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"One space spreads through all creatures equally- Inner-world-space. Birds quietly flying go Flying through us" Rainer Maria Rilke
"Examples of synchronicity can be found most often in the animal world because animals are more in touch with the essential nature of things. We humans lose our sense of connectedness... As soon as we develop an ego." Deepak Chopra The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence
"Paintings are Rorschach ink blots. They are what you want them to be." Roy Lichtenstein
A series of studies of light and shadow on water opened up a way to connect portraits of humans with portraits of other species in a common environment, the shared space reflecting a sense of shared consciousness. I found that the intense psychological space created by placing the figures in water blurred the boundary between interior and exterior, motion and stillness, surface and depth, viewer and subject, and the subjects themselves. Shadows and reflections seemed to break up and overlap, connecting and separating, mirroring and distorting. There arose a concern for what could be perceived by the conscious mind and what might be relegated to the unconscious, the visible and the hidden. Other species appeared to bridge the gap, perhaps as projections of each individual's unconscious, perhaps as individuals in their own right. In synchronicity, the world mirrors the mind and the mind mirrors the world. Each painting began as a portrait from life, then other species were added from a combination of sketches, photos and museum studies. The human portrait determined the direction of light and shadow. The challenge was to create a harmonious narrative around each carefully realized portrait. Plein air oil sketches provided a starting point for the sky and water but, as work progressed, the effects turned out to be as unpredictable as nature herself.
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