Avis Angelus

Avis Angelus: Tondo

"Avis Angelus: Tondo"

Acrylic, ink, oil, gold leaf on wood panel, 18” across

I painted this on a round 18" wood panel. First I stained the wood to accentuate it's beautiful grain, and then pressed some large inkblots across the surface. After that, I worked to find images in the random patterns that had been created. The gold sun is a small knot in the wood.

This is a fascinating, meditative process to me, and one that I picked up from Max Ernst via Leonardo Da Vinci.

5 x 5

Acrylic and gold leaf on paper, 5" x 5"

 The Westmont Art Museum in Santa Barbara invited me to be a part of their "5 x 5" show. I'm excited to be involved--this is the piece I created.

Sketch

Together

Purchase info here

A friendly group of birds floats together in a castle/head. Are they all in his mind? Painted on a wood panel and mounted with a keyhole hanger to stand out from your wall.
The painting is 6" x 6."

Owl Queen

Cardinal with Gold

Owl

Avian Lady

Avian Gentleman

3" x 3"

"Avis Alchemicus" Series

This series is about alchemical transformation, a fascinating process. I had always thought it was merely about trying to turn things into gold and get rich quick (and occasionally it was). But, not only was alchemy a forerunner of modern chemistry, it was a deeply spiritual practice. A great book on the subject is Max Ernst and Alchemy: A Magician In Search Of Myth, by M. E. Warlick. Jung has also written on the subject, and modern scholars interpret alchemy as a process of psychological growth and transformation.


For the series, I started by finding some scraps of wood, meant to be discarded, and set about to transform (alchemy is all about transformation) them into something of beauty and meaning. These four wood blocks came with a table I purchased--they were inserted for packing purposes and intended to be thrown away.


Each of the four paintings embodies a different color, and each color represents one of the four stages of alchemical transformation. The four stages are listed below, with brief descriptions:

• nigredo, blackening (putrefaction): corruption, dissolution. I mixed the paint with ash in this image to represent the burnt-out nature of the beginning of this process. Starting out with nothing, but with the beginnings of a trail (the red string) we can follow all the way to perfection.
• albedo, whitening: purification, burnout of impurity; the moon, female. I represented this with a white egret in moonlight. A little bit of ash remains in the paint.
• citrinitas, yellowing: spiritualization, enlightenment; the sun, male. The goldfinch lives among thorns and hardship, but it's yellow gold light indicates it's proximity to divine Light. The background here is painted with gold.
• rubedo, reddening: unification of man with god, unification of the limited with the unlimited. The red cardinal appears in average daylight. Achieving unity and health allows one to live more fully in the divine light of the everyday world.

It's a beautiful sequence of spiritual growth, and one that resonates with me. 

Triptych II (inside, details)

Triptych II (outside)

My first triptych sold already (yay!), and the second is well on its way. Get excited for this to open; it's a party in there.

Triptych I (inside, and details)

Also, you can go here to my website to open and close the triptych yourself. I for one am entertained by it. This is the first of a series I'm making to sell in local galleries. I'm excited about it!

Triptych I (outside)

Panel Painting 2

Again, that brownish background color is gold in the real world.

Panel Painting 1

The background sky is gold leaf. It's shiny in real life. Shiny!

Avis Angelus Ikon: IV

Avis Angelus Ikon: III

Avis Angelus Ikon: II