Living Love

Image of the Week

Living Love

© DURGA YAEL BERNHARD

Living Love

Living Love is the second version of a religious illustration I was commissioned to do almost a decade ago.  My client wanted progressive, inclusive, multi-racial art.  As an image of brotherly love, this became an experiment in what I think of as “visual physics”.  If two opposites could be brought into harmony visually, then might not the result be a metaphor for what is actually possible?  The question intrigued me enough to explore the idea further on my own time.  As an illustrator, my job is to communicate in the language of images, and that includes metaphors.  Metaphors are governed by laws, too, that make them resonate with the psyche.

At the time that I painted this, I was twenty years into studying and/or teaching West African dance and drum – a powerful art form that has influenced my work profoundly.  Thus the African brother pictured is the primal root of what emerges in his European counterpart.  Together, the roots and the leaves form a whole, growing down into the earth and up into the sky simultaneously.

I felt the harmony of these opposites could only grow naturally from individual relating.  Both brothers cradle the mind of the other; and both are affected by the other in what they put out to the world.

Listening to both points of view about the racial conflicts currently flaring in the news, it is interesting to hear the perceptions and fear on both sides, and how they affect each other.  

Order Living Love as a POSTER this week, and get a free greeting card (of the same image)!   $10 for the poster and card, shipping included.  It will be blank on the inside, so you can use it for any purpose.  I hope you will send the card to someone you care about.  This is my way of spreading my art around – because people who read my posts and like my art are generally people who like receiving a hand-written note in the mail (and a colorful picture).

Order your poster here!

PRICE DROP:  Good news!  I’ve taken the plunge and bought my own printer.  As a result, I’m able to lower the cost of my posters.  8.5″x11″ posters are now just $10 (down from $12) – including shipping within the continental U.S.

Thanks for your interest in my art!  If you want to be removed from this mailing list, just let me know.  Otherwise, see you next week!

D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
Author / Illustrator of
THE JEWISH EYE – 2015 / 5775 calendar of art
NEVER SAY A MEAN WORD AGAIN – A Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review;
winner of the 2015 Sydney Taylor Award & National Jewish Book Award
THE DREIDEL THAT WOULDN’T SPIN – A Toyshop Tale of Hanukkah
WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING – A Children’s Book Council Notable Book
GREEN BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN – Nat’l Green Book Festival Notable Book
A RIDE ON MOTHER’S BACK – An American Bookseller Assoc. Pick of the List
– and more!

 

 

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