:: 2010-2015 :: 60cm x 120cm :: Acrylics, Inks and Markers on Canvas ::
This artwork was a long time in the making. Springing from a period of archetypal crisis in summer 2010, the image narrates a daylight vision experienced through a mixture of exhaustion and desperation whilst standing upon a rock a few metres out to sea off the southern coast of Crete, gazing at length into the rolling waves of the deep sea before me. My eyes caught the glints of the light on the waves, and the undulating movements at length became supple female forms swimming towards me. I watched this for many minutes before returning to shore.
That night, in a wide-eyed feverish dream, the vision continued and the glints on the waves became stars. I was taken back to the scene of a salvia vision I had had several times some years before, the ‘Stadium of Light’. At length, the stars became pebbles on a sacred mountain and I once again encountered the Lady of the Mountains, a presence I often sense or dream about when I am visiting the island of Crete. Upon awakening, I immediately set to drawing, filled with energy and inspiration.
During a period of intense self-questioning, and suicidal thoughts and dreams from which I doubted I would emerge, this vision became a beacon of light, and a promise of transformation, and kept me strong and hopeful through the period of crisis. It is not stretching the truth too much to suggest that this vision probably saved my life, and it was many years before I felt I could do it justice. Now gazing upon it, I feel such gratitude for the journey, which strengthened me more than I ever could have known...
