"Nature is never quiet before my eyes.
There are the nestled circles of pink and crimson brush strokes that give the illusion of a rose.
More circles... leaves trailing in a broad laugh and you have a garland.
Add swoops of blue and lilac and a ribbon dances around it.
There are the nestled circles of pink and crimson brush strokes that give the illusion of a rose.
More circles... leaves trailing in a broad laugh and you have a garland.
Add swoops of blue and lilac and a ribbon dances around it.
A mood, a feeling, a voice that evokes nature's true self is the essence of art.
Sometimes, one can never be certain when an impression will bear fruit.
Often, a painting takes root, or a garden blossoms
when we are not aware it is happening."
Sometimes, one can never be certain when an impression will bear fruit.
Often, a painting takes root, or a garden blossoms
when we are not aware it is happening."
- Andrea
T'is Fragrant Reverie of Mary
To what shall I compare the essence of Mary?
The garden comes close to expressing my memory of her.
Like a long parched earth after a sudden rain,
she comes with a promise of green things about to grow,
so that I half expect her to burst forth with the sprouts
and the leaves, the blossoms and the twigs.
Her image is traced in trees that merge with the sky;
flowers reaching out to one another and toward the sun.
And I worship.
Like the outer leaves of a bud
that are symbolic of two hands folded in prayer,
I worship.
The garden comes close to expressing my memory of her.
Like a long parched earth after a sudden rain,
she comes with a promise of green things about to grow,
so that I half expect her to burst forth with the sprouts
and the leaves, the blossoms and the twigs.
Her image is traced in trees that merge with the sky;
flowers reaching out to one another and toward the sun.
And I worship.
Like the outer leaves of a bud
that are symbolic of two hands folded in prayer,
I worship.
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Our Lady of Immigrants“Oh Mary, I remember the many winding roads you and I have gone through together. Like the seasons that are separated from one another, there are intervals between hope and fulfillment. Days when paradise seemed lost, and days when Heaven was redeemed. One moment I was the Sahara in my purification, the next a verdant field in my epiphany!” Artist's Journal
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Our Lady of the Roses"I suppose one of the joys of being an artist is what one does to some extent is a confession. On the eve of January 3, 1993 while in the midst of my midnight prayers, I saw Our Lady’s image on the canvas. It was the sort of insight that could only have come out of a sacred longing to create a new and true identity of Our Lady of the Roses, whose shrine at San Damiano, Italy I had not seen and whose first apparition was first made known to Padre Pio, and later to the visionary that the future saint picked out from a crowd. So I tool my brushes and paints, and from the center of my being poured the colors on canvas for four hours in the glow of a night light. I could never be certain when the impression bore fruit. All I knew is the reality that you and I now see. It was as if she painted herself for me. I’d like to believe that this is Mary’s message for us: You and I are like flowers in God’s garden able to grow into a beautiful plant. But to grow means to be open not just to pain and pleasure but to both. When we create, nurture, inspire and nourish our little patch of green, we are actually providing ourselves with the fulfillment that is already within us. Simply, Mary will be there as a rock, a tree, a cloud.” Artist's Journal
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Our Lady of the Angels“I enter the canvas where Mary and some cherubim lift themselves up with the brushstrokes and the palette and it is as if I had come to an open window in heaven. I stand still and listen with an open heart that the stillness may make its impression on me------- such eloquent silence to be heard! Mary has a voice, and I have ears. I can hear whenever she calls.” Artist's Journal
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Mater Amabilis“This overwhelms me. To watch Mary and the Christ Child descend from Heaven to associate with me. Is not the garden akin to paradise? While nature’s comfort closes us in, we draw nearer and get to know one another. She appears and I am once more a child. I will wander farther not from what I have called home--- Mary’s bosom which is forever welcoming me. I run to her embrace.” Artist's Journal
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Salve Regina“I climb the path with Mary and I reach my own epiphany, perchance where the heavens and the earth are one. Each step is a reminiscing and a prompting. Each creation is a language of its own. Now I am sun of summer; now I am a wild flower. Part leaf, part tree. Or, sweet-scented vernal grass. When was the time when the beauty and poetry were all within? I would sit and listen to my thoughts and there was a melody in them. In the silence, I heard a calling, and walked with a joy that knew its own beginning.” Artist's Journal
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The Assumption of the Virgin“Mary ascends to her celestial empyrean with a retinue of angels amid shields of lilies, laurel and palm fronds. They are symbols of purity, peace and victory. Swooping inward are wreath-bearing angels ushering the light, the infinite promise of eternal life. How admirable is her purity! How sweet her fragrance, How perfect is Mary. The “Rose of Sharon” and the “lily –of- the- valley”----- The velvety crimson hues belong to the earth, And the purest blossoms, perchance, to the heavens.” Artist's Journal
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The Virgin of the Rosary“I seek acquaintance with Mary------to know her moods and manners. The rosary is special, a visible token of her upholding love. Already, a new light is offered me. Each decade is but an infinitesimal point. It no sooner comes then it is gone and is back again. Here is continual worship. I should not like to think that St. Dominic had come before me and picked out the best lullaby, the best prayer of adoration for her. For I wish to honor Mary here on earth and in heaven.” Artist's Journal
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Ave Maria“Oh, if I could but catch the sound of your Fiat! Its first utterance budded in your heart, Then flowered in your voice. And now the words flow like a few single notes, Dripping from the leaves like dew. A few words spoken to an archangel: Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord Be it done to me according to your Word. Then the infinite promise of a blossom Between the Spirit of light and a chaste Virgin! I rejoice in His being.” Artist's Journal
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The Annunciation“How silent are the footsteps of Divine Love. It is lyrical. At first only God’s breath stirring the seed in a garden. And then the blossoming. Ah! The first ecstasy. Chaste Virgin! Within your womb is an enclosed garden from which lay the seed of humanity. The seed, is it not akin to the Tree of Life? And the flower to Christ? Here is continual Paradise! Now, if you will------ Tender little shoots, bud, stalk, leaf and blossom--- Breathe your joy in me. I sing in adoration.” Artist's Journal
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Emblem Flowers of Mary
St. Bernard praises Mary as the "rose of charity,"
the "violet of humility," and the "golden gilly flower of heaven."
These flowers formed by the meadows
and the fields can enhance our virtues
and help up explore some plants to constitute our present-day
Mary Garden plantings.
the "violet of humility," and the "golden gilly flower of heaven."
These flowers formed by the meadows
and the fields can enhance our virtues
and help up explore some plants to constitute our present-day
Mary Garden plantings.
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Garden of Virtues
A prominent theme related to the enclosed garden of Mary's virginity
is the Garden of Virtues. St. Jerome (c. 350-420) says
"Mary is a garden of delights into which are sown
all kinds of flowers and spice plants of the virtues."
In devotional gardens the enclosure represents the soul of the individual Christian.
What did Medieval piety and Renaissance creativity say
about the beauty of these flowers and Mary?
is the Garden of Virtues. St. Jerome (c. 350-420) says
"Mary is a garden of delights into which are sown
all kinds of flowers and spice plants of the virtues."
In devotional gardens the enclosure represents the soul of the individual Christian.
What did Medieval piety and Renaissance creativity say
about the beauty of these flowers and Mary?
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The Flower Imagery of Mary
The flower imagery of Mary with origins in the Wisdom and Prophetic books of the Bible
has a long Christian tradition.
In the writings of the Church Fathers of the first six centuries,
garden imagery of Mary read like a classical florilegium.
She is tenderly called:
has a long Christian tradition.
In the writings of the Church Fathers of the first six centuries,
garden imagery of Mary read like a classical florilegium.
She is tenderly called:
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A Blossoming Rod of Aaron
Burning Bush Unconsumed Cloud Raining upon the Earth Flower of the Field |
Fruitful Olive Tree
Garden Enclosed Garden of the Father Lily-of-the-Valley |
Most Holy Paradise of Eden
Mead of Sweet Savor Open Meadow Rod that Blossomed Forth Christ as the Flower |
Root of the loveliest Flower that Blooms
Spotless Lily Tree of Good Foliage Vine Fruitful with Grapes |
In a Breviary from the Divine Office of the Roman Rite, other titles designated to the Virgin include:
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Cypress of Mount Sion
Flourishing Vine Flowers of the Roses in the Springtime Fair Olive Tree Garden of Delight |
Lily at the Edge of the Stream
Paradise where Blossoms the Tree of Life Rosebush in Jericho Royal Virgin of David’s Rose Rose Plant in Jerusalem |
Scriptural Symbols for the Virgin Mary
Ark of the Covenant - Exodus 25:10
Cedar of Lebanon: Sicut cedrus exaltata --- Ecclesiasticus 24:13
City of God: Civitas Dei --- Psalm 86:3
Fountain of the Garden: Fons hortorum --- Canticle 4:15
Garden Enclosed: Hortus Conclusus --- Canticle 4:12
Gate of Heaven : Porta Coeli --- Genesis 28:17
Lily Among Thorns:
Cedar of Lebanon: Sicut cedrus exaltata --- Ecclesiasticus 24:13
City of God: Civitas Dei --- Psalm 86:3
Fountain of the Garden: Fons hortorum --- Canticle 4:15
Garden Enclosed: Hortus Conclusus --- Canticle 4:12
Gate of Heaven : Porta Coeli --- Genesis 28:17
Lily Among Thorns: