The Summer Solstice celebrates the culmination of the sun’s power as the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, after which it appears to stand still in the skies before beginning its descent once more.  When the sun is at its fullest, and the days are at their longest, the dark part of the year fades to such an extent that it seems momentarily absent.  At the very moment the Sun reaches its fullness, the seeds of winter emerge: brightness and darkness ever interlinked.

The Summer Solstice marks the mid-point of the growing season; halfway between planting and harvesting. The air between earth and sky, full of life-giving properties, receives special attention at this time of year. Traditionally, hill-top bonfires were lit in honour of Áine, the Celtic goddess of summer, wealth, love and fertility, who was born from the sea. Smoke and ashes from these sacred fires were thought to protect the crops until harvest time.

My articulation of The Nine Calendrical Transition Points are inspired by alchemical encounters towards self-realisation and by rituals and myths that mark changes in the seasons and the subsequent impact on everyday and spiritual life.

In particular, I work with the solstices and equinoxes (quarter days) and the Celtic fire festivals (cross quarter days) celebrated in November, February, May and August. I add an additional point at Samhain (November) to accommodate the ending of one cycle and the beginning of another.

For me, these nine transition points seem to align with the painting/creative process itself, which, to my understanding, involves the psyche’s transformative unfolding. By psyche, I mean the web of our being that flows between the deepest aspects of self, other, cosmos and the processes of becoming conscious of these depths.

By giving attention to the properties of each of the nine calendrical transition points as they emerge in real time in the external world, I find an unparalleled opportunity to simultaneously explore equivalent internal relations and transformations. I’m interested in how all of this manifests itself in painting and other creative activities.

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.