The Gypsy In My Soul

At a funeral service recently, I heard the body referred to as a 'tent' . In the Bible,

both Isaiah and St. Paul  use the tent metaphor to express the transitory nature

of the body that houses the soul. The image appealed to me as expressing perfectly

the transient housing of the body on our life's journey.  Subject to

miles and weather, celebration and hardship, I thought about the 

wandering nomad tribes that seem homeless apart from their 

tent dwellings. I thought about the enchanting gypsy culture,

in their big colorful tents, singing and dancing the years away

in great Bohemian style.

And so I painted a picture of the Body As Tent
14x14, with  the image of  draped carpeting

as the "walls". A woman's form arises from the top of the structure and it looks like

her arms provide the substrate that it is built upon. (Surprisingly, the woman reminds me

of Stevi Nicks whose hit song "Gypsy" played in my head all through the painting! I had 

not planned on nor was I consciously aware of  the 

singer's face while I was working on it!)

Another surprise: After I had finished the painting, I was not entirely pleased with 

the redness of the tent. I wondered if there was any symbolism that I had, again,

unconsciously conjured. Google to the rescue! I found this:

"In ancient cultures as that of Native Americans, Africans, and Chinese,

red is a symbolic color of strength and female power.

The red tent  is rooted in ancient Christian history as a gathering place

for women who were admitted into the Red Tent when giving birth

or menstruating. It became an empowering ritual of community

where men were excluded due to their own fear of contamination."

Needless to say the red stayed in the painting where an image

became both manifest and meaningful
beyond my  conscious effort thanks to the gypsy in my soul!