Balance & Perspective

By Hazel Holland

 

What do you see when you look at this painting?  Probably something quite different from what I had in mind when I painted it a number of years ago while I was a special education teacher.    All I had in mind at the time was to paint geometric designs to help my students find the shapes in geometry interesting, and be able to relate them to everyday things. 

That’s why it really surprised me the other day when someone commented that they saw a few Illuminati symbols in my painting.  That was the furthest thing from my mind when I painted it.  So it just goes to show that we see whatever we want to see in these designs.  As for me, I was only interested in making geometry more interesting for my students.  So they, along with me, painted various geometric shapes and designs.  Later their artwork decorated our classroom. 

Today I see many things I never noticed before in this painting.  Do you see the rainbow fish kissing and the Indian arrowheads?  How about the butterfly inside the diamond?  Do you know the difference between the isosceles, acute, and obtuse triangles?  I wonder what the diameter and circumference is of the pizzas and pies?  On the other hand perhaps they're not food at all, but just colorful balls... perhaps marbles?

Do you see the slice of ruby red grapefruit and the green rind that was left on the slice of watermelon?  The small triangle is the pup tent I use to have as a child, but the large triangle is the Great Pyramid.  And I see birds in flight and many pools of cool blue water…

The green and yellow hour glasses on either side of the diamond reminds me of the egg timer I used for making dippy eggs when I was a child.  And I see many letters of the alphabet.  But the image that stands out the most to me is in the very center of this geometric design. It's what holds it all together. A cross!

Yes, the cross brings balance and perspective to our lives, because it reminds us of the One who gave His life for us so that we may live life to the fullest.♥