Sunflowers painted on canvas of Manitoba snow to show support, hope for embattled Ukraine
CBC
A Manitoba woman has turned her ever-growing snowbanks into a blooming sign of hope and support for Ukraine.
Karen Hiebert, who describes herself as an amateur artist, used stencils and paint to create a garden of sunflowers along the snowbanks bordering her driveway in East St. Paul, just north of Winnipeg.
"Like most Winnipeggers, I've been watching the snow pile up all winter … almost so high they were becoming this beautiful, white, vertical plain," Hiebert said.
"I kept thinking, this is going to take a long time to melt before we get to see the green stuff again. I would love to maybe dress that canvas up with something that would remind me of spring and maybe make the neighbours smile."
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine and have emerged as a global symbol of solidarity for the country and its resistance against Russia's military invasion.
That symbol was reinforced a couple of days after the invasion began last week. A viral video showed a woman confronting an armed Russian soldier and demanding he take her sunflower seeds and place them in his pocket so they might bloom when he falls dead on Ukrainian soil.
It was after seeing that video that Hiebert decided sunflowers would be her snowbank subject.
"So got my colours ready on Saturday morning and went for it," she said.
Hiebert says she painted the walls of snow bordering her driveway for a distance about 15-20 feet on each side.
She made stencils from Styrofoam plates and used non-toxic watercolours heavily diluted with water in spray bottles.
"It just came together quite nicely," she said, adding there is also a personal connection to the project.
"My husband's ancestry is half Ukrainian — my mother-in-law is Ukrainian and I love her dearly, as well as all my husband's family. My children are therefore a quarter Ukrainian," Hiebert said.
"So it was definitely something that we could connect with. And like most Winnipeggers and Manitobans, I have many friends, other relatives and neighbours and co-workers who are of Ukrainian ancestry. It's just such a huge part of our community."
Hiebert has been greeted by people walking past the driveway bouquet who have thanked her for adding colour to these long, achromatic days.