made from winter light

You were made from winter light
Mixed media on board with earth, ash and paper
Approx 2cm x 2cm and 1cm x 2cm each.

solstice door / mountain / solstice door / valley
equinox door / adam / equinox door / longstone
cave of the moon / crucible / earth coat

“The mystery that you live inside
has left its mark like a seed that breaks,
to be bright while you sleep in the earth and the body of time;
out of this world without limits I’ll wish for your heart to wake
from its valley of light.

I’ll take you to the universe, to this point on a line in space,
beyond your body of earth, in this earth of signs;
and out of this world without limits I’ll wish for your heart to wake
from its valley of light,
its valley of light.”

A set of “stones” for ritualistic purposes – a rite of passage, personal transformation, grave goods and so on.

It was inspired by a turkish legend which tells how ‘on the black mountain, streams flooded a cave and filled a pit, shaped like a human being, with mud. The cave acted like a kiln and nine months later the heat of the sun brought the figure to life, the first man.”

winter talismans

Winter Talismans
Mixed media on board with earth, ash and paper
Approx 4cm x 4cm and 3cm x 3cm each.

lethe / hogback / sleeping place (in memory of lorna graves)
forge / sea coat / winter door / odin
temple / sealed door / summer door / munin

alder king

Alder King
Mixed media on canvas with paper, wax, earth and leaves (sycamore, hazel, oak)
60×60cm

“The only truth is the light of your body, the cup and bird of your winter journey, your sticks and bones; the single flame of your singing soul of alder and kingcup, the willow and rose, your hands and feet, will be clean in a morning higher than waking, deeper than sleep.”

This painting has come out of a long period of introspection – a time thinking about redemption and atonement and how I might affect a ritual cleansing of sorts through painting. The result is the alder king – it owes more to odin than christ perhaps but the ideas are the same – a prayer for gnosis, to be made clean through self-sacrifice. I have also been inspired by the thought of Nikos Kazantzakis: in the painting there is both an upward movement toward synthesis, life and immortality, and a second one running downwards, to dissolution, matter and death. Both streams are part of the universe, and being so, are sacred, finding faith and unity at the centre, as symbolised by the turban.

spinning sun, singing soul

Spinning Sun, Singing Soul
Mixed media on canvas with earth, paper, wax and sycamore leaf
60 x 60cm

journey stones

Journey Stones
Mixed media on board with earth, ash and paper
Approx 2cm x 2cm each

A set of journey stones for divination. These pieces were born and shaped from the elements over a long period. Each one is bound up with ideas of the soul’s journey and its transformations – birth, beginnings, protection, work, self, alchemy, father, mother, union, death, sleep, remembrance, eternity, cycles, escort, endings and so on.

menhir (marker, boundary) / cave (beginnings) / guardian (friend, helper)
sanctum (work, evolution, self) / conjunctio (union) / barrow (death, sleep, age)
psychopomp (escort) / rainstone (remembrance) / sun (the unknown, mystery)

earth stones

Earth Stones
Mixed media on board with earth, ash and paper
Approx 6cm x 6cm each.

A set of earth stones for divination. These pieces were born and shaped from earth, fire, air and water over a long period. Each one holds a particularly strong memory or feeling, bound up with archetypal ideas such as home, journeys, discovery, change, mystery, redemption, life, death and rebirth.

earsh / soul / siskin clouds
tomb / wheel / winter door
wishing tree / standing stone / alder moon

we were making mornings

We were making mornings
mixed media on canvas with hazel and white poplar leaf
40×40 inches

For the winter solstice. For endings and new beginnings. The following poem is written across the canvas:

I will give him
daylight and mornings,
a doorway and rose;
a boat, a star, and a place to rest;
hands to get dirty; a south, a west,
a willow and drum,
days that can be counted;
the moon and the sun.

I will give him
lovers and sanctuary,
a window and forge;
a clock, a shell, and a time to sleep;
lines to be crossed; a north, an east,
a dog and lamp,
things that can be broken;
the boy and the man.

I will give him
kindness and fables,
a garden and stone;
a map, a cup, and an hour to rise;
a body that bruises; a coat, a wife,
some silver and gold;
a light that can be salvaged;
the new and the old.

Some close ups: