Climbing the Tree with the Serpent

Beginning the drafting of the World Tree painting

It has been quiet on my part here in the blogosphere, but rest assured I have been keeping very busy.  Now that I am past unpacking and mostly settled in, I have been focusing on integrating into my work and living space.  I am at that stage where I am figuring out the layout, rearranging things when I find that a particular object should be on my right hand side instead of the left, those kind of things. 

In the midst of that I have been working on a painting commission, a pet portrait sculpture and my big project for the year: a series of paintings based on the chakras and the World Tree.

I have drawings for the chakras up through the throat chakra and I am starting work on the brow chakra now.  Sometime during drafting the heart chakra I had a dream that was telling me to connect the world tree with the chakra system.  I woke up puzzled because up until then I had believed them to be totally separate systems. I did some research and found nothing connecting the two.  Then, when I was about to give up I saw a picture of the sephiroth from the Kabbalistic tradition.  This brought to mind some other geometric systems related to the World Tree that I had explored at an earlier time.  And suddenly, without explanation, in a flash of an image in my head, I conceived the relationship between the two systems.  I went back to the studio and pulled out the drawing I had made a year ago.  This drawing was based on a series of meditations I conducted on each point of the world tree. I spent some time meditating in front of it allow the two systems to integrate.  Since then, I have been also working on revising the original drawing and adapting it to this new discovery.

chakra drawings

So now I am working on both the chakras and the World Tree as a whole series which I hope to have completed by the end of the year.  Each of the chakra paintings will require intensive meditative work on the specific chakra energies and I will expand my meditations as I begin painting the World Tree piece.  All the paintings will have some basis in the traditional systems, but I will allow my meditations to expand on them and I will let the final painting be evidence of where the journey finally takes me.

I will periodically share the process as I develop the series. Now that I am getting back into a regular working schedule, I intend to get back to my regular weekly posts.  I appreciate your patience during this time of transition, I hope the series of posts to come will be a welcome reward for hanging in there!

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Rainbow Birds: Indigo & Violet

This painting is the last of a series developed from an experiment with pouring paint. I came up with the idea while watching the birds at the feeder outside my window. I noticed one day that the feeder attracted birds of all the colors of the rainbow. I thought, how amazingly beautiful nature is! I completed a series of individual studies of each of the birds, drawn and painted to scale of the actual birds, then worked at a composition featuring them all together. This piece features an Indigo Bunting and a Purple Martin. Next, I will work on assembling the individual paintings into one long piece! These paintings are great for anyone who loves birds and the beauty of nature! The series can make a great set of greeting cards. You can view print and greeting card options here: Rainbow Birds: Indigo & Violet

Thank you to all who donated toward the purchased of a replacement digital camera. Because of your generosity I not only was able to collect the full amount, but I was also able to get a $25 bonus that one of the donors pledged if I was able to collect all $189.98. Your show of support for my art making has really inspired me beyond any expectations I may have had. Thank you very much!


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DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of DoAn Art must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. 


All artwork and text © Copyright 2005-2009 DoAn Art (Antony Galbraith) unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Antony Galbraith.

Rainbow Birds: Yellow and Green

This is the second watercolor in the Rainbow Birds Series, featuring the American Goldfinch and a female ruby-throated Hummingbird.

The watercolor pieces in the series (like the one shown here) are slightly different in style than the final large piece, which will be done in ink on clayboard, so I believe the whole series could be collected. Great for anyone who loves birds and the beauty of nature! You can view different print options at the Rainbow Birds: Yellow and Green page. The next piece will feature Blue.

DoAn
Subscribe in a reader



DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of DoAn Art must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. 


All artwork and text © Copyright 2005-2009 DoAn Art (Antony Galbraith) unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Antony Galbraith.