Blue Lotus

Oil and ink on paper on board.

Loosely inspired by imagery from a passage in Greek myth where an island of people is wiped out before they are repopulated in numbers after a plea to Zeus, with the transformation of ants as they fell from a tree.

In this painting I wanted to place the whole idea of taking flight within one body, so that not only the external tools of flying like feathers, but also the infinite space of the sky, was within the form, self sufficient and self contained.

Thinking about evolution, from reptilian prehistory through birds and into the mammalian realm.

The last and largest piece completed for Blue Lotus, this painting is all about creation and downfall. It is meant to be read anti-clockwise from the eggs in the hand at the bottom of the composition, through self-realisation/corruption, deification and ego, before finishing with the tarot figures being taken to the next world by the dolphins.
Tangata manu (Bird-man) is the winner of a traditional competition by the inhabitants of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), where competitors would swim out to a nearby island to retrieve the first sooty tern’s eggs of the season. The winner was the first one back with the eggs in tact, who would be crowned bird-man. The figure in the painting is my version of the cult’s deity, Make-Make. In its hand is held a nest of eggs and a chick, a copy of a wood and ivory sculpture which was found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Preserver of life in the form of boats, and vessel for which to take the body to the next life, as casket back into the soil.

Life drawing on paper, treated with varnish and embellished with Indian ink and oil paint.

Another in the Harvest series recalling memories of nature, the inevitable cycle of growth and death, and endless toil on the land.