Taking Flight by Anna Rose Bain

In the past few years I've become fascinated with the symbolism of animals and how they relate to the human experience. Taking Flight depicts my 7-year-old daughter amongst the fall colors of the Colorado Rockies. There is a flurry of movement as the aspen leaves, the girl's hair, and the sparrows flying by, all seem to be carried by the wind. I've used sparrows as an allegorical element in my work before; in a 2014 painting of my daughter as an infant learning to crawl, I posed her with a fledgling sparrow. In this latest work, we see her amidst a flock of full-grown sparrows in flight. With each passing day I realize that the time we get to spend with our children while they are little truly does fly by, and it’s a privilege to know and care for them at every fleeting stage.