'Dream River' with Willows and Easter Moon Reflections on this Spring Equinox

​​“Dream River” on this Spring Equinox 

​The energy of springtime and a love for willow trees seemed to inspire this painting I did this Spring Equinox of 2026.  The artwork was created after I picked-out a long 2' x 4' canvas to fill a space of that same shape and size in our master bedroom and then proceeded to paint it purely out of my imagination. 

Along with a setting of peaceful streams and riverbanks, I have always loved willow trees.  Part of my love for willow trees comes from the gracefulness of their structure and appearance with branches that reach up and out and flow over like fountains. Willow trees are also fun to paint with playful and loose interpretations that found form in the flow of my creating.

The time spent imagining this imagery of a river stream and reflecting on the willow trees in the scene inspired me to do a quick search of noted ideas about the universal symbolic meaning of willow trees. A simple internet generated summary stated the following:


Willow trees symbolize resilience, flexibility, and adaptability, primarily due to their ability to withstand storms by bending rather than breaking. Often associated with deep emotions, mourning, and the moon, they represent the ability to heal, regenerate, and emerge stronger from hardship or grief.

Willow trees are powerful symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth, and resilience because of their remarkable ability to regrow from broken branches or cuttings, thriving even after severe damage. Their flexibility in storms symbolizes the capacity to withstand hardships, while their rapid growth in disturbed areas represents healing and new life.

Willows signify fertility, new life, and spiritual intuition. In mythology and folklore, willows symbolize renewal, vitality and immortality.


All such noted ideas sound necessarily good to me, and of course being a force for flowing water, I did imagine the luminous globe in the sky as having the energy of the moon especially at this time of year when renewal holidays are recognized such as Easter and its ever changing date to celebrate which is not actually based on any particular historic chronicles of a conceptualized graphed-out calendar, but is instead determined by the forces of nature as it is centralized around the timing and phase of the moon and its fullness in relation to the Spring Equinox. ( See:  How Is Easter Determined? ) But then again, being a piece for our bedroom, I also imagined that the bright center globe could also be the sun setting down for time to relax and recharge or a sunrise giving bright light for a fresh new day.

However it may be seen, for me, working on this artwork did help me relax into a flow and feel some of those characteristics identified with willow trees including the positive aspects of resiliency that brings a kind of rejuvenating and revitalizing sense of energy and some renewed hopefulness like this time of year can bring especially on this day of the Spring Equinox.



* Another blog about Springtime or Eastertime:

#6 and “A Bonnet, Bouquet, & Bees” - Chrissy Breslin Schroeder

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** More notes with artwork about trees and the seasons and my clock creations I call "Tides of Eternity":

About - Chrissy Breslin Schroeder