Title: Lunacy?
Year: 2021
Size: 1000mm × 810mm (F40)
Media: Oil on canvas
Description:
The Earth’s only natural satellite has fascinated humans since the dawn of time.
Its impact is often believed to extend well beyond the physics of our planet such as slowing its rotation and causing our tides, to also influence human and animal behaviour…
What further mysteries does it hold?
What a powerful friend
In Japan, cutting down a tree at the time of the new moon is called “new moon felling”. The wood is believed to be unbreakable, rot-proof, warp-proof, mildew-proof, insect-proof, fire-proof, durable for a thousand years, and to purify the air inside.
The Horyuji Temple, the oldest wooden building in the world with a history of 1,400 years, was built using new moon wood from a new moon harvest.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” – Edgar Degas
Although the moon’s surface is relatively dark in colour, a full moon is the brightest celestial object in the night sky. The contrast between the brighter highlands and the darker maria creates the various patterns observed by different cultures.
Like the proverbial phoenix, symbolically present in my work, does the presence of water, frozen beneath its surface, offer the hope of future human immortality?
Or, like the little cat caught in the lunar maelstrom, will our lives simply be subject to its powerful influence, giving cadence to our lives?
My own inspiration
As I stare at the full moon, framed by a clear dark sky, my mind revels in all the mythical tales and legends we bestow upon this ever-present companion.
How to capture its presence both physical and metaphysical?
How to share my own deeper feelings as I ponder on my life?
Will this moment change my life? Tonight? Tomorrow? Forever?
Quick, back to painting before the moment is gone……..
A Hymn to the Moon
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (15 May 1689 – 21 August 1762)
Thou silver deity of secret night,
Direct my footsteps through the woodland shade;
Thou conscious witness of unknown delight,
The Lover’s guardian, and the Muse’s aid!
By thy pale beams I solitary rove,
To thee my tender grief confide;
Serenely sweet you gild the silent grove,
My friend, my goddess, and my guide.
E’en thee, fair queen, from thy amazing height,
The charms of young Endymion drew;
Veil’d with the mantle of concealing night;
With all thy greatness and thy coldness too.
