Meeting Place Of The Mind Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm
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Meeting Place Of The Mind is a new painting, which I have been working on for many weeks. After creating the background I placed the painting in a spot where I'd see it as I went about my daily activities. I did this because I had too many ideas and could not work out which one I'd focus upon. By having the painting in sight I could sift through my ideas more easily, until just one seemed right.
I knew I wanted to paint an image which did not cover over the entire background. Why? Because I actually think the background is quite beautiful. I created it through a controlled accident, which is how I create most of my backgrounds. There are normally a couple of layers of paint involved, with each of these needing to be dry before the next phase happens.
The image is a man and woman, who seem to morph into one being. Their outstretched arms reach forward erupting into cascading trees. The vortex/spiral enclosing the figures is like a spring of energy, suggesting that the man and woman, who are at the centre of this energy are... conduits, the core, the essential element, the stillness that is replete. The moon, in its phases, represents time and the energy of push and pull, an innate balance.
Regular readers will note that the trees are my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif. They will also note that the spiral/vortex is another of my recurring visual guides. I wanted to create an image which 'spoke' of mind, thinking, intelligence...all in their broadest senses from nano to universal, from human to divine. The trees, figures and the spiral in Meeting Place Of The Mind have an almost synaptic appearance, which I am really pleased about, because it references interconnectedness and the life propelling nature of systems. I have previously written about systems. Here's a link to a previous post. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/10/majesty-and-order.html
The synaptic appearance has pleased me because synapses enable the passage of signals to be passed in the brain. These signals are pretty important for life propulsion! In Meeting Place Of The Mind the trees take on a dendritic appearance, but whilst references to the brain are obvious, in this case the 'dendrites' are seemingly connected to the universe. As the phases of the moon remind us of it's push/pull energy, the quiver of the spiral dances to the rythm, the vibrations of life forces. And, did you know the Greek word for tree is dendron?
The meeting place of 'the mind' is a wonderful concept...I think anyway! It conjures up things like collective thinking, compassionate energy, innate intelligence, universal consciousness. I deliberately did not use the plural of mind ie: minds, in the title, because I wanted to suggest something march larger than the mere sum of its parts...a gestalt that takes our thinking to places beyond compartments to stretch our imaginations. Paradise!
This is one of my favourite paintings.
Cheers,
Kathryn
2 comments:
Love the painting. The moon phases suggest a continuous repetition of separate but related cycles. As a once avid fisherman, I always knew what phase the moon was in which eliminated unproductive fishing days. Always three days before a full moon fishing at night after the spawn was always the best. One night my buddy and I caught 93 fish. Everything is related striving separation.
Thank you Ron! Everything is related. Cheers,
Kathryn
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