THE CROSSING

Feb 11, 2025

In a grassy field stands a leafless tree with limbs bowing gracefully left. Bathed in golden light, bare branches twist and spread like blood vessels against pale sky. Shadow falls across a trunk mostly stripped of bark, and several splintered limbs lie lifeless on the nearby ground. Extending in a line from this gnarly detritus, mist rises off well-manicured lawn as if the ground itself is exhaling. A transparent sphere containing a single flame floats low across the land while a small stream meanders, falling directly behind the sphere as if guiding it along an intended path. Barely visible in a lemony wash that defines soft rolling hills, a white starburst—possibly another sphere blinking out—sits far afield, tinting the bushy topped trees that line the background distance. — THE CROSSING (1997), Oil on Canvas - 30" X 60"

The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death.

All of my Passage works use the dream-object of the lighted bubbles—symbols of spirit or unfettered consciousness—to convey the idea of movement from one state of mind to another, a transition to a more open and lighted place; a release.

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Additional images from THE CROSSING

LEFT: Detail from THE CROSSING featuring a transparent sphere containing a solitary flame, floating over a fallen branch resting on plush green grass. The sphere intersects the line of a tiny stream that meanders off in the distance. To the left, mist rises off the softly rolling grass. In the distance, bushy topped trees stand hazy, shifting in hue to yellow on the right. RIGHT: Detail from THE CROSSING featuring the leafless husk of a tree. The limbs are twisted bowing to the left. Several branches have splintered off and fallen to the ground where they lay on the plush grass. Below the branches, the trunk is mostly stripped of bark. Far afield, another sphere winks out in a subtle starbust that blends into the lemony wash near the horizon. — Details from THE CROSSING

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Debra Sanders

Feb 11

This gives me peace and strength... connects me to the truth I know in my highest spiritual moments: we are more than these bodies. Thank you, Michael.

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Joe Scheuer

This one affects me on a deeply personal, emotional, and spiritual level and is one of my top 3 favorite paintings that Michael has ever created!!!!!!!

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THE CROSSING

Additional images from THE CROSSING

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