Bed

When I came across this scroll- shaped bed- head I thought it could work as a ground for a painting I was beginning to visualise... about "beds" of course! A bed is essentially a base or support for something... I was thinking back to the blooming desert series and dry creek beds. These images progressed to flower beds, combined with the idea of a bed as a place to lie in; a resting place; a final place.

One day a year ago the subject evolved before my eyes, at home on our own property here at Lenswood! Our small, seasonally dry creek-bed was in flood! The rain kept falling until the banks burst, and large amounts of swiftly gushing water were spreading out widely into the paddocks... wow!

Even the clumps of Arum lilies that have been steadily multiplying along its course over the years, appeared to be floating... From my very first garden I have always liked these intensely white, creamy smooth flowers with their single yellow (spadix) spike.

Here in the storms, although a little battered, their sensual, simple forms seemed to be glowing, en masse... In the flower-language world, some say they stand for sorrows, others for purity  and love, and they are chosen alike for weddings and funerals... I'm not sure, but I do know this; 

THE BOUNDARY LINES HAVE FALLEN FOR ME IN PLEASANT PLACES; SURELY I HAVE A DELIGHTFUL INHERITANCE.
—Psalm 16; 6

Maybe this artwork is still a work in progress...