Lisa Thorpe

Embracing Abundance

As we enter mid November I find my pomegranate tree replete with bursting fruit. Each one a beauty, cracked open jeweled seeds peeking out with sweet promise.  The birds often notice these globes of goodness before I do, but I don’t mind there is plenty to share.  A little google search tells me what my heart already knew: the pomegranate is a symbol of prosperity, fertility, and abundance the whole world round.  This shrub with it’s beautiful summer flowers and it’s spectacular late autumn fruit, is commonly thought to have originated in Persia but not surprisingly it was disseminated through out much of the world and quickly seeped into a vast array of myth and religious traditions.  References are found in Greek and Egyptian mythology, Chinese and Japanese iconography, as well as Judism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Could it be that we have the answer to world peace right in our own back yards?  Sit down with anyone, anywhere and crack open this red leather globe and share the jeweled abundance within!

In my own life I have used the pomegranate as symbol in my art a number of times.  It comes to fruit in this wildly bustling time of year when we are preparing for holidays and festivals and a life bursting with abundance just like the pomegranate.  In the past I have made art and had blog post titled “surviving abundance”, the art and the posts speak to a kind of overwhelm, a busyness that can make the wealth of activity and bustle feel like a burden.  But this year instead of surviving abundance I am going to endeavor to embrace abundance, see all this industry and activity in a different way, like the pomegranate it is a symbol of a full, fertile, abundant life.  I’ll keep you posted on how I do.

Following are three versions of an iPad drawing I did of orange shoes. Please let me know which on you like best A,B or C…. and if you have time why.  I am putting together a portfolio of images and just need a little community feedback.  If you don’t mind I’m going to do this every so often as I compile a series of illustrations. If you are seeing this message in an email you can click through to the blog post on the web and there is a voting box to choose A, B or C.

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PS don’t forget next Thursday is my online Luminaria class. Here is a link to sign up to participate that day or down load the PowerPoint seminar for later use. Luminaria online class