New Life from the ashes?

I cannot remember how long ago I began a painting expressing my anger about all the violence in Syria and then added more angry daubs when further outrages happened in Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Gaza, Sri Lanka, & Paris. Its a real mess. And yet one day when I turned it upside down I was surprised to discover recognizable shapes emerging, and decided to enhance the outlines a little to see what would happen...resulting in an abstract group of faces in one corner.
This has been a prayer painting with much anger and deep sadness. A cry of 'Where on earth is God in all this ?

And then I think of all the really positive things people have been doing: those who have been involved in giving aid or working with refugees despite the risks. Its too easy to be overwhelmed and depressed by all the evil, and not notice the love around. What about Medicins sans frontiers working in war torn areas, and all those who have gone to West Africa to work among Ebola victims ?

The ground outside my studio was totally waterlogged; a dark mess of decaying leaves and ashes. But then suddenly, with a little sunshine, a few thin green shoots have appeared, topped with the first snowdrops

a reminder to notice all the little signs of new life and hope.

welcome to 2015

another unfinished painting... portraying the flip-side of last night's unfinished picture of someone running towards a firmly locked door
  Here I imagine that door being opened from within
 A heavy wooden door, firmly locked by a crossbeam, taking quite an effort to open.
But as it gradually opens, even just a crack, the brilliant morning light floods in
 to dispel the darkness.
The beginning of something new...