This painting began as a quick painting with leftover paint on my palette and then it got stuck. The contrast was too great and the lady looked like she had been abused with her dark purple ribs! But I knew I loved the image and had a connection to it, so I just put it away for a while. Meanwhile, I acquired some transparent white paint which helped the skin and water, and began to think about what I liked and didn’t like about the painting. I wanted to include a sunflower as a symbol of hope for this woman.

When I came back to the painting, I began with the sunflower. Then a waterfall came to mind and finally the restorative call of nature emerged and I added in some leaves. As I stepped back and looked at this painting, I felt like it was symbolic of the hope that emerges when the power of the Spirit (represented by the water and the wind through the leaves) touches our pain. It felt like the healing power of the Spirit that can be experienced in nature and in rest and an invitation to be restored again.