Road to a sanctuary and oasis

This painting was done for an ex-colleague from Sri Lanka. She and her daughter were both born in the Chinese astrological year of the horse. The grey cloud is leaving the skies to the left of the painting, which means that bad times are passing by. The sun is rising to the right, which means that fortunes are improving. The old horse is guiding the younger horse into an oasis, which was meant to also symbolise the calm, guidance and fortune that is coming into the owner’s life after a long life journey in the desert. Water following into the oasis is meant to symbolise renewal. The stone has a hole in the middle of the painting showing us what the oasis looks like. The water follows into a lake that hosts Sri Lanka’s national flower, the blue water lily. At the entrance of the oasis from the long desert road, there is a wattle growing on either side of the path, which symbolises a welcome to Australia. There is also a butterfly pea flower growing as well as dragon fruits growing in the oasis, representing plenty in the future. There are columbines growing on the stone with the hole in the middle symbolising resilience as they are growing on something that is hard to grow something on.