Heaven and Earth (Diptych Image 1)

Ever since I was a child growing up in northern Ohio in the late 1960’s, I have been a “tree hugger.” I learned which direction was east by the sky made orange from the steel mill. Lake Erie was dying from polluted waters. The Cuyahoga River caught on fire. My inspiration for Heaven and Earth is deeply rooted in my environmentalism. I’ve spent hundreds of hours volunteering in wetlands, prairies, and forests to remove invasive plants and establish natives. My husband and I are the models for this diptych.

In Da Vinci’s painting Salvatore Mundi, Jesus is holding the celestial sphere which represents our planet. I have drawn the woman and the man in Heaven and Earth within that celestial sphere to represent humanity’s responsibility to preserve and protect Earth. The four seasons are symbolically represented in the corners.