9.5" x 14" print.
 
This piece is in gratitude to my mother, Amy.  (Her inspired work here, on instagram: @prettyflowersmaine )  She instilled in me the desire and capacity to notice the divine around me regardless of the weather.  She nurtured my curiosity with her own.  There was always time to stop and be in awe at some small detail, to show one another the treasures we’d find.  Though the rest of the human experience could be baffling to us both, this woman built a fortress around this landscape of wonder that I could live inside whenever I chose.  
 
For you, mama.  Thank you for all your speaking to the hummingbirds, all the color you brought into the house, the strange and beautiful collections on windowsills and shelf corners.  I watched you hold birds as they died, after a fatal crash into the window, and learned that there is beauty in death as there is in life.  You mixed dying and growing plants in your bouquets, and taught me the art of rearranging our world so others can notice its beauty.  You helped me to craft a magical lens, through which I continue to discover this world.
 
This guardian I’ve painted is my mother, and it is also the stag, or “cerbul” from a ritual that comes from Corlata, Romania.  In the ritual, the stag dies and is resurrected, carrying us from the winter time of death and rest into the Spring.
 
as always, reproductions printed on French Paper co.'s 100% recycled white speckletone.