Solstice Dance ..

Its that longest day again.. & I am sharing this painting today because it, too came round more than once. The 2nd photo above is a close-up. The painting was itself part of a larger piece that didn't work out, & I kept this bit, & worked on it recently in conjunction with sitting with a Stone I picked up while on a retreat in the Sinai desert some years ago. The stone has two areas of colour similar to those of this painting, & it guided me to turn this into a finished piece. So thank you, Stone.

Its title is "Sinai Stone Dance", both because it was a dance gradually adding to it, mostly adding subtle colours to the pale areas, & also because the finished piece has a feel of movement, of dance to it for me.

And on we go round the year.. I am really feeling the length of these current days because we are blessed with good weather here in SW Wales. A group of us are meeting to have a fire & share food on the beach this evening; & I like to think of other people all over the place , meeting & marking this day in their different ways, as the year turns again..

So, Solstice Blessings to all who read this, thank you.

What The Hawthorn Said

Well here I am again, with much thanks to those of you who have asked me to put more work up here. Its been a while, & now I intend to post regularly here again about my art work, shamanism as my spiritual path, & whatever feels relevant.. PLEASE send me feedback (see the column on the right) it really helps to know that this is a 2-way dialogue..

What The Hawthorn Said is the name of this painting. It is another in the series I mentioned in a post titled New Work last year. I bought a whole box of canvases the same size, and each painting starts with walking out on the land here, & drawing what I see in a particular place. This place is where a particularly ancient Hawthorn grows , at the edge of an iron-age hill fort here on our fields. I think of her as Mother Hawthorn , & have been talking with her for some time now, particularly during this last year.

When I went there to draw what became this painting it was late afternoon on a beautiful late summer day, and the light was coming through the trees at quite a low angle. When I held the canvas up, I was captivated by the shapes made on it by the Tree's shadows , began to draw round them, & fascinating shapes emerged which really dictated the development of the painting . The colours in the background were inspired by the different sky colours I saw looking up through the branches that day. I took the palette of colours on the rest of the picture from the colours of the tree herself. Further variations were also suggested by my Spirit Helpers telling me to look at the handle of a rattle I work with , the wood for which which came from another Hawthorn on the edge of 'our' land here, & still has the bark on. Observation of the colour & texture of this bark which has been indoors for sometime enriched the growing painting a lot.

This one is an oil painting, so there were sometimes long gaps while it dried before adding the next colours. I have several more on the go, some of which are acrylic, & so can progress faster. Having said that, sometimes paintings go dormant for a while, whatever the medium..

but I will post more very soon...