Listen


Écoute
8" x10"
Acrylic on canvas
2009

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak […] (James 1:19)

Here is a portrait of Cape Breton fiddler Bonny Jean MacDonald, a young woman I met in my late teenage years. It is based on a photograph my uncle Claude Manoli took in 2000.

The scene here suggests a talk between two people, yet the focus is put on the one listening. The conversationalists sitting on a stone heap are surrounded by an old shack, a fence in ruins, a muddy field and stormy skies. This gloomy winter landscape represents the speaker's inner turmoil. The print on the listener's shirt is that of allspice flower, the symbolic flower of compassion.

The landscape is freely inspired from Rebecca MacDonald's photography and used with her permission. [link]