This work is a reflection on and participation in the tradition of Annunciation paintings. The postures of Mary and Gabriel are not my own creation; I took them from Botticelli’s Annunciation at the Uffizi in Florence. I am haunted and comforted by the way Mary creates space between herself and Gabriel, perhaps out of trepidation, or reverence, or wondering. Yet, she reaches toward his gesture of peace. The second Annunciation I drew from is by George Hitchcock and hangs in the Chicago Art Institute; Mary is still, surrounded by lilies. My painting brings the encounter imagined by Botticelli into the garden–whether the angel catches Mary while she meanders through the flowers or whether the angel transforms her surroundings into a garden, where God often communes with his children, is for the viewer to ponder.
During tribulation, we long for the garden; we long to walk with God in the dew of the morning. Scripture contrasts deserts and gardens, reminding us that the Lord brought his people out of the wilderness, and will return and establish a garden city.
