Glass House Dervishes - Longwood Gardens

Glass House Dervishes -- Longwood Gardens, Acrylic
on Canvas, 10 x 8" by Tracy Feldman

This painting continues my Longwood Gardens series of paintings.  I don't know what these wonderful plants are called, but in my mind I always have called them Dervishes because of the way their spiky leaves seem to whirl out from their centers and the tops arch one way and then the next.

   These plants don't move in the breeze in Longwood's Glass House.  But from the first time I saw them, they brought to mind photos of a religious ceremony that I saw as a child.  In the photos, the "Whirling Dirvishes" (the dancers) seemed to embody total freedom and joy.  My web research to do this blog revealed that the Divishes are part of a Muslim sect that teaches followers to love everything, so I guess that was what I was supposed to get from it.

   If you wonder what the human Dervishes look like whirling, you can Google them.  Here is an image of the dancers that I got from an official tourist website for Turkey:

     I hope you enjoy my Dirveshes as much I enjoyed seeing and painting them.  I took another image of them from afar with an Orthodox Jewish couple standing to their left that I want to paint some day.  It will be a hope that peaceful coexistence between the people of the Middle East will seem as natural as seeing these two people next to these plants.

    As usual, if you are interested in purchasing this piece, you can check it out at my galleryhttp://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/tracy-feldman/glass-house-dervishes/233299 on Dailypaintworks.com.  I will put it up for auction, starting at $25, but if you want to buy it without going through the auction, the price will be $60.