Anatomy of a Painting

Something happened as I was doing research for the this work from the anatomy lesson I’m revising. I was looking for motifs to add in the background of this first painting, thinking of plants and lilies, birds maybe? So winged creatures. Angels perhaps? This led me to a book on angel iconography. I leafed through it to look at the illustrations and suddenly I felt a jolt of recognition. I saw an illustration from ‘Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians from the 16th and 17th Centuries,’ in my work. Can you see it? The figure with her baby in her womb is The Heavenly and Earthly Eve, mother of all creatures in Heaven and on Earth. The Great Mother Goddess as she comes across to me. Of course there's a lot to be written about the figure, her origins, different interpretations in different traditions, merged into patriarchal christianity's Virgin Mary.

This is what slow painting means to me. It’s only through this kind of dialogue between the painting and the images that arise from the deepest layers of yourself, from deep inner work through the process of painting, that a meaningful work can ensue. Maybe it’s like an individuation process, a sort of spiritual discipline? And it doesn't end as I leave the studio. Obviously such a painting process can’t be hurried. It’s what I enjoy most about painting. I’m now thinking of incorporating symbols of this illustration into the tiling of the second work. More later?