Painting sacred wisdom enables me to create an environment for exploring a universal truth. The time I spend in the process deepens my understanding. After completion, I continue to feel the gift of wisdom whenever I revisit the painting. The idea that art can act as a battery storing the power of intention and understanding is fascinating. For example, the builders and artists that constructed and decorated sacred temples and cathedrals imbued the structures with their intention to join with a divine presence. Centuries later, one can still sense the power of the structure when experiencing the beauty and serenity of the space. Sacred wisdom is found in the teachings that express the principles of reality and its underlying design. These principles are mental constructs, but our understanding requires a physical connection. So I use paintings to transform mental concepts into physical experience. The multi-layered language of painting includes the physical dynamics of color (emotion), texture (sensation), imagery (memory), and symbol (connection). |
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 COLOR: Warm colors, such as yellow and red, stimulate and excite. Blue and green are cool colors that soothe and calm. The absence of color is equally powerful in conveying a dismal, almost hopeless experience |
 TEXTURE: The energy behind the application of paint creates more experience. Smooth, polished surfaces promote the feeling of tranquility, while rough paint application conjures the sense of touch. |
IMAGERY: A colt gallops across the spring meadow creating the picture of youth. The Joan of Arc image refers to the story of idealism and the tendency to see situations in terms of black and white. |
 SYMBOL: Certain images hold layers of meaning. A seashell may provoke a childhood memory of holding the shell up to the ear in order to hear the sea. The shell also symbolizes boundaries. A sea creature grows to the limits of the shell casing and must then abandon it for a larger one. |
© Kendra Barron 2010