Wednesday : Judas : forgiveness window

engraved glass by Laurence Whistler

St Nicholas Church, Moreton

detail of Forgiveness Window, St Nicholas Moreton

As you can probably guess, this church originally had coloured stained glass windows... but they were destroyed by a WW2 bomb. Over many years they were gradually replaced by a series of beautiful etched glass windows by Laurence Whistler ( a relative of the oil painter ).
     The Forgiveness Window was donated by the engraver, but only at last accepted by the church many years after his death... it depicts Judas’ suicide... but as the 30 pieces of silver fall from his dying hands the coins are transformed into seedlings... a moving visual symbol of forgiveness & new life.

you can see more of these windows by searching on Pinterest or Google

Saturday

Magnolias : Janet Driver (oil on canvas)

Our neighbours have beautiful magnolia trees, and one year I happened to see these flowers just as brilliant sunshine poured down into them giving an amazing brilliance against a dense dark hedge...
symbolic, it seems, of what is happening now...light shining in darkness...


I will continue to post daily paintings / photos...at least one a day... while we are still “behind locked doors” 

April Showers ?

What a day !

Rain pouring down...
roads & fields saturated overnight
making driving difficult
with deep, wide "rivers"
along roadsides...
but...
the most beautiful colours
of leaves just breaking through
 against dark oak tree trunks

Magnificent Magnolias

then brilliant warm sunshine...

cat basking in favorite place across studio threshold,
 at last the pool of water which flooded
through the skylight
 has dried out

...joyful birdsong...

 sudden thunder & lightning,
huge raindrops so loud
 the cat hides in a corner
 and mews at me,
as though
 its all my fault
 as large hailstones
 pelt down noisily
 bouncing right inside the doorway...

just as suddenly giving way
to deep blue sky

glorious sunshine
lighting up the magnolia tree next door...

Magnolias : Blue Dream  

 reminding me of paintings
 from this time last year,
 when the magnolia blossom
 basked in warm sunshine,
 suspended in stillness
 rather than suffering
 from this year's gales.