There were three deer in our front field as we drove home from the Riverside last Thursday night, their eyes reflecting red and gold in the headlights. This spring has seen an explosion of wildlife in our garden and fields, probably because our old Spaniel and her feline predator-companion both left us for the great hunting ground in the sky a few months ago. Not that the land around our home has been short of wildlife, it’s just that now we’re awash. The moorhen on the pond sunbathes on the grass in full view. The heron doesn’t even twitch when the car horn is sounded and only begrudgingly flies 20 yards down the field if you chase him, silently adopting a stare out with his human hosts. Hares are meant to be rare, well not here; they are finding our new fences a challenge but are hell-bent on overcoming them as their little pals the partridges waddle, penguin like, up and down the drive. The wagtails are back along with all the birds I just cannot identify. As for pheasants, well they know they’re safe from the guns and have decided to stake land claims.
My garden used to be my creative outlet. To the untutored eye, it is still lovely to observe but to me it is neglected and stagnating, in desperate need of creative attention. Farmers and gardeners are the closest observers of the natural cycle that so informs my work; the earth is coming to life again after its long sleep and it is simply wonderful.
Speaking of coming to life again, I presume Lazarus did die eventually but, not being a biblical scholar, I don’t know if or where the Bible records the fact. The Lazarus that is MFC, however, is alive and literally kicking its way to the UEFA Cup Final in Eindhoven. Poor J has a German oral scheduled for the day after, so unless his tutor is sympathetic enough to re-arrange it, it looks like yours truly will be visiting the Low Lands to keep R company! Well, it’s better than watching The Bill…(local knowledge necessary…).
Exams have started here. Notwithstanding that it is Bank Holiday Monday, M has her last Art exam this afternoon. She’s a day girl at a boarding school and in common with many such schools, the May Bank Holiday is too inconvenient to observe so soon after Easter. From my point of view, suddenly there’s so little time to get so much sorted out. We have our pre-show assessment on the 25th, which, in some people’s perception, is three weeks but to me it’s a maximum of 12 days if I’m lucky. I’ve been told by experienced hands that feeling fed up is par for the course at this stage and, boy, am I fed up. At least I’ve finished my paintings which is some comfort but I have only just started on Opus, the artist’s book to accompany them. I suppose it is an indulgent ‘extra’ but having branched out in the book direction last year and found it so rewarding, I really wanted to include a book in my show work. So I only have myself to blame for extra pressure.
Last ‘blog’ I described Quintessence, the pivot of the 3 degree show paintings. It encapsulates the transition from base matter to perfection in terms of colour sequence. The 2 accompanying pieces are based on 2 of the transitional phases; the first, Aurora Consurgens, from black through red to white; the second, Cauda Pavonis, the multiple colours or ‘peacock’s tail’ that emerge before true whiteness. I won’t analyse here in any depth the range of ideas that inform these paintings but just provide a perfunctory explanation of sorts. Aurora Consurgens takes its name from a mystical, spiritual text attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, written on his deathbed. In common with a number of great minds in history, he was profoundly interested in alchemy and in the text allegorises the attainment of perfect wisdom (Sophia) with the eponymous rising dawn; black to white, ignorance to wisdom. Cauda Pavonis, to my mind is an allegory of the spectrum from which white light emerges. Once again, Sir Isaac Newton was an alchemist. As I also mentioned last week, their numerical composition is not coincidental either. Paracelsus defined the Philosopher’s Stone as being comprised numerically out of 1 (the prima materia), 2 (the two-fold nature of mercury), 3 (the principles of all things, i.e. body/soul/spirit), 4 (the elements) and 5 (quintessence). Quintessence represents numbers 4, 5 and 1; Cauda Pavonis, 3; Aurora Consurgens 2.
So there you go. Just be grateful that I’m too fed up to go into the symbolism of May Day and how contemporary culture assimilates the festivals of the past in its own guise…..
