Alchemy and Calendrical Art

I think the soul paints itself transforming.  I work with alchemy and the eight transitions point in the calendar year as a way of working attentively with the soul/psyche’s unfolding.  The calendar year begins and ends with the darkness of winter; a spiral of change.  Alchemy begins with the emergence of the Prima Materia, the brightest, blackest, most alive matter, and ends with the creation of the Philosophers’ Stone (Lapis Philosophorum).  The stone; a powder, a tincture, perhaps the Prima Materia itself, is, amongst other things, referred to as Lapis Occultus and Arcanum (mystery, deep secret, elixir, secret remedy).  The transition points -  the Celtic cross quarter days, the solstices and equinoxes – prepare for soul for what lies ahead.  Once manifested, the ripened stone then transforms through four seasons; participating in calendrical processes and relations of gestation, birth, growth, blossoming, fading, dying, absence, emptiness and birth again. This is what I paint.  Each year I work with similar material but from different perspectives and sometimes with new understanding.