You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2007.
Lacuna
mixed media on canvas with earth and ash
40 x 40 inches
“set aside for you is this point in space, the unfinished thought spent from the mouth of a bird, between fields our bodies that were broken, our hearts remade; it is the more than half of you I squeezed from the universe, and it is the story i told in service to the valley of the world, that I want to tell again, giving it chance to be true, giving you freedom to love me – the lyre and the earthline, the heart’s lantern”
The rationale for my paintings is, I think, that I “work within the limits of my love”. Writing about the artist David Jones, Kathleen Raine says that “knowledge is inseparable from love; we can only ‘know’ in a living sense what we love.” This painting is about the love I have for the important people in my life – its limits and depths and origins.
Some close-ups:
by Kathleen Raine
Within the flower there lies a seed,
Within the seed there springs a tree,
Within the tree there spreads a wood.
In the wood there burns a fire,
And in the fire there melts a stone,
Within the stone a ring of iron.
Within the ring there lies an O,
Within the O there looks an eye,
In the eye there swims a sea,
And in the sea reflected sky,
And in the sky there shines the sun,
Within the sun a bird of gold.
Within the bird there beats a heart,
And from the heart there flows a song,
And in the song there sings a word.
In the word there speaks a world,
A world of joy, a world of grief,
From joy and grief there springs my love.
Oh love, my love, there springs a world,
And on the world there shines a sun,
And in the sun there burns a fire,
Within the fire consumes my heart,
And in my heart there beats a bird,
And in the bird there wakes an eye,
Within the eye, earth, sea and sky,
Earth, sky and sea within an O
Lie like the seed within the flower.
We Are Hillbirds Now
mixed media on canvas with earth
“this is the constant and the pathogen, the moon and sickle, the mark on your bodies; make it really special, you are hillbirds now.
this is the ghost and the serpent, the verdict and the medal, your boat of words; make it really special, you are hillbirds now.”
To my mind, this is my first real piece of work – i hope to write more about it over the next few weeks; i’ve put it up here as i wanted an ultimate statement at the beginning of this journal, and the painting represents what i am at the moment aiming towards – which is, somewhat opaquely i know, the redemption of earth and landscape through whatever my heart takes seriously, and all of my feeling in terms of earth and soul, and the themes my heart rests in.
P.S. Some close-ups from the painting:
