Ty Meier had been doing cardinal and dragonfly art for years before someone told him that these creatures remind people of their passed loved ones; Since then he has included that sweet nostalgia into his artwork, using Cardinals and Dragonflies as symbols of remembrance and life, particularly this piece entitled “Loon of Loss”
The ghostly loon in the right hand corner and the sunset over the lake imply that the loon is considering a passed partner, but it’s not supposed to be sad. The chicks riding on the Loons back are a Memento Vitae, a reminder of life, and the glowing sparkles in the water plants give the artwork a sense of natural magic and beauty.
“We are beautiful creatures surrounded by darkness” is a central theme of Meier’s artwork; the idea is that we have to constantly strive to find beauty and happiness in this world despite everything.
The original was a 16”x20” pen-and ink artwork in the forground, a pencil drawing in the background and colored with watercolor. Ty uses heavy-body acrylic paint to highlight and create texture on his drawings. The original sold immediately and Ty isn’t sure where it went; he likes to say “If an artist is good in this life, when he dies he gets to see all his old originals again, and find out where they went in the world”
Ty mounted this 8”x10” print to a hand-painted art panel and calligraphically brushed it with thick acrylic medium to give it texture and turn it into a unique artwork.