Il Girasole - An Italian Sunflower

I love painting sunflowers. There is really something very free about it for me. I am also one to look at the symbolism in our lives. I wondered at this fascination with
sunflowers since I started painting because I didn't really feel strongly drawn to them before.

A friend told me that the things we surround ourselves with are reflections of our inner self and to look around me to see what my house says about me. As I looked I had to laugh and dubbed myself Nature Queen. (go figure) Everything around me is symbolic of nature and I also observed a table with a sunflower I painted years ago and a mosaic mirror in the the shape and colors of one. So I guess it isn't new for me I just hadn't paid attention.

Curious about its symbolism I found these tidbits...

The sunflower's turning as it follows the sun symbolizes deep loyalty and constancy. It is said that if a girl puts three sunflower seeds down her back, she will marry the first boy she meets. The Chinese hold the sunflower as a symbol of longevity. Incan priestesses wore large sunflower disks made of gold on their garments. In the Andes mountains, images of sunflowers were hammered into gold and placed in temples. Sunflower seeds were a sacred food to the Plains Indians in the prairie regions of North America. They placed bowls filled with sunflower seeds on the graves of their dead to nourish them on the long journey to the "Happy Hunting Grounds."

My dream book says it specifically symbolizes spiritual joy. Maybe that's why I love painting them so much.

This one is named in Italian - which I am struggling to learn. Good thing I looked it up because my guess was way off.

Il Girasole
11x14 Oil on Canvas

SOLD

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©2008 Deb Kirkeeide. All rights reserved.