Archives for February 2012

This was designed for a silent auction for a group I’ve donated a few paintings for in the past for www.hopeandopportunity.org.

In the world of symbolism, the Turtle is one of the strongest and most revered creatures on the planet. It has transcended all cultures, religions, and corners of the earth. It is a being whose magic united heaven and earth, and the sea turtle in particular is a prevailing mythic figure and archetype. The Turtle encapsulates protection, patience, wisdom, courage, compassion, perseverance, skill, longevity, loyalty, peace, confidence, love, adaptability, healing, and knowledge. Impervious to attack, the turtle is seen as a very model of settled, universal order. It is steady, strong, protective, and unshakeable. A self-contained creative source the Turtle is also called “the keeper of secrets” considered long-lived, wise, and secretive. The turtle is courageous because it makes progress only when it sticks its neck out, and moves forward with a patient, steady flow in order to achieve the desired destination.

The turtle has carried Wisdom on its back for many cultures throughout history. Wise with age, some psychological theories see in the turtle a connection with the self; the unity of the personality as a whole. Though life around us may be chaotic, the turtle can slow down and heighten its awareness, which continually allows it to see the connection to all things. Proverbially steady, in Eastern religions the turtle is thought to be the balance of opposing principles.

The turtle also signifies immortality and is considered a provisional dwelling places for souls making their way through a series of lives on the path to Nirvana. In many cultures, if you need grounding, focus, endurance or deep power, calling on the turtle for help is a time-honoured way of wisdom.

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I started this painting back in 2005 for some friends who also happen to be habitual movers. It was originally designed to go in an upstairs hallway panel for their new home. Of course, I’d hardly had time to cut the canvas and start painting before they moved… again, leaving this panting rolled up and wallowing unloved in my studio for the past 7 years or so.

Then this past summer I had a request from a charity group to donate some paintings for a silent auction. I decided to revisit this old friend and finish it off as one of the offerings for the silent auction (I often like to have the charities decide which paintings they think would be the best fit for their auctions).  Unfortunately, one of the risks in leaving a painting unfinished for several years is that the paint colours you started with can sometimes become discontinued, which was the case with this one. Luckily I had a bit of paint left over, but decided since one of the nice things about ethnic art, is to make sure there are imperfections in it, otherwise, it doesn’t look authentic to me.

So, you might not be able to pick up the subtle undertones of slightly different colours throughout, but they are there somewhat on purpose, due to my neglecting this poor fellow for enough time as to make his original paint tones extinct.

There is no rhyme or reason or any imbedded symbolism behind this one. I didn’t even plan it out in detail on paper as I do with the majority of my paintings. I just grabbed a pencil and sketched out some of the basics, but for the most part, I just added each design as I went along.

From time to time I like to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone and try something completely new.

This year, I tackled Albert Einstein.

There were some very personal reasons for why I wanted to do this painting. I needed something large to “chew” on (so to speak) while I made peace with some demons from my past. I don’t want to make this out to sound more dramatic than it is. The simple explanation is I was “officially” diagnosed with two fairly significant learning disabilities which explained a string of consistently bad report cards from Kindergarten right through to Grade 12. Truth be known, I’m not sure how I managed to pass each year (they certainly didn’t pass me because I was too tall, which I’ve heard has occurred from other students back in the day).

Anyway, to make peace with some of these fairly horrific teachers I had, especially in elementary school (where you could become a teacher pretty much out of high school – taking courses in the summers), I decided to go to the energy and wisdom of Albert Einstien, making a mock  cover of a magazine which doesn’t exist (until now).

The Einstein quote on the magazine has long been a favourite of mine, as is the following:

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

This pretty much encapsulates most of my formal eduction. In fact, were it not for my marks in band and art, I would have most likely failed every year.

Painting Einstein I was able to channel the pain from my past that I’ve always carried towards some of those tyrannical teachers (and as a dear friend wrote: “…they probably weren’t actually educated enough to come up with a better professional solution that might require something more of them than the universal panacea: you work harder; we’ll sit back, keep our imaginations in park, and judge.”)

Regardless, it is something that made me who I am, and at the end of the day, I have to meet it half way and shake hands with. As the same dear friend wrote: “Hard for me to envy the testing but easy to see how it builds character, personality, unusual neural networks that others don’t/can’t have unless they bang into a big constraint.”

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