Life is a Beautiful Struggle

That's the name of this painting.  "Life is a Beautiful Struggle."  These little cacti grow out of basaltic rocks at a high altitude.  They sit under snow a good part of the winter and manage to push their way out of volcanic rocks.  Not loamy forest dirt nor beside the streams.  Out of rocks.  I picture them struggling to survive in drought years, staying alive when uncommon cold snaps over take them and at the bottom of the forest floor where the pine trees hog all of the sunshine.  Yet, they manage to put on a quiet, mostly unseen little show each year.  Sitting hidden where nobody but the birds or deer will likely see them, they produce vibrant touches of red contrasted against the rocks that shelter them. Reds that are vivid and full of life and beauty.  Reds that somehow make the rest of the forest around them look a bit more dressed up for a few days.  Would they be as lovely if they didn't have to struggle?  Somehow, I don't think so.

"Life is a Beautiful Struggle"
Watercolor on paper
22" x 30"

I have fought through this painting, afraid it would be a mess at the end and become a thing to put in the bottom of my painting storage drawer.  It has taken me weeks to finish.  However, at the end of my struggles, I am filled with joy that I could paint this and pay my small homage to these cacti.  It won't save the world or change anyone's lives, but it has made me happy and that's enough.  We live in an amazing world, filled with beauty and light.  There is ugliness as well, but aren't the beautiful things more lovely contrasted against the common and sad?  There is beauty in struggle.

Thanks for stopping by! Alice