Bridge of Hope

My Bridges of Inspiration Collection celebrates what I like to think of as God’s divine plan for provision. Each of us in our daily life, reach obstacles and chasms that can only be bridged by God’s miraculous love. In an earlier series, I created a painting entitled Bridge of Faith, and the popularity of this painting inspired me to speculate further on the nature of bridges.

A bridge is symbolic to me as an artist, since it suggests a transition point from one area of life to another. Bridges provide safe transport over impassable conditions, and are changeless in the midst of the changing seasons. In the Bridges of Inspiration series, I envisioned creating paintings that allegorically address such complex issues of human experience as hope, love, and personal peace. In the first painting of the series, I strove to portray an image of solidarity in the context of the delicacy of nature.

The Bridge of Hope is as stable as the massive granite flagstones that form its arch and will stand for as long as the quicksilver brook rolls down from the hills beneath it. Topped by antique alabaster cornices and graced by lavish vining flowers, the stone structure reminds us that hope is at once as solid as rock and as subtle as the fragrance of blossoms on the breeze.

A magnificent white dogwood, the symbol of the purity of God’s grace, shades the bridge. Its over-arching boughs remind us that, while we stand on the Bridge of Hope, we are enshrouded by the loving embrace of our creator.