About:

Sweet Sweet Surrender, 30 x 40

Watermedia on canvas

Also known as Spirits of the Earth- Spirits of the Water

Artist statement:

Flowing water, the ebb and flow of tides, and the rhythm it creates. As a paddler, I can remember paddling the crystal-clear waters of Lake Superior. After being in a kayak all day for 10 days, when your body rests it still feels the ebb and flow of the waves along the shore; the movement of the water, its currents, its eddy’s, and its falling water. Our bodies have the same rhythm. We just need to be at peace long enough to acknowledge it. Recently I have had this song stuck in my head, it’s a John Denver song, “Sweet Sweet Surender”, and then, these two lines: “like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.” When we can surrender to the movement and the flow of the water and recognize the flow when our bodies are at rest, is that not a sweet sweet surrender? The spirits of the land are the same way. Listen to the wind in the trees and surrender to the sound.

This piece took me a long time to do. It must have at least 20 layers of paint on it. In some areas it is thicker than others. It wasn’t until I surrendered to the way the paint was flowing that it began to come together, the waterfalls in particular.

Christine Alfery

Sweet Sweet Surrender- The Spirit of the Land, The Flow of the Water