Transient Orchid

Oil on canvas 76cm x 61cm 
Transience as a theme arose at the beginning of the pandemic as death became an issue that was difficult to ignore.  I decided to focus on the willow tree that needed to be cut down in my garden, which had an emotional impact. Many emotional issues arose but I wanted to focus on the positive in order to lift my mood rather than dwell on the negative.  After researching the subject I came across the Japanese philosophy of 'mono no aware' similar to 'wabi sabi' which sees and understands the beauty in transience. I also gained some understanding of entropy and that without transience there can be no life.  Every tangible thing is transient including the universe itself but when I questioned others about their perception of transience they tended to state things that had a short life cycle relative to our own.  The transience of flowers and plants is observable and so for now I am focusing on this natural process but may move on to other themes within this project. The more I think about transience the more complex it seems, life, death, time and physics.