Phoenix (Cape Cod Crow)
32" wide x 40" high
oil on linen, charcoal and collage
Private collection, Seattle, WA
© Copyright, 2009, the artist

A Phoenix is a mythical bird with a 600-800 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. It represents the life cycle: birth, growth, death and re-birth because from the ashes life arises anew often strengthened through reinvention. But this happens not just from reinvention of oneself but through innovation. And innovation helps to propel us forward...

The large circle is a charcoal drawing of a dead crow I found on the highway of Cape Cod which represents the death of the mythical phoenix and the suicide of my aunt who died on the Cape when I was a teenager. The smaller circle (placed and attached over the drawing) is an oil painting in color painted from life, representing the young phoenix (and my mature self) arising reborn from the ashes of the charcoal drawing.

The Phoenix has appeared in many forms in my artworks (dead horse skulls, dead oriole, etc.) and is very important to me in transcending so painful life experiences.

LINKS:

• detail of Phoenix from Aberdeen Bestiary   [link]
• another interpertation of a Pheonix   [link]