This painting was done one year after the sudden and unexpected death of my beloved brother.  More than any other single event in my life, I felt the extreme tragedy of this occurrence and was opened to Spirit in a new and powerful way.  This painting was homage to the myth of Psyche and Eros, a story that continues to be an inspiration to me.  Psyche was transformed by pure love and brings a gift from the Underground in a box.  That gift is Beauty. Psyche integrates the energies of the masculine and the Feminine and is transformed and elevated to the Divine by the inner work she does in order to accomplish this difficult feat.  She is then charged with the creation of joy and beauty and bringing them into the world.  The music and butterflies represent the energies of joy and transformation

The message:  It is only through our willingness to open to pure love that true joy and beauty will return to our lives as a healing force.  We can all be assisted in this journey by invisible and unexpected helpers as Psyche was in her journey with Eros.

I had read a poem by D. H. Lawrence called “Terra Incognita” and had the book on my nightstand for several years.  I had always planned to make a dress related to this poem, but never got around to it.  As I neared the finish of this

sequence of paintings, I became determined to include this poetic vision in the series. They were very difficult to capture as the shape and energy of the fuchsias seemed to want to dance off the page.  After struggling with their form and becoming frustrated with my inability to really capture their essence I decided to “let them be”. What a novel idea for me.  The painting never really felt “done” and I finally realized what a metaphor this is for life.  There is color and beauty all around us and we tend to pay attention to the downside or lack of perfection rather than celebrating what is really already there.

The message: The mysteries of life are available to us if we reach beyond our own self-limiting paradigms and open ourselves up to what the Universe wants for us.  The task is to be willing to surrender to what is really needed and celebrate the wisdom that is beyond our own.

This painting was inspired by Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming”. It concerns itself with the mysteries and riches of the unconscious mind. The jewel tones of this painting against the background of deep colors signify the riches that can be accessed through depth. Attending to the primal forces of nature engenders genius and brilliance and is available to those who have the courage to mine these depts. Within themselves.  The dove, the uruborus and the scorpion all symbolize the primal forces accessible to us. The dove is symbolic of primal feminine energies and is considered in many cultures God’s messenger of prophecy.

The message:  It is in connection with our deepest feelings and most basic natures that our own brilliance is most powerful.

This painting was inspired by one of my business trips to Italy.  Since I am afraid of flying and lots of other things, I frequently visualize angelic beings as a protection for me.  When I fly they are always dressed in some way appropriate to the destination. This time they were dressed in gorgeous chiffon gowns, which trailed behind the airplane for miles. My angels are always there to protect me and I trust them implicitly.  This angel has the wings of an eagle, which signifies Vision, and she is talking with the ravens, spirits of wisdom from the invisible realms. The flower devas further support her quest for beauty. The raven, as a totem, represents the powers of magic and creativity and the raven brings messages to you from the unseen worlds.

The message:  The strength and beauty of the angelic realms are available and open to us if we listen closely and carefully to our intuition.  This also requires trust and faith n the guardians that protect us and help us in furthering our dreams and keeping us on our path.  All of this requires a commitment to the quiet and protections of our space so that our intuitive side can speak and be heard.

This painting arrived after I visited a Native American pow wow.  I reconnected with the shamanic energy of Mt. Shasta in 1992. The sunflowers arrived on the paper with a kind of fast energy with no interference from my left-brain.  The combination of the radiance of the flowers and the speed of their appearance was, in itself, an experience to behold.  This was definitely a communication from the Universe about what is actually available to us.  After finishing this painting, I sat in front of it for a long time and absorbed the energy of the Light from within the flowers.

The message: Light, radiance and love are the next paradigms of consciousness.

This painting was inspired by a trip I took to the Santa Fe and Taos area after the death of a close family member.  At the time, I understood that this area was the spiritual center of the United States and that we could draw upon the deep wisdom of the Native American cultures for healing the planet.  While I was there I had an intense vision that my part in this planetary healing was to develop a clothing line imbued with sacred and instinctual energy, using natural fibers, animal skins and beauty.  The purity and clarity of the Taos air reveals almost transcendent colors and I knew that this was my gift- to incorporate these colors into the clothing.  It was a powerful vision and I made a commitment to the task.

The message:  The human psyche is very attuned the clarity and vibration of color as well as the inherent harmony of beauty. We will be healed, in part, through a connection with the harmony of the senses that occurs with the apprehension of beauty in our world as well as the spiritual healing that comes through connection with the radiance of our bodies.

This painting was inspired by my return to the Hawaiian Islands after growing up there in the  ‘50s and ‘60s.  The sun, air, water and flowers all affected me radically on this trip and I fell in love with the Islands all over again.  I was regenerated by the experience of love and aloha spirit which permeates the air and I understood how profoundly I had been affected by the energies as a young and impressionable person.  I was still carrying that energy and understand in an unmistakable way that I have a responsibility for perpetuating that love and spirit to myself and all of those with whom I come into contact. It was truly a gift to be given.  The dolphins represent joy and community, as well as emotional contact and communication. The dolphin as a totem is a powerful bridge to the power of the breath in transformative processes.

The Message:  The primal Divine Feminine holds the power of love, beauty, color and light in her hands. It is her responsibility to use these gifts to shift the forces of darkness, destruction and pain into the Light.  Love, about all else, carries the potential of healing for self, community and the planet.