36×48 Acrylic, Silver Leaf, Gold Leaf on Canvas

A condition of conflict and anxiety created by inconsistency between one’s beliefs and one’s reality.

The confusion that results from holding onto beliefs which are incongruous to what we are witnessing can leave fractured truths clinging to our perceptions.

The concept of the Iron Curtain existed in the twentieth century, creating devisions of economies and  alliances. The remnants of that invisible Iron Curtain was psychologically dismantled with the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Sometimes there is no tangible symbol to represent a curtain—especially if the curtain is actually a veil.

Presently, we live in the midst of a diaphanous Golden Curtain. It represents our beliefs about Democracy, Humanity, and established social structures which we have adhered to until now.

Perhaps we need to peek behind this veil to repair fractured truths and begin to dismantle the sources of our own cognizant dissonance.

There are various, potentially perilous circumstances which we face as individuals throughout our lives.

Sometimes we are granted a moment to stand on the edge of these situations and reflect on our options.

At other times, we must simply wait, on the edge, until we fall, get pushed, or get called back into safer territory by fate.

Standing at these precipices, I believe is where we are able to experience that larger part of ourselves which is able to see the smaller part of ourselves looking for the next step on our journey.

The larger part patiently observes, oversees our choices without judgment, and tries to give us as much information as it can about what is beyond the precipice.

The collective of Humanity is presently standing on the precipice of change.

We have the option to look out from this precipice and contemplate our next step in the evolution of our consciousness and our place on this beautiful planet.

We can not know everything that lies beyond this precarious edge where we have come to stand.

But the larger part of us, the part that sees the bigger picture, is watching as we decide where we will go from here.

The moment that we are granted to reflect upon this precipice gradually passes until we will have fewer options about our next step.

48×60 Acrylic and Gold on Canvas

The capacity to observe life and Humanity, objectively, from a perspective outside the Self or one’s participation in environment and tribe is truly a challenge.

Some believe it is impossible because we are subjective beings.

Some believe we are limited to our physical experience in our observations and therefore can never truly experience objective truth about our existence.

Perhaps consciousness consists of etheric optic nerves which are invisible to us through our limited vision.

Perhaps these nerves are extending outward in each of us, reaching toward one another to create a unified view while the larger part of ourselves oversees the process?

Through the blurry eyes of the nearly awake, one can see a closing door.

As a society we have been asleep while so many things have entered and changed the very nature of what we are as a collective.

With our eyes barely open, we have focused our attention on the propaganda and illusions brought to us by those with a deceitful agenda.

Unfamiliar faces enter at the upper right of the canvas and rewrite history as we rub our blurry eyes and squint at the truth.

Changing of the guard does not always mean changing of the environment.

A Guardian is sacred but that which he guards is what makes him sacred.

One can hope and believe the words from the mouth of the guardian.

The words are seeds that inspire change in the hearts of the guarded.

But it is after the guardian demonstrates his intent, that we feel safeguarded and hope is justified.

May the seeds grow into a strong tree to shelter Humanity from harsh storms.

May we all support the New Guardian with our own efforts, to nourish the soil that has been so parched.

Textured with black emerging from the void as a powerful, masculine red attempts to dominate the canvas, barely contained by the clarity and understanding of white.

Within each woman is the animus or masculine, just as each man has an anima or feminine aspect within him.

This painting expresses the conflict and masculine aggression that can occur when a woman struggles to bring her animus into balance so that her feminine nature can thrive.

Peering through the windows of history, we find all the lessons, the errors, and the achievements that bring us to this present moment.

This is the moment in which we ask ourselves, “Are we civilized yet?”

What cost, civilization?

As a woman approaches the middle of her life, the opportunities to birth a child, or create progeny, become fewer and fewer until those opportunities are as rare as a blue moon.

This abstract expansion is layered over an image of an egg, layered over a baby chick, representing the evolution from the Spring of maidenhood to the colors of a woman in Autumn.

The falling spray of potential  pollination, during that fading  blue moon, falls softly into acceptance and movement into another beautiful phase of womanhood —in which she is free to cultivate other seeds of creation through wisdom.

36×24 Acrylic, Gouache, and Gold Leaf on Canvas

Personal injuries, whether they be physical or emotional, are retained in our body’s memory.

There is a web of connective tissue beneath our skin called fascia that contains release points throughout our bodies.

These release points may contain memories of conflicts that we may have previously believed to be resolved until, with a little pressure, the memories come back into the forefront to remind us to finish dealing with the debris that we may have left behind.

Our world contains a social web that retains memories of conflicts, historical injuries, wars, and other circumstances which we may have forgotten until, with a little pressure, they return to the forefront as an opportunity to address them until they are free of political debris as we resolve the pain through honest diplomacy and genuine healing.

Self Actualization may come in steps, but is there really an hierarchy?

Maybe we experience elements of “Self” Actualization intermittently, even if we are hungry or we feel alone.