I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you
‘The Bright Field’ by R. S. Thomas
There have been times this year when my ears and eyes have been closed to ‘the song from the garden’. The figures in my paintings have stood face on, solid, still and suspended; clothed with layers and accessories, maybe to deflect or to invite the gaze of the viewer. They have been found hidden in shady corners or waiting on stage as if for a play to unfold. Along the way the figures have also turned aside, naked as if stripped back to Eden and tuning in for the call of spring.
As humans there is great temptation to complicate ourselves, perhaps for fear that ‘unclothed’ we are nothing. Painting has a way of stripping away layers, opening doors and tapping at walls as it records each step back to a forgotten path.
John Main said “The light which enlightens us bathes the whole of creation but it enters us through a narrow aperture”.
Painting this year has reminded me that the almond tree still blossoms whether we awaken to see it or not and the song from the garden calls unceasingly, waiting for us to turn aside and listen.
Joy Wolfenden Brown . August 2014
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you
‘The Bright Field’ by R. S. Thomas
There have been times this year when my ears and eyes have been closed to ‘the song from the garden’. The figures in my paintings have stood face on, solid, still and suspended; clothed with layers and accessories, maybe to deflect or to invite the gaze of the viewer. They have been found hidden in shady corners or waiting on stage as if for a play to unfold. Along the way the figures have also turned aside, naked as if stripped back to Eden and tuning in for the call of spring.
As humans there is great temptation to complicate ourselves, perhaps for fear that ‘unclothed’ we are nothing. Painting has a way of stripping away layers, opening doors and tapping at walls as it records each step back to a forgotten path.
John Main said “The light which enlightens us bathes the whole of creation but it enters us through a narrow aperture”.
Painting this year has reminded me that the almond tree still blossoms whether we awaken to see it or not and the song from the garden calls unceasingly, waiting for us to turn aside and listen.
Joy Wolfenden Brown . August 2014
She Sits on Her Hands
122 x 86 cm . oil on board
Girls with Tears
26 x 20 cm . oil on paper
The Silver Chain
43 x 36 cm . oil on board
She Listens for Morning
16 x 34 cm . oil on paper
Dawn Chorus
21 x 46 cm . oil on paper
Faint Glimmer
102 x 82 cm . oil on board
The Clock
23 x 24 cm . oil on paper
The Table
18 x 26 cm . oil on paper
Boy in Girls Pants
96 x 61 cm . oil on board
Deep Voice
104 x 109 cm . oil on board
Ceramic Dress, Clay Skin, Water Eyes
102 x 114 cm . oil on board
Poem for Her Family
122 x 61 cm . oil on board
Light
8 x 30 cm . oil on paper
Song from the Garden I
10 x 28 cm . oil on paper
Song from the Garden II
23 x 18 cm . oil on paper
When the Almond Tree Blossoms
15 x 23 cm . oil on paper
The Walled Garden
21 x 19 cm . oil on paper
Refugee
15 x 23 cm . oil on paper
Small Child
13 x 14 cm . oil on paper
Glasses
23 x 14 cm . oil on paper
Spring
13 x 46 cm . oil on paper
The Forgotten Path
16 x 34 cm . oil on paper
He Faces the Sun
86 x 122 cm . oil on board
A Time for Everything I
25 x 12 cm . oil on paper
A Time for Everything II
25 x 12 cm . oil on paper
The Orchard
14 x 62 cm . oil on paper
Strangers
10 x 14 cm . oil on paper
The Wall
18 x 11 cm . oil on paper
The Garden Wall
25 x 11 cm . oil on paper
Love
56 x 28 cm . oil on board
Song from the Garden III
104 x 110 cm . oil on board
Silent Song
110 x 104 cm . oil on board
The Good Father
110 x 104 cm . oil on board
The Pied Blackbird
101 x 47 cm . oil on board
The Almond Tree Backdrop
30 x 42 cm . oil on board
Song at Dusk Backdrop
28 x 39 cm . oil on board
She Sets the Table and Leaves
37 x 82 cm . oil on board
The Walk from Home
16 x 14 cm . oil on paper
Little Ones
14 x 11 cm each (triptych) . oil on paper
Waiting for Spring
34 x 34 cm . oil on paper
