Robert Simola - Templeton, California USA


'The Promise of Spring'

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Artist's comments ...

Linocut printed with black, water soluble, Speedball ink and Daniel Smith water-soluble burnt umber on Somerset paper.

Spring is a time of waiting. It is not only a time when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love, or a time of rebirth and regeneration. It is a time of uncertainty and despair. In e.e.cummings' poem, "in just spring," it is a time where childhood and sexual maturity meet in that murky time where innocence will be transformed by a balloon man who becomes a goat-footed Pan, enticing the children from their games of marbles and hopscotch. For T.S. Eliot, this is the cruelest time of the year because it breeds hope in a land devoid of hope.

And yet spring has always brought with it a sense of renewal, a belief the hardships caused by winter can be forgotten, and a hope that the promise of a better life ahead will be fulfilled.

In this image, Spring has arrived, but the promise of Spring has not yet been fulfilled. There is a riot of grasses and flowers in the forgeround, but the tree is still bare, and the sky is empty of life.


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