Nearly full moon with pomegranate, 8 April, 2020

The moon appeared briefly last night in scudding clouds, nearly full as we get near Easter.

The dim pomegranate reminds me of a tomb excavation in Cyprus. Workers were digging to lay a sewarage pipe in Paphos  and came across a finely constructed stone tomb with steps leading down into the earth, and inside, arched niches for bodies, with painted decoration.  I was called in to document the paintings, and stood in knee deep water with a miner's lamp on my head to draw and trace the images. Hidden underneath an arch was a vividly coloured fresco with scattered symbols: loaves of bread, gourds, a fish, a bird and red pomegranates.  Poised above the slab where the body lay, the painting was still breathtakingly beautiful after being in darkness since the fourth century. It might have been the story of Jonah, restored to life after being in the deep belly of the whale.

The pomegranate was linked to Persephone who returned to earth from Hades every spring to regenerate living things. Like the cycles of the moon, the season of hope and growth returns. 

Diana Wood Conroy'Nearly full moon with pomegranate',watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21cm, 8 April, 2020