Walking the Spiral: Boann

Back in 2006 I began a series of paintings inspired by Irish mythology.  I intended the paintings to explore the ancient Celtic gods and goddesses through a more modern and personal eye.  What I didn't realize was that this series would set me on a personal, spiritual journey that has forever changed my relationship to painting.   Over the next four blog posts I will share my journey, as it has unfolded so far, in relation to the painting of the first four pieces of the series.

Boann: Transformation

Boann: Transformation of a Goddess

The first painting in the series depicts the transformation of the goddess Boann into the river Boyne, after she had unwittingly released the waters from a sacred well. The creation of this painting came out of a difficult time for me emotionally.  I didn't realize at the time that my relationship to my art was taking a more spiritual path. Like Boann as she was torn limb from limb by the raging waters she released from a sacred well, I felt parts of my inner self being stripped away.  Intense feelings of sadness then rage surged through me.  Many times these emotions had no context. I couldn't make sense of what they stemmed from.  I did, however, have a sense that these emotions were connected to the collective unconscious.  There was no particular reason I came to this understanding, it was something I just knew.

In the painting Boann looks out from the canvas to the viewer, her gaze squinted.  She is looking at the physical world and the spirit world at the same time.  As she loses her body, she begins to merge with the spirit.  I also began to understand that spirit was influencing my painting process.  Once I let go, realizing that nothing was going to hold back the waves of emotion crashing upon me, I found rays of light, like those that streak down upon the Salmon of Knowledge.  Here, the Salmon holds a hazel nut from one of the sacred trees that grew around the well.  Boann's curiosity not only freed the waters of the well, but the five Salmon of knowledge which is obtained by the senses.  The Salmon, having fed on the magical nuts of the hazel trees, possessed the wisdom of the world and inadvertently brought this wisdom to mankind.

I gained a kind of wisdom as a result of this painting. I had a deeper understanding of who I was, what I needed and a clearer sense of purpose.  This kind of wisdom often can only be gained by a severe and painful stripping away of one's ego.  Boann, who had gazed into the well out of rebellion for having been barred from it, paid the ultimate price, but also evolved into something greater.  Sometimes, sacrifice is necessary for growth.  This painting taught me that great sacrifices were ahead, but they would lead me toward a deeper knowledge of myself and the path I was embarking on.

Once I completed this painting, I felt scoured clean. I was raw and open, but it was necessary in order to approach the next painting, which was leading me down into a kind of darkness I had never encountered before.

Next, The Morrigan.

DoAn
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Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!  

May this holiday season see the warmth of light and love fill your soul.

DoAn
Help in the creation of art, please consider donating! Just click on the link below:
 
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
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All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.

Last Day to Order for Christmas! 16% Discount on Orders

I am posting this reminder that today is the Last Day to Order for Christmas! I am also offering a 16% Discount on Orders placed today!  Please visit http://doan-art.artistwebsites.com/?tab=artwork to see the many options available. I truly appreciate your consideration for a unique and special holiday gift.

Visit: http://doan-art.artistwebsites.com to view all available artwork

Place your orders by 5pm EST today in order to guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve!*

Still haven't found the perfect Holiday gift. How about a museum quality piece of artwork delivered right to your front door?

Wow your friends and family with a ready-to-hang work of art or a boxed set of greeting cards.

Use the discount code VEGJKV to get a 16% discount on all orders placed before 11:59 pm 12/16/2010.

*In order to receive your order by December 25th, select Overnight Shipments when placing order.

Thanks for your support!

DoAn
Help in the creation of art, please consider donating! Just click on the link below:
 
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
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All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.

Fine Art by DoAn

Seasons of Fox by DoAn

Holiday time is here!

Have you gotten your holiday cards? Stuck for a unique gift? Want to support artists or buy American made products?

This is my shameless plug for my selection of fine art prints and greeting cards available here: http://doan-art.artistwebsites.com/

The images in the gallery came be made into customizable greeting cards. You can adjust the image size, add a border, and even insert a personal message. Mix and match for an assorted boxed set.

Birch Spirit by DoAn

I also have original needle-felted wool sculptures and paintings for truly unique, one-of-a-kind artwork for that special something!  Check back often, as I will be adding new items from now and through the holidays.

I appreciate your support and look forward to sharing my art with you this holiday season!

DoAn
Help in the creation of art, please consider donating! Just click on the link below:
 
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
Subscribe in a reader
All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.

See you in Faerie!

I will be helping out the beautiful artist Helena Nelson Reed in her booth (C63) at FaerieCon this weekend.  Please come and visit, take a look at Helena's jewelry and paintings. I will also have some of my needle-felted sculptures there on display.  Come enjoy beautiful music, hear talks by up and coming and well known artists, and get lost in the magic of Faerie!

Hunt Valley Marriott
245 Shawan Road
Hunt Valley, MD 2103

FRIDAY NOV 12TH
EXHIBITION: 1pm-6pm
GOOD FAERIES BALL:
8:30pm-Midnight

SATURDAY NOV 13TH
EXHIBITION: 10am-6pm
BAD FAERIES BALL
8:30pm-Midnight

SUNDAY NOV 14TH
FAMILY DAY
Exhibition: 10am - 5pm

For more info please visit: www.faeriecon.com

DoAn


Help in the creation of art, please consider donating! Just click on the link below:
 
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
Subscribe in a reader
All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.

Embracing the Spirit of Halloween

For most, Halloween is the day to dress up in crazy costumes, go to parties, lead children to stranger's houses to collect candy, and, for many adults, to act like children.  America is really good at degrading traditions to its most base of qualities.  I have long thought it strange that Americans have adopted an old pagan holiday, but then, the holiday hasn't really been adopted, as much as usurped and corrupted.
Celebrating Halloween doesn't have to be just frivolous and empty fun.  It also doesn't even have to be observed in conflict with non-pagan religious belief.  At the heart of Halloween is a celebration of the closing of the year and an honoring of the spirits of our ancestors.

We see the cycle of death around us, as the landscape transforms and goes into its dormant stage.  It makes sense that the Celts would see this as the end of the year, for endings are occurring all around us at this time.  This becomes  a wonderful time to reflect on all that came in the previous months and let go of the negative influences and burdens of the previous cycle, while celebrating the achievements and preparing for the new.  It is not certain where the idea of costumes came in, there are lots of speculation, but nothing conclusive.  I like to think of dressing up as a way of re-creating your new self for the coming year.  It is an opportunity to try on a new identity, see how it fits, before starting the new cycle.  We are not limited to mundane, well-defined roles.  We can become archetypes, heroes, spirits, fantasy creatures whose attributes of which we can connect to and carry through into the next year. 

There is a dark aspect to Halloween.  Many dress as monsters, attend haunted houses,  talk of the ghosts and ghouls that run rampant through the neighborhood. I think much of this stems from a very deep-rooted fear and misunderstanding of death and endings in general.  But, if we look at this dark aspect as something positive,  rather than frightening, what might we discover?

The painting posted here is of The Morrigan: The Dark Mother, the ancient goddess of death and fertility and the land, now most commonly associated with ancient Irish myth.   The Morrigan is a symbol representing the dark aspects that we all experience and possess within. Everything emerges from the dark, the child from the womb, the day from night, light from the void, and The Morrigan symbolizes the power that exists within this place of potentiality. She is the perfect symbol for Halloween as we celebrate the end of the cycle by returning to the dark and beginning the cycle again. We acknowledge that day gives way to night, that the trees and plants die around us, only to return again with the light of spring.

The dark aspect is not something to be feared, for to fear the dark, is to be afraid of our own nature and the action of creation itself. Darkness is to be understood as part of a natural cycle of rise and fall, expanding and contracting, reaching out and turning inward.  The symbol of The Morrigan offers us a way to understand and navigate the dark paths throughout our life, if only we overcome our fears and reach out to accept the “fruit” (or perhaps candy!) of knowledge she offers us.  I am not suggesting that we all worship and idolize the image of The Morrigan, instead, I am encouraging that you look upon her as a symbol and archetype, representing the energies and qualities that your particular belief system supports.  You can find your own symbol that represents the qualities of The Morrigan and use that to help you connect to the energies of the season.

Ultimately, Halloween can be a day of transformation and an evening of celebration, it doesn't have to be empty and meaningless.  We can use this time to honor what has passed before us, let go of that which burdens us, and remember our ancestors who sacrificed their lives to give us what we have today.

Have a safe and TRANSFORMATIVE Halloween! 

DoAn
Help in the creation of art, please consider donating! Just click on the link below:
 
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
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All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.

Painting Rebirth and Renewal

I am happy to report my new working schedule is really working out well.  I am getting a lot of work completed and other work attended to without feeling like I am neglecting one thing for another.  I have completed recent custom sculpture orders.  I have written over forty pages of creating writing and completed tons of research for my novel.  This schedule affirms my dedication to a creative life, and I hope will help continue to guide me toward a full-time career in making art.

Lion and Lamb custom order by DoAn

I also made some wonderful progress on the Etain painting.  Something powerful happened recently as I worked on the piece.  I am not sure if it is the new working schedule, the return to painting, the changing season, or a combination of all these, but I really felt the energy of rebirth and renewal coursing through me as I painted.  I began with the leaves, painting, then scrubbing out the paint, going over them with a yellow wash.  Then I moved on to Etain's face. As I painted her, and her features emerged, I reflected on the many changes that I have gone through in the course of my life, and how many more I have to experience.  Each wash that revealed more and more of Etain's face, brought me deeper into my own experience of renewal and how it seems this experience always comes out of the darkest of places, often in a flash of light.  I have found myself wallowing in darkness, a slow, winding descent into despair, for what seems an eternity, and then, when the time for change comes, like the igniting spark of Brigid's fire, I am in a new place, inspired and shaking from the newness of my perspective.

Each time I work on these goddess-energy paintings, I think, this is the one that speaks the most strongly to me.  First, I thought it was Boann, who dragged me through an emotional hell, then The Morrigan, who made me face some of the darker aspects of myself, to Brigid who lifted me with the inspiration of a life fueled by creativity and self-empowerment, and now with Etain, I think, this, yes, THIS is who I am! The one who is constantly being reborn, reawakened, alive to the newness all around me.  I am realizing that each painting is the most powerful piece at the moment that I am painting them, because I am experiencing the energy they represent as I create them. Once I complete Etain, I know the next painting will be THE painting best representing my life and where I am.

This is precisely why I paint and why it is so difficult and necessary for me to do it.  This is why whatever it was that spoke to me at OAC in Missouri telling me to explore painting as a spiritual path and look to the sculpture as a way to support myself while remaining creative. I have no idea where these paintings and the future paintings will take me, but as I experience this transformative energy, I know it is something I must do.  Each time I sit down to paint, and then step away and observe as a witness and not a painter, I know I have connected to something much bigger than myself.

I am thrilled to continue and see where all this takes me.  I am even more thrilled to be sharing this journey with you. 

DoAn
If you are interested in following my painting progress and supporting the work I am doing, please consider becomeing a Patron. Just click on the link below:
    
DoAn Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of DoAn Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  
 
Subscribe in a reader
All artwork, photos and text © Copyright 2005-2010 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.