Clara
April 9, 2011
Clara Brooke Marshall
- Oil on Canvas
- 14″ x 14″
- In the collection of N/AM
Clara’s 9 month portrait includes symbols the natural world. She holds the earth in her hands, fingers under the clouds. A small section of prairie with butterfly milkweed sits above the earth. Monarch butterflies capture Clare’s eye as they head toward their overwintering homes in California and Mexico. The Monarch caterpillar, pupa and butterfly milkweed cover her shirt. A few blocks from my home is a beautiful, fanciful, fun butterfly garden outside the Monarch Watch building. My hope is that Clara will become very familiar with it as she grows. At least that is the intention of her two grandmothers. The moon, our closest neighbor in space, rests above the prairie. The constellations illustrate the time of Clara’s birth. Great Blue Herons have had a rookery on our farm for years. Clare will be able to join us to watch them circle above the sycamore trees, returning home just before sunset with a full belly. She enjoys water so much that I decided to stand the heron in water and include a water flower among her symbols, the lotus.
