Artinua Arts: The Aviary Art Show : 5 : Great Pair

View Full

View Print and Cards

*This post is the fifth in The Aviary Art Show series of paintings and posts, from the Aviary Art Gallery" of wild bird paintings at Artinua.Org .*

Having heeded the warnings that New Orleans would fill up like a bowl in a major storm our family finally had that last good reason needed to make the move to an outlying suburban community. Like many other families seeking high ground, better schools, safer neighborhoods, better streets and more, we left the things, places and people that we loved and migrated north. Like these great egrets perched in the canopy over the swamp, we perched above the swamps and low-lying areas on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

New Orleans lies on the south shore of the lake, a 24-mile long bridge away. Like many families who sought refuge from the urban decay and flooding, we commuted back into the city frequently. What were daily trips at first gradually became semi-weekly and eventually infrequent or rare. Like so many who have left urban areas we gradually divorced ourselves from the businesses that we had once frequented, choosing to patronize those nearer to our new home. We began to seek entertainment and activities locally. Crime rates and long commutes caused us to reconsider even the festivals that had once drawn us into the city. Once-close friends and relatives faded into the obscurity of distance as new relationships were cultivated with those who shared our new community and our reasons for leaving.

Having "escaped" the cultural decay, anticipating the failure of the levees to come, and surrounded by the beauty of a new community with low crime and many assets, a heaviness and longing had settled on my heart. We make these choices I thought, just as immigrants make these choices, to leave the comfort of the familiar behind and take chances for their own futures and the futures of their children and grandchildren. Like them I longed to help my former community survive, grow and prosper.

There is a kind of survival guilt that comes with avoiding or overcoming those things, people, places and events that have affected others adversely. It prompts people to activism, to putting themselves in harms way to help in recovery efforts and to donations to charity. Some return to resettle and contribute. Others never experience these things, but move on with their lives without looking back. It was in a state of thoughtfulness about this that I painted this painting in 2004.

Title : Great Pair

Media : Acrylic on canvas,

Artist : Victoria John (Ritterbush)

Description: Two great egrets perch in lush cypress canopy high above the swamp below.