
a painting where there is great depth, thanks John, I found myself exploring the image on several occasions…when I saw the full moon through the window the other night I saw a blue ring around the bright orb, hadn’t experience the blue ring before, then I viewed your painting and you had a beautiful blue background…maybe something about the last full moon that was truly blue in poetic terms
Hello Julie,
Thank you very much for your lovely comment. I understand exactly what you mean. The moon and that special ring around it when the light surrounds the ‘bright orb’ The moon always draws us to it doesn’t it even the truly blue ones.