Changing Tides
Changing Tides
Acrylic on Canvas
15” x 40”
This painting reflects in plain terms the changing season of our life time. We live, We die and a new generation is born. Experiencing the passing of a parent is the hardest thing I have every gone through, and am still grieving. I probably wont ever stop feeling the sadness.
After my father passed away I went on a two week kayak trip. I saw the older trees unrooted and new baby sprouts growing on top of these roots. This really impacted how I saw what ‘life’ actually was about. During this time, in the kayak I wrote a poem. Please take a moment of silence to read this to yourself.
Falling of Father Tree, 1950
by: Angela Chao
Swirling vivid colours, waltz
Illuminated in soothing warmth
Mesmerizing rumbling clouds
Obstructed by whispering pines,
Nestled away, rest inside care
Comforting echoes of rustling branches
Honoured by the surrounding forest
Arching, reaching, bending in
Organized chaos
Patches of tranquil sunshine
Escaping through the cracks
Reflected in still water.
Mirroring versions of reality
Father tree, glorious and wise
Bounded within his surroundings
Reaching towards the sun, the air, the sky
Shifting to the currents of time
Leaves twirling on branches
Limited by their foundation
Unaware, he cannot be moved
Clouds bellow, engulfing the sunlight
Trees bow, giving praise to his life
As the radiance peaks past the clouds
Embracing Father tree one last time
He breathes the majestic air of life
At the end of his exhale
Tensions, inabilities are let go
His limbs fragile and delicate
Crash into an eternal slumber
He is unrooted
Changing the plains of the forest
Breaking the stillness
Breaking the silence
He is embedded in mother earth
His branches, his truck, his leaves
Submerged in the lake
Returning to the soil, the water, the air
The calmness of the lake is forever disturbed
Splashing, crashing waves upon father tree
Sending emotional ripples across the generations
Droplets trickle across each branch
Glistening in the sunset
Winds uplift his spirit
Floating amongst the clouds, the stars, the universe
Traveling in a space where,
He is unconfined to his bed
Captured inside his body
Awake and never sleeping
Shouting, screaming, needing attention
Wishing to be heard, stories to be told
Reserved in his own thoughts
As his body withers away
Now uncontrollable in an controlled environment
New adventures await him
Smiling down on his family
Tears of comfort and joy, pride and belonging
Waiting for the day we are together reunited
Where warmth surrounds us
Embraced by the sunlight
Dancing, walking, talking
Gloriously being my father again
Unconstrained by life’s shadows