Alchemy is a blend of philosophy, mysticism and chemical technology. Throughout history, alchemists sought to convert base metals into gold and create potions for immortality. Red, black and gold are commonly associated with alchemy. The painting “Alchemy” symbolizes the combining of elements creating a magical elixir, the “aqua vitae,” or water of life.
A crossroads is a place where two roads intersect. In folk magic, a crossroads is a location “between the worlds, neither here nor there,” a place where supernatural spirits can be contacted. In life, reaching a crossroads can be a metaphor for a turning point, a time to make decisions that can change destinies. The multiple lines of color in “Crossroads” traverse each other across the canvas. The intersecting swaths of color represent a threshold where one perception crosses over into another.
The inspiration for “Dancers” came from two sources. My eight year old daughter, Nicole, who danced around our home, made me want to make paint “dance” on a canvas. The second source was a gold and red stone I found while elk hunting in the Crazy Mountains last Fall. I chose turquoise for the central, dividing flow because over time, turquoise can transition from green to blue to dark brown and black. To Tibetans, turquoise color change represented the cycle of birth, old age and death. The symbolic meaning of this painting is two dancers, one young, the other old, engaged in the dance of life.
The name “Dimensions” comes from the partial separation of the three fields of color in this painting. The horizontal and vertical flows divide the canvas into zones. Shared elements of blue within each area work much like the Chinese symbol for Yin and Yang. In Chinese Taoist philosophy there is no “absolute,” there is only balance. Another level of symbolism in “Dimensions” is the possibility of alternate planes of existence or parallel universes outside the known physical universe.
“Eclipse” is a metaphor for the path of life. The white quadrant is the innocence and purity of newborn life. The dark area below is the turmoil of adolescence. The lower yellow square represents the golden years. The final, upper region shows life nearing its end, coming full circle.
My father went on a safari in Kenya years ago. He described the game lodge as a place of life and death. Out of his window, he could see a large watering hole where animals gathered each evening to drink. His description of the watering hole inspired me to paint a savanna oasis. Amongst the tall grasses on the edge of the pond, two lions lay in wait. Where there is a prey; there is a predator. Where there is danger there is also peace. Life is a balance.
“Man in the Moon” sprang from memories of primitive rock paintings in the southwest. Petroglyphs are said to depict gods and spirits (or space travelers/aliens, depending on who you believe). The raised outline of the “man” served as a barrier as I blended flows of color in and around him. He floats in space, a spirit, surrounded by land, water, fire and light.
“Midnight Bloom” represents a “cave” of treasures that grow and mature slowly in the pitch black darkness. I grew up near an abandoned gravel pit on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River near Edmonton, Alberta. In the huge, ugly, gravel piles, I searched for a treasure of fossils, agates and crystals. Beauty can be found rising out of the midst of destruction. As I looked for beauty in the form of river smoothed stones, I was also searching for the peace and independence hidden within me, waiting to “bloom”.
“Mystic” is named for those who have a special insight or intuition into the ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth. In Asia, I witnessed individuals and businesses relying on mystics or fengshui geomancers to help them make important decisions. In the painting, the swirling interplay of blue, green and copper elements form the background and mystic figure that blend into and out of each other in curling vapors. “Mystic” symbolizes the spiritual connections felt with the ultimate reality or “oneness,” with the world.
“Nebula” represents clouds of two, distant interstellar celestial objects. Suspended in the black void of space, the star clusters circle each other in a dance eons old. The painting serves as a reminder of how small and yet large we are when compared to the vast expanse of the universe. It may sound strange, but I look at this painting when I feel overwhelmed or frustrated with the problems of everyday life.