The Book of Symbols, Day 66: Peach

Day 66: Peach, gouache, 6x8 in., Otto

In appearance and in taste, the peach suggests a juicy abundance that is both natural and sacred.  Blossoming in early spring, the peach tree is a sure sign of nature's regeneration...It is reputed that when a soul eats of the sacred peach tree, it will enjoy three millennia of good health.

- ARAS

The Book of Symbols, Day 65: Apple

Day 65: Apple, gouache, 6x8 in., Otto

A botanical relative of the rose, the apple goes back to the earliest phases of human settlement; its present size and sweetness results from long domestication of its small, sour prototype...it served as a common love gift in ancient Greece, where the apple was imagined as an attribute of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

- ARAS

The Tree of My Life, Currently

Palm Tree Construction, found objects, 9x6x5 in., Otto 

Yes, silly me as a tree from the Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala workshop I'm facilitating.  We're on Stage 7 Squaring the Circle or Owning the Light and one of the focus points was a tree as self image.

It seemed to tie together all the projects I'm involved with:  the mandala group, the symbol a day, and all the fabric and sewing of clothes.  Of course, I didn't realize that at the time of creating it - I was just going with my inklings.

The Book of Symbols, Day 64: Thistle

Day 64: Thistle, gouache, 6x8 in., Otto

Evoking one who is barbed but has a soft heart, the thistle's prickliness is associated with self-protection, impenetrability, austerity and resilience...Nevertheless, the thistle also conveys love that endures suffering and labor that endures hardship.

- ARAS

Project Minima

Photo by Otto

I have to mention here that my creative inklings are also being realized in another project that I began last month. That's why The Book of Symbols images are slowing down and not appearing every single day.  They are sharing creative time with my Project Minima endeavors.
It's all good.

The Book of Symbols, Day 63: Lotus

Day 63: Lotus, 6x8 in., Otto

As a poetic image and visual icon, the lotus symbol evokes the realization that all life, rooted in mire, nourished by decomposed matter, growing upward through a fluid and changing medium, opens radiantly into space and light.  The mire and fluidity symbolize the grosser, heavier qualities of nature, including mind's nature.  The flower, beautifully multipetalled, symbolizes the array of subtler, more lucid qualities, with the golden hue, the radiance of spirit, as its center.

- ARAS

The Book of Symbols, Day 62: Rose

Day 62: Rose, gouache, 6x8 in., Otto

Above all, roses signify love, in all its earthly and heavenly hues:  what or who we love in the present, the one we loved and have lost, and the longing for something nameless--embodied in the form and color of roses, and in the perfume that "suddenly...lies on the air like fame" (Rilke, 149)--that both beckons and mysteriously eludes us.

- ARAS

The Book of Symbols, Day 61: Lily - revisted

Day 61: Lily, gouache, 8x6 in., Otto

Equally reflective of the vital source, the deep calyx of the lily shaped into trumpet, bell and chalice shoots up in every hue from the dark earth at springtime, heralding resurrection and renewal.  Highly regenerative, the lily surfaces even after fire or drought.

- ARAS