Evergreen Cardinal Playland

"Evergreen Cardinal Playland"  36"w x 36"h, Sivertson Gallery, Grand Marais, MN

Fresh off the easel is a new major work titled Evergreen Cardinal Playland which is 36"w x 36"h and just made it's way up the Scenic 61 to Grand Marais, MN this morning. My vision for this piece included cardinals and the color green. That was it, and from that vision, a painting filled with birches, cardinals, and layers of green amongst a bright green sky emerged. The composition is anchored by soft stones, of which you'd find in the forest anywhere in northern Minnesota ... except now you'd have to dig through the snow to find them. :) There is some symbolism to this painting as well, and that is out of the stones grow birches filled with tiny cardinals. I found myself laboring to get them positioned just right, but then thought of the playground at the elementary school filled with kids at recess. There's just something right about a playground filled with laughing children, and something desolate and wrong about an empty playground. So I filled the birch trees with the creatures that bring song and color to the forest ... the cardinal. I even included myself amongst this jovial group of guys .. I'm on the far left, at the bottom, gazing at the brilliant sky while listening to the friendly chatter of the bird that complements the forest and brings complementary color to this composition ... the cardinal. Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be. - Whitney Houston
Please contact Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais, MN for more information on this piece.