Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This is one of my favorite paintings. As it is called "Resurrection III" you may note that it is my third one of the same name. Each one was a bit different. All being enjoyed now by others. Some day maybe I'll paint it again in another way, but it wasn't this year.

The butterfly has often been used as a symbol of resurrection. For as the caterpillar goes into a cocoon, so Christ went into the tomb. Like winter, where the world looks lifeless, brown and dead, a cocoon looks dead, tomb like. Yet inside the cocoon a miracle of nature is taking place as the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. It emerges slowly, the process taking several hours and the butterfly has to wait longer for it's wings to unwrinke and stiffen enough to fly.

The lily as a bulb, also has been a symnbol of resurrection. Again it is something that looks dead, but in spring it comes alive again. All of spring is like that for me, I eagerly watch the buds grow and swell on the trees until they finally burst out and are spring green everywhere.

The butterflies are all from different parts of the world. The butterfly collection at the Royal Alberta Museum was a great resource for this -  several cases of them and so many beautiful butterflies. "Go into all the worls and proclaim the good news."(Mark 16:15) He is risen!