Mixed Media on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.
Signed on the front.
"The Messenger" is a surrealist landscape work painted in both oil and acrylic on canvas.
At various junctions in our lives we need some message of hope, the promise of better circumstances or more abundance in our lives. The painting loaded with symbolism represents all things positive.
Native to China, the peony is known as "queen of flowers" and symbolises prosperity, good fortune, love and compassion. Both the flower and the fruit bloom in early spring and are recognised as harbingers of wishes for good luck in Chinese culture.
In Chinese mythology there is an story surrounding the loquat fruit that back in these ancient dynasties only Chinese royalty were allowed to eat them and it was thought that when the fruit fell into the rivers it gave the carp the strength to swim against the currents, swim up waterfalls and turn into mythical dragons.
Both the peony and the loquat have special meaning to me as a subject to paint as I lived for three years in Hong Kong in in early 90's and as so fascinated with contemporary Chinese brush painting and the discipline, observation of nature and economy of line executed in this artform has always enriched my practice as an artist over the years.