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"When Comes Winter" by Vanessa Gardner Nagel
12 x 36 inches
acrylic and conte' on canvas
NFS
Artist Statement:
After an inspiring trip to Glacier National Park last month, I chose to paint something that included some of what I saw. Then 'Deep Sleep" provided the remaining inspiration. My paintings include poems. The last stanza of this painting's accompanying poem is part of the painting. The diadem in the goddess's head dress is a symbol of truth. A winter goddess is often attributed as the creator of winter - it's power and length. I wanted this painting to have a magical quality about it as well as a spiritual element.
MY POEM:
When Comes Winter
Stillness advances ahead of the storm.
Then wintry wildness becomes a blizzard
Aflutter with snowflakes and fallen leaves
That blanket our dreams of tranquility.
Like Nature’s spun chrysalis of Being
Circadian rhythms simmer or still,
While Spirit infuses us with courage,
Gratitude, compassion and divine love.
When comes winter with deep sleep and long nights,
We dream of spring and the righting of wrongs:
Where the snow goddess and blue wolves guard dreams
Of righteousness beneath the Cold Moon’s light.
About the Artist:
During a career in commercial interior design and then landscape design for over 40 years, Vanessa Gardner Nagel also authored two books for Timber Press: Understanding Garden Design and The Professional Designer’s Guide to Garden Furnishings. After her life turned upside-down after the passing of her beloved husband, Michael, near the beginning of Covid in 2020, her life changed unexpectedly and then profoundly. A spiritual course change, change of location and her cathartic pursuit of writing poems followed by painting & mixed media expressing the many iterations of intense, deep grief. Muses in the form of a former creative writing teacher, two beloved psychics, artists of the past, her daughter, and the Universe whispered insistently. And now life moves on with new direction and inspiration.