Saturday, April 18, 2009

New Painting: Corax


I started this painting a while ago. The sketch happened one night, the inking happened the next, and then it sat...alone...in the darkness of a drawer. For weeks it lay undisturbed. I went halfway across the world and back. Life went on. The drawing waited.

Yesterday I pulled it out of the drawer, cleared off my desk, and set up my space to paint. This usually involves a level of personalized ritual that I won't go into here (I can't! it's personal), but believe me: it's necessary for the magic to happen. The natural world serves as my place of worship and I like to think of my art desk as my altar.

"Corax" (Corvus corax, common raven) is inspired by many things. I wanted to use a raven skull in a painting, and I also wanted to incorporate sacred Celtic herbs and trees, such as oak, mistletoe, rowan, and thorn. The raven spirit is collecting things, like she does...like I do. Always seeking, always hoarding. There is no reason that can be explained with words. She just collects because it feels right. She collects them because she loves them.

No comments:

Post a Comment