Stille Freude (Silent Joy)

Medium: Acrylic on canvas.

Dimensions: 20 x 16 in.

Date: Summer 2007

Comments:
A meditative still-life commission, inspired by the theme: "Out of Darkness flows Light".

I began with three basic elements of Christian worship: a candle, an orthodox icon of Christ, and a small Bible. To these, I added a chalice (symbolic of the Grail cup, receptacle of divine blessings), an Ankh pendant (a cross with a loop at the top, symbolising the human being as a "key" to the ancient Mysteries and the Universe), and a Franciscan Cross. The whole still-life is placed upon a mirror, to indicate the correspondence between the physical and spiritual worlds, as referred to in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: "That which is above is like to that which is below."

Before starting to paint, or even to assemble the objects of the still-life, I spent seven days allowing the composition to flow together in my mind. Then I juxtaposed the various components, complete with soft draperies, and commenced painting while listening to Joseph Haydn's great oratorio Die Schoepfung ("The Creation"). Beginning with dark-toned Tuscan reds, I moved gradually to paler orange, gold, and white, allowing light to flow forth as the daughter of darkness.



Price: SOLD. In a private collection in Munich, Germany.