GARDEN PRAYERS: Winter, Artist T.M. Givens paints life's rebirth in Botanic Garden

T.M. Givens, like his favorite poet Rilke, enjoys experiencing nature directly and making art from his impressions. Rilke’s query; how do humans reconcile existence–beauty, suffering, life and death was answered in lyrical poems that begin in nature. Below, he  deals with the end of summer. (The last part reverberated with me, a city-dweller.)

Day In Autumn–Rainer Maria Rilke

After the summer’s yield, Lord it is time
to let your shadow lengthen on the sundial
and in the pastures let the rough winds fly.

As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness
Direct on them two days of winter light
to hale them golden toward their term, and harry
the last few drops of sweetness through the wine.

Whoever’s homeless now, will build no shelter
who lives alone will live infinitely so,
waking up to read a little, draft long letters,
and, along the city’s avenues,
fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.

I paint in my spare time and was fortunate this summer to be able to retreat into nature. Losing myself in existence without people can be more than peaceful, even transcendent.

It was with great pleasure that I received GARDEN PRAYERS: Winter by T. M. Givens. (Pelekinesis). This book’s drawings form an extraordinary meditation of winter, moving toward Spring (which is the next volume). The earlier ones, with color edging out of  white space, seem to be life asserting itself. In the later ones, color dominates the white space. Maybe winter receding?

In his intro Terry Givens said  “After many long hours of wandering, I realized that not only did I enjoy this but over time I found some inner peace.” This kindred soul is an artist from Claremont California. His subtle beautiful drawings were done in the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, which exhibited his work in a changing exhibition in 2018 entitled “Terry Givens 100 Garden Views.”

S.W.