The alchemical Peacock’s Tail arises from the blackened material of the five stages of the nigredo. The nigredo, or blackening stage, works on our fears and insecurities. It forces us to become more introspective about our personality and desires—the parts of us that feel lacking or undeserving. For the spiritual alchemists, the blackening was the…
The painting “Alchemical Studies V (Homunculus)” is an exploration into how we often suppress or deny unpleasant emotional content. The first stage of the alchemical process calls for us to be introspective and cook our inner conflicts and to bring them to light. The painting was inspired by the image of “The transformations of Mercurius…
The painting depicts a dying man having been pierced by the arrow of Mercurius and being used as soil by The Tree of Diana (Arbor Philosophorum), which is growing up from his genital area. The image that inspired the painting is from the manuscript “Miscelanea d’alchimia”.[1] My first exposure to this image was from Carl…
“Alchemical Studies II (Where is Uncle Now)” is an alchemical study showing the distillation of the Essence from the physical body. The painting was inspired by an image found in the three-volume Clavis Artis. The manuscript declares itself to be a translation of Zoroaster (or Zarathustra): the ancient Persian prophet. The alembic represents the container…
When children visit my studio, it fills with light and play. I am always drawn to the art of children, I think because I have taught art to children, but also because of the childlike innocence of children that Picasso envied as did Nietzsche. After a recent visit, I had the inspiration to arrange segments…
Myth has it that coral was created when Perseus laid down the severed head of Medusa beside the shore of the Red Sea and drops of her blood spilled onto seaweed causing them to harden into coral. With 50% of the world’s coral now bleached and dying, it calls into question if there is a…
First published: “THE LANGUAGE OF COLOR & LIGHT: The Liminal-exhibition-artists reveal palette & setting secrets!“by Jennifer Gillia Cutshall One day, I took a picture of my wife and cat asleep on our sofa. I showed the photo to my wife, and she said, “If you’re ever looking for inspiration, there it is.” She was right.…
The Painting Turquoise Spider Eggs utilizes vivid colors and expressionistic brush strokes to explore the autonomous creative impulse while also attempting to create a celebration of Nature and a heightened awareness of the need to preserve our habitat. The result feels dreamlike and somewhat ambiguous, as is our tendency to mystify global threats and blur…
One of the first mentions of a blue flower came in the unfinished novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” (1802) by Friedrich von Hardenberg (aka Novalis). In it, the character Heinrich has a dream about a “blue flower” representing desire and unfulfilled love. The “blue flower” became a key symbol of inspiration in Romanticism, which stressed emotion,…
All of life appears to be a clashing of opposites. As Heraclitus said, “Every beast is driven to pasture by a blow.” In the story of Danaë, her blow came in the form of being locked up in an underground bronze chamber by her father, King Acrisius, because the oracle of Delphi said his daughter…
This is the first painting I completed after arriving to Brazil. It bridges a long journey I have taken since first discovering Carl Jung’s writings about alchemy when I was in graduate school. Alchemy was a language I understood from my early studies of Eastern philosophy. The purifying and transformative process of alchemy, i.e., the…
My interested in mythology, the journey of the hero, and particularly of Psyche and Eros eventually brought me to Peter Paul Rubens and his painting titled “The Andrians” (a rendition of Titian’s earlier painting “The Bacchanal of the Andrians”). Bacchus is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Dionysus, the god of harvest and winemaking. The…
If we think of God as a power, then we can say that creation is Its manifestation. We can also infer that creativity is an essential attribute of that Power. As an expression of that creativity, we exist by our connection to it in the way drops of water are ultimately one with the ocean.…
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakens. ~ C.G. Jung[1] Carl G. Jung referred to the higher intelligence of Universal Consciousness when he asked us to “consider synchronistic phenomena, premonitions, and dreams that come true.”[2] He explained that Infinite Intelligence has other…
Fear, worry, guilt, shame, and low-self esteem are all learned behaviors. They are emotions born from acquired and negative/incorrect thought patterns. Our beliefs arise from the ways our ancestors responded to the challenges of their time. Our parents reinforce those patterns as do our teachers, friends, and culture. What we should be asking ourselves is…
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