CHESS-NUT PARADISE

CHESS-NUT PARADISE by Roopa Dudley 2015

Spring and Autumn are my two favorite seasons. As mentioned before, I do not consider myself to be en plein air artist, however, lately I have been enjoying painting a lot of imaginary landscapes or "Dreamscapes" and even won a special recognition award on my "Chess-Nut Swamp" (I blogged about earlier). 

This Dreamscape however is different than the others that I painted for a couple of reasons. First being that it is painted in vivid colors unlike the others. Secondly, I actually had a spiritual dream about it -- A path of redemption through Fortitude (Rook), Faith (Bishop) and Forgiveness (King). How these three virtues work together to deliver us from vices like Impatience, Doubt and Vengeance. Once we overcome these vices, we see, feel and hear our purpose in life clearly. I usually don't remember my dreams but this one I did as I woke up and wrote down everything in my sketch book that I keep close to me on my night stand. 

As I was painting this painting about a month ago, my 11 year old daughter who did not know anything about my dream asked me "Is this PSALM 23 that you are painting?" I knew it right away that what I felt and saw in my dream obviously had an impact even on a child who may not be spiritually aware of the workings of this universe. That question stayed with me along with my original vision and the inspiration of both helped me deliver what you see here before you.

Despite of having this epiphany and knowledge as to what the path of redemption is, I still struggle with Forgiveness. I am thankful however to acknowledge this as that is the first step towards overcoming any vice. By consciously working at our weaknesses (one at a time) is the only way to overcome and change what keeps us away from having a closer relationship with God. If it was all that easy, we would all have been angels instead of human beings.