fen

Oil on wood panel
17.75″ x 23.75″ x 1.5″
ⒸCathy Haibach 2024

Fens are a type of wetland where groundwater seeps to the surface, creating a unique and sensitive area of biodiversity. To me they’re magical places – a sort of portal to the underworld, a connection to complexities of our earth that we never see. Fens tell the story of the never-ending cycle of water that rises from far below ground to flow into our streams and rivers and eventually to evaporate into the sky, from which it falls to make its way underground again.

In this painting, the cycle of life spins for another year. The prairie around a fen is burned but the fen still seeps and the rivers still flow. A red-winged blackbird flies over it all, shadowed by a ghost of its predecessor. Frogs wait below ground for their time in the sun. Mysterious creatures check to see if it’s time to come out and play.

$550