I am an emerging transcendental artist who specialises in surrealist oil paintings and I have spent the last few years studying and practising art as a painter, illustrator, and poet, in Florence, Italy.
For the first four years of my life, I grew up in the countryside of Wilshire, so my earliest memories are of climbing trees and making dens in bushes, in communion with nature. I felt held and whole in the little Eden of Pewsey Vale and longed for nothing but the dirt in my hands or the chaos of creating with crayons.
As I child I always had an affinity towards magic, I role-played as a witch in my “potion corner”, collected miniature fairies and mystical creatures and believed wholeheartedly in the power of my wishes. An affinity I must admit that was crushed in my teenage years, but has remerged in adulthood. At four my family relocated to Cologne, Germany where I went to my first art museum; The Ludwig.
I remember standing in front of a huge painting with bright light and a man falling from the sky, and it was the first time a piece of artwork made an impression on me. I recently tracked down the artwork and found that it was La Gare de Perpignan by Dali. I was struck by the significance of this, as I now consider myself to be a surrealist but I had no conscious knowledge of this connection.
I’ve been drawing my whole life. I used to continually strive after the skill level of my older sister and we spent many hours creating side by side. My art time was a form of escapism, a lifeline of calm amidst an unstable home life. It was this instability and collective pain in my family which inspired me to research psychology, self-help and healing methods while I was in my late teens.
When COVID hit, I read The Power of Now and started practising walking meditations and mindfulness. This gave me a new understanding of the nature of suffering and a compassionate lens through which to view the world, though there was and still is a lot to face within myself. So I began to read into Jungian psychology and internal Family Systems Therapy and started practicing EFT tapping.
I had fallen out of love with my creative practice at school as my artworks had lost their authenticity and were produced to please a board of examiners rather than myself.
However, I still went to study Art, Design and Media practice at Kingston School of Art, where I explored the archetype of the ‘wild woman’ and the concept of surrender through sculptural fashion garments, which reignited my creative spark.
At this time I started reading more spiritual literature, from Be Here Now by Ram Dass to the Tao Te Ching and using tarot cards as a method for self-reflection. It was in the research of my fashion projects that I started to produce energetic paintings, as illustrations of the experience of dissolving the ‘pain body’ or ‘psychic residue’ through conscious awareness.
Through this, I reawakened my desire to paint and longed to develop my skill as an artist, but I had applied for fashion design degrees and in my state of confusion I turned to my tarot deck. The answer came in the three of wands, guiding me to look for opportunities abroad, in turn inspiring my move to Florence to pursue traditional training in master oil painting techniques at Charles Cecil Studio.
Alongside my portrait studies, I began to practice Bhakti Yoga and most significantly mantra meditation, a method which I found completely transformative. I started spending time at Villa Vrindavana, an ISKON temple in the hills of Tuscany, with an impressive sacred art museum, and I knew then that my path was not a portrait painter but a sacred artist, so I left Charles Cecil to experiment with my painting practice.
Now the impact of classical training combines with dynamic expressionism in my surrealist oil paintings as I constantly play with the balance between controlled and intuitive mark-making, of maintaining and dissolving form, to explore the tension of duality.
I use my canvas as an energetic mirror to the process of transmutation through returning to a state of oneness. That is why I like to work on a life-sized scale, so the viewer can relate to the image as a reflection of their self. I recognise my practice as a form of Alchemy, hoping to both express and invoke transmutation through my flowing brushstrokes, a technique I developed to imitate water's meditative qualities.
My paintings are informed by an array of spiritual practices and esoteric sources, from fire purification ceremonies and Bhakti yoga to Sufi poetry and Alchemical tarot decks. My practice involves a process of clarifying my personal experiences through poetry, experimenting with collage and preliminary sketches, and materialising these ideas through paint. In July of 2023, I completed a solo art exhibition in Florence at Il Conventino, showcasing a collection of my figurative oil paintings through which I aimed to create an energetic mirror to the experience of returning to a state of oneness.
I was part of an artist collective in Florence and in September 2023 we hosted a multidisciplinary event at the art residency hotel Numeroventi where I painted Deciduous Live, a painting which explored how karmic attachments naturally fall away during the process of spiritual evolution.
In January, I exposed two life-sized energetic mirrors as part of a group exhibition titled Wundakammer, held at Aquaflor Firenze and curated by artist Polina Stepanova. This pair of paintings investigates the greatest challenge for the Alchemist: the amalgamation of Fire and Water, reaching a state of unity through the assimilation of equal and opposite elements.
Inspired by the Etruscan Lunar Goddesses, Catha, the ruler of the tides, finds her greatest strength in harmony with her consort Suri, who reigns over mighty volcanoes, the sun, and fire. I also collaborated with crochet artist Nisha Kapitzki on Stream of Yarn, a capsule collection blending art with fashion, inspired by my painting collection titled When The Stream Walks On The Shore.
From February to April of 2024, I worked in my studio in Wiltshire and experienced disenchantment with my painting practice for the first time, so I took a break from painting in May and June when I returned to Florence. I was reading and writing a lot of poetry, visiting art museums and churches around Italy, sketching from life to maintain my observational skills, and making sense of it all by curating my creations into a digital journal on Instagram.
I saw the value of a break from my painting practice, shifting to other creative outlets and absorbing inspiration to replenish my creativity well. In hindsight, I can attribute this disconnection to the lack of a creative community and a general burnout. I now truly recognise how important feedback from people experiencing my work first-hand is, especially due to the scale of my paintings.
In May, over 50 of my illustrations were featured in an exhibition of 60 collectable art books produced by a large community of artists titled At The Kitchen Table held at Spazio Sasseti in Florence. I also had the joy of collaborating on and featuring in the first edition of Cura Cura magazine whose mission is to provide an approachable path to healing through the transformative power of art.
In June, I hosted a final exhibition of my painting collection in Florence as well as a sketch sale to raise money for aid in Gaza. Having an audience who responded to and genuinely connected with my pieces reaffirmed their value in a wider context, and I have returned to Wiltshire full of painting ideas.
I have always remained a diligent and enthusiastic scholar. Inspired by the intersection of Spiritual Literature, Science, and Eastern Mysticism, my desire to further my understanding of the divine has driven both my creative and academic pursuits, which inform and sustain one another.
I am very grateful to have been offered a place to study Theology and Religion at Oxford University in October, where I plan to specialise in Buddhism and Hinduism and learn Sanskrit. Ultimately, my goal is to unite my spiritually guided creative practice, with a strong foundation of theological knowledge, and to use that wisdom to engage in journalism and social activism, while inspiring the contemplation of the divine through my artwork.
It has been a long journey until I came to accept that my personal input, my own sight, is relevant in this world. This realisation has surfaced repeatedly, especially when I am navigating self-doubt about my talent.
To be honest it has always been there, manifesting in different ways, with different mediums… art has always been and will be through me.
My fascination with colour started from a very early age, as a young student, the art classes fed my spirit and passion. In retrospect, I realise they gave me a sense of freedom that other subjects did not. I was taught to sew by hand and to embroider in my native city in Colombia.
There, hand embroidery has been a long tradition which has passed from generation to generation being part of the socio-economic gear of the region. During my early teens, I taught myself to draw, inspired by illustrations of characters in my school textbooks. My main focus at that time was the human figure and soon I was experimenting by adding clothing designs to my characters. This led to a passion to study fashion and to expressing myself with the use of textiles and the embellishment of fabrics.
Many paths and choices, like pieces of an enigmatic puzzle called life, have collaborated to enrich my design and textile skill set, serving what I consider the search for joy through making. Now, I thank the exuberant beauty of Devon surroundings because it has been here in the UK when I finally made peace with my inner self accepting this continuing learning path and sharing my perspective as an artist.
I consider myself a channel through which the infinite source flows.
My art strives to connect with other people's souls through the vibration of colour. Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if my work can be considered a container of that quality, my aim is to inspire and bring positive vibes. We are all thirsty for beauty in a negativity-polluted environment. Just as listening to a thoughtful piece of music can raise your frequency and lift your mood, observing a piece of art can have a similar effect on your well-being.
Furthermore, I am eager to orient my work towards art therapy. Integrating principles of neuroaesthetics with therapeutic practices could offer profound benefits, helping individuals find solace, healing, and empowerment through art. I believe that by exploring these scientific and therapeutic dimensions, I can enhance my ability to connect with others and contribute to their well-being in meaningful ways.
This desire to deepen my practice is also intertwined with my profound spiritual experiences. My contact with the spiritual world has been through the oneiric realm; encountering vivid images in my dreams and visiting places which I call other realities. I have experienced lucid dreams where I have been able to contact loved ones who have passed away, receiving messages and even being able to feel the energy in my physical body like the touch of a hand, or seeing benevolent beings whom I identify as spiritual guides.
In some way, I believe that science will converge in the knowledge of God and that art can be a vessel navigating the immensity of an energy sea. By blending the insights of neuroaesthetics with the spiritual dimensions of my experiences, I aim to create something that resonates on many levels, offering a holistic approach to healing and connection.
Creating became a form of meditation, a way to process emotions and link with something greater than myself. It is fascinating how an idea nests in the mind and within my own resources it is unveiled layer by layer on the canvas. That has been part of my process of my recent creations which conveys my love for the depiction of the human figure in conjunction with nature.
Some of my artwork contains elements of fantasy; the images are picturesque windows to look at just for enjoyment or if the viewers want, mechanisms to encourage the imagination of some other worlds that can coexist in peace with our tumultuous one.
By making these colourful representations, I don’t try to question any belief. I like feeling the freedom and leaving the image just being; through the illustration of winged beings in utopian gardens in blossom for example, it elevated me beyond the concern of the moment that as humanity we were living. Few years ago in times of pandemic and confinement, if something gave me peace was being able to go out in the morning for a walk and breathe the fresh air.
Those walks that sometimes became monologues led me to reflect on the things I saw along; for example, I still remember the felicity of having found Long Timbers Wood years ago, the trail that runs parallel to the river Erme in Ivybridge. What a wonder when I saw the small doors at the base of the trees, and then when able to look out to find small gifts that hopeful children had left for their elusive winged inhabitants. I could also observe this in Filham Park, one of my favourite places close from home.
That fascination, part of the compendium of folklore and mythology, is still alive in these areas of the English countryside. Although I do not remember so much literature about fairies in my early age, at least in my native country, many stories were told about goblins, ‘la madremonte’ (mother of the forest) and some mischievous witches, for whom there were methods to catch them red-handed!
In my last collection “Pachamama,” the depiction of nature in my art honours the feminine principle of mother earth by presenting serene figures seated in serene contemplation, symbolising the nurturing aspect of nature. The surrounding foliage, with intricate patterns and vibrant colours, evokes a sense of growth and vitality. This artwork captures the intimate connection between the feminine form and the flourishing environment, suggesting a harmonious balance and mutual respect and reflects the cyclical power of creation and regeneration.
The figure’s meditative pose and the organic forms that envelop her serve as a metaphor for the symbiotic relationship between all living things and the earth. The artwork invites viewers to contemplate the delicate interplay of life and the natural world, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the sustaining force that is the feminine principle. Through this visual narrative, I aim to inspire a reverence towards nature and cherish our shared home.
Gary Samdaliri’s artistic prowess has been recognized on the prestigious stage of the American Arts Awards 2024.
His evocative portrait “Chief Sitting Bull” captured the judges’ attention, securing the second-place position in the fiercely competitive “Famous Portrait” section.
Additionally, his painting “Chief Running Antelope,” a testament to his skill in capturing the dynamism of the human form, earned a commendable fifth place in the “Figure” category. These accolades underscore Samdaliri’s growing reputation as an artist capable of creating works that resonate deeply with both critics and the public alike. His ability to breathe life into historical figures and imbue his paintings with a sense of movement and power marks him as a rising star in the contemporary art world.
"For me, being an artist is a spiritual path whereby I seek to capture the spiritual, ethereal and timeless elements of the subject. Being empathic and developing clairsentients has helped to fuel my creative impulse. The painting process has evolved over the years to allow the experience of joy, freedom of expression and, crucially, the ability to "tune into" spirit.
My goal is to create paintings that hold spiritual power and light, and therefore the image becomes instrumental in shifting the viewer to experience art from a higher perspective. The journey as an artist is constantly evolving and reaching new potential, and I feel blessed by allowing this process to unravel. Over the years I have painted landscape, fantasy, spirit guides, and abstract themes, however I have discovered my main passion is spiritually themed portraiture and sacred design."
Gary views painting as a Spiritual path, a process that generates great joy in creating unique works of art that can take many months to complete. He is driven to create art that inspires and uplifts – art which has the ability to shift the viewers’ awareness into inner realms, where power and beauty touches the soul.
"Interest in Native American wisdom was the inspiration in undertaking this portrait. By using an old historical photo of the great warrior chief, who was an iconic figure in American history, the goal throughout the painting process was to capture his fascinating life and what native Indians would term their "medicine" (spiritual power).
The love with portraiture is the ability of the artist to "psyche into" the portrait subject on a deep and penetrating level. At times, I could tune into the love Chief Sitting Bull had for great spirit.
There was also a sense of the anger and sadness he felt for the plight of his people in the face of encroachment by the white man.
Portraiture is a very demanding skill to master and can be mentally and emotionally draining, however the final results are exhilarating and immensely rewarding.
My personal technique in portraiture is to achieve high realism in depicting skin tones that hold the life force and the emanation of spirit. Clothing tends to be loose and abstract, but capturing the facial details, especially Chief Sitting Bull who had such a weathered and rugged look, was a timely but most rewarding process .
Completed in 2020, this painting has really transformed me and my approach ever since."
Now that Gary has firmly established himself as a professional artist, his works have been on display in several galleries, most notably the Hayloft Gallery, in Christchurch, Dorset. For portraiture and life painting commissions, please contact him directly for more details.
Gary Samdaliri’s life as an artist began in 2008 when he started to master the skills of Persian marquetry. Gary specialised in themes based on sacred art and mythology, inspired by both western and eastern traditions.
After many years of creating marquetry artwork, Gary felt an inner calling to explore art in other Media, and in 2015 he embarked on various courses and training programmes to develop his skills.
After experimenting with pastels, acrylics, and other mediums, Gary began to discover the radiant beauty of painting in oils, and has developed a unique artistic style that captivates the viewer.
Gary has a particular love of classical portraiture, having undergone intense art training with several respected art teachers. He also paints fantasy themes inspired by ancient mythology and, more recently, has started to develop new skills in the form of abstract themes.
Gary feels his artistic skills, as well as his empathic nature, are best suited to Portraiture. He is continuing to refine and perfect his skills since he paints from the heart, and each portrait painting he undertakes is, for him, an artistic and spiritual journey that nourishes his soul.
Portraiture involves a step by step process to achieve the best results. Gary begins each portrait painting with a detailed drawing of the portrait subject. Once the drawing has been completed, the first layer of colour can be applied. He uses a classical painting method called scumbling, where each subsequent layer of colour application is carefully designed to refine and bring together all the elements of the painting.
Gary invests most of his time in slowly building up the skin tone, whereby often five or six layers of colour are applied. This process really helps to highlight the radiant qualities of the facial features in particular. Finally, after three to six months drying, a final gloss varnish is applied to bring out the radiance of the painting.
"Rudolf Steiner was a philosopher - an esoteric, spiritual educator and one of the most enigmatic western thinkers of his generation, and his spiritual teachings have had a major influence on my spiritual outlook.
With the experience and skills gained from painting Chief Sitting Bull, I felt ready and compelled to challenge myself with this project.
For Rudolf Steiner, the Christ impulse was the core emphasis in his messages, therefore throughout the painting process my main goal was to tap into the Christ Monad that so deeply influenced Steiner's personal awakening, and which fuelled his super human qualities and immense capacity for lecturing on a huge range of spiritual topics.
Completing this painting was another milestone and has further fuelled my love of portraiture. The colours used on the palette are carefully selected at each stage to achieve the desired outcome.
Over the years, I have deeply immersed myself in trying to gain mastery over each colour within the visible spectrum. Every colour is totally unique, holding its own power, beauty and spiritual component."
The foundation of Gary’s abstract paintings are based on sacred geometry design principles. Abstract painting has helped him to further develop his skills as an Artist, allowing him to gain a much deeper understanding of colour and shape.
Firstly, the principles of sacred geometry to create a grid. This grid also known as the Armature allows the freedom for Gary to formulate his own compositions that are governed by structure, harmony, and mathematical principles.
Since undertaking abstract painting in 2018, Gary has undergone a major transformation as an artist, leading him to a greater understanding of the complex interplay of colour relationships, shapes, and form.
For Gary, his deeper interest in painting abstract is to create unique pieces that allow the viewer to shift into a more fluid, dreamlike, and spiritual state of being.
"Medicine Wheel was commissioned by a sound therapist, for the healing space that is used for clients, and in the last year I have been focused on undertaking sacred design commissions.
This painting was based on the Native American medicine wheel, however this was adapted to also include elements from other spiritual traditions that the client resonated with. Carefully calculating the composition of the painting by creating an inner & outer circle, the inner circle contains the heart sutra, infinity symbol, angel wings, a whale, and a heron, which are all very important elements for the client.
For the outer circle, the four cardinal directions are a crucial element within the medicine wheel, and each direction represents a season with spiritual significance, and also a distinctive colour.
With exact direction in mind, all of the totem animals and sacred flowers and plants were carefully arranged on the medicine wheel.
This painting needed a lot of focus and having a clear mind was an important element to energize and give life to the composition.
There comes a point within the process that the painting itself begins to communicate its will to me. Difficult to describe in words, it is a really incredible experience to merge with the painting and allow it to guide itself to completion."
"This, the most recent painting, for a local Light Workers' Pagan Group based in the New Forest.
This painting is dedicated to the lady who runs the group, as she deeply follows the old pagan religious path.
Taking time to meditate on this project, soon came the ability to tap into the ancient Celtic essences that helped to produce the complex layout.
The Celtic Year is divided into eight quarters of Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain, with each phase holding a personal spiritual significance and deeply linked to the solstices and equinoxes, accompanied with the midpoints between them.
As the client has a strong affinity with the Green Man, it was decided to place him into the centre of the design. The Green Man represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth. He awakens spring after a long winter with the renewal of vegetation. The Celtic knot design also represents the endless cycle of life and death, and interconnecting life itself.
Painting both the Green Man and the Celtic knots was truly a very mesmerising and captivating experience, and I began to appreciate how the ancients viewed reality, incorporating the cosmic process into their lives. Calculating the colour selection of the animals and flowers made this project one of the most challenging to date . Completing this painting has been hugely influential in further perfecting my skills as a spirit artist."
Gary is also a musician, having learnt to play the Indian Tabla at Art Asia Southampton with Surjeet Singh. Also, Persian Tombak Goblet Drum and Daf Frame, where he was trained in Iran by a superb Iranian Drum Master named Hadi Footohy. Gary runs a Trance Drumming Circle for the Tipi Kota New Forest Group, and also occasionally in the wider area. He is also active in the Performance Drama and Acting Lamba course, which runs for several seasons each year.
Growing up as the youngest of eight children in the suburbs of London, I often felt lost in the crowd, searching for a way to express my own unique voice and individuality. Life was busy and chaotic in our modest family home in Hainault, and I sometimes struggled to find my place amidst all the hustle and bustle. It was a constant challenge to stand out and be recognized, when I was just one of many siblings vying for attention.
Then, on my 16th birthday, everything changed. My father, in a rare moment of thoughtfulness and insight, gifted me a set of oil paints, brushes, and a stack of canvas paper. I remember being utterly transfixed by this simple but incredibly meaningful present. Little did he know that this gesture would unlock a whole new world of creativity and self-discovery for me.
I spent countless hours out in our old garage, experimenting with colours, shapes, and textures. Painting quickly became a true sanctuary, a way to find my voice and express all the feelings and thoughts I didn't quite know how to put into words. The elongated, almost spiritual figures in the work of Joan Miró really resonated with me in those early days. There was something so captivating about the ethereal quality of his paintings, like the mesmerizing "Circle Around the Sun" which depicted these graceful women dancing together in a circle. I became completely absorbed in trying to capture that same sense of movement, energy, and transcendent essence on my own canvases.
As I grew older and made my way through my 20s and 30s, I encountered some real personal challenges that threatened to derail my artistic path. Things like social anxiety and struggles with substance abuse weighed heavily on me, making it difficult to stay focused and inspired. But it was actually through discovering the practice of meditation that I found a way to work through those issues. The meditative process helped me manage my anxieties and, eventually, overcome the problematic habits I had developed. It was a true lifeline that allowed me to re-center, refocus, and keep developing as an artist.
My spiritual journey and my artistic one started to become deeply intertwined during this period. The more I delved into meditation and deeper self-reflection, the more my paintings began to mirror that inner exploration and evolution. I found myself drawing profound inspiration from the naïve, honest style of artists like Alfred Wallis and Christopher Wood - their simple but powerfully evocative depictions of fishing villages and the sea resonated with me on a primal level. There was something so pure and authentic about their work that really spoke to me. And it was at a time where I worked and lived near Tenby inside the charming Tenby fishing village working for the council painting park benches and cast iron dustbins, I would often take in the scenery and energy that would then inspire my art journey further. And looking back over my shoulder to that time, I still have quite a large selection on my older Instagram account's of my fishing naïve paintings, as I do my abstract experimental art. It's old work of course, and experiments along the way that's what counts. But I feel it is infused with its own soulfulness and honesty that still resonates and as an overall narrative of my collective works both past and within the present.
Seeking out kindred creative spirits, I ended up joining a group of likeminded artists in St. Ives, Cornwall, where I was able to really hone my craft and refine my unique visual voice. And exhibit on several occasions, It was an incredibly enriching experience, surrounded by others who understood the drive to express oneself through paint and form. Together, we pushed each other to experiment, take risks, and find new ways of seeing the world.
In more recent years, the work of contemporary painters like Andrew Cranston, Peter Doig, and Bridget More has become a huge source of inspiration and fascination for me. There's just something so intriguing and soulful about their art - a quality that goes beyond just technical mastery. I feel like they each somehow infuse their paintings with a bit of their own energetic essence, giving the work a sort of kinetic, almost mystical life that I find absolutely captivating. It's that transcendent, ineffable quality that I strive to capture in my own artistic practice.
A few years back, I had this really fortuitous encounter that ended up being a pivotal moment in my creative journey. It happened at Hyde Park Corner, where I would often go to display and sell my paintings on Sundays. I was chatting with a fellow artist and lecturer who saw something special in my work and encouraged me to pursue formal art education, despite being in my 50s at the time. It was a big leap of faith, but I felt a renewed sense of purpose and possibility as I dove into a foundation course in London and then secured a scholarship to study at Norwich University of the Arts.
That formal training was invaluable - it deepened my understanding of art history and theory, and gave me the technical skills and confidence to really explore the full breadth of my creative vision. The exposure to different mediums, concepts, and approaches challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and experiment in new ways. It was a transformative experience that lit a fire within me, reigniting my passion and sense of artistic purpose.
Upon graduating in 2016, my partner and I decided to embark on a new adventure, relocating to Thailand where I became completely immersed in the rich cultural tapestry of the country. It was there, in the vibrant city of Bangkok, that I had my first major solo exhibition, showcasing a series of spiritual assemblages crafted from found objects.
Working with these recycled materials in a more physical, sculptural way was a revelation for me. Unlike the solitary, introspective act of painting, assembling these assemblages required a different kind of energy and application. I loved the process of shaping, layering, and fixing the various elements together, building something that could capture those same ethereal, interconnected themes I was so drawn to in my two-dimensional work. Each assemblage felt like a little totem or talisman, a physical manifestation of my own inner journey of self-discovery and spiritual exploration.
As I continued to evolve as an artist, I found myself venturing into even newer territories, experimenting with video, mixed media, and even some iPad digital techniques I've homed in on. It was all part of an ongoing quest to find fresh ways to express my artistic vision and connect with my audience on a deeper level. I remained steadfastly committed to that path of creative and spiritual exploration, constantly challenging myself and allowing my work to be shaped by emerging themes and concepts that inspired me.
Throughout this incredible journey, I've had the honour of exhibiting my art in galleries and art fairs, both locally and internationally. It's been so humbling to receive positive feedback and see my work resonate with others who are moved by the depth of feeling and transcendent quality that I pour into each piece. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about for me - using my art as a vehicle for self-discovery, growth, and shared human experience.
My paintings, assemblages, and other works are windows into my inner world, reflections of my ongoing quest to understand myself and the world around me more fully. There's an element of the ineffable, the mystical, that I strive to capture - that sublime, interconnected energy that I've come to revere through my spiritual practices. It's a never-ending journey of exploration and discovery, to be sure, but one that fills me with an incredible sense of purpose and fulfilment.
As I continue to evolve as an artist, I remain steadfastly committed to that path of creative and spiritual inquiry. I hope that by sharing my story, I can inspire others to embrace their own unique artistic voices and to find solace, meaning, and purpose in the act of creation. The journey isn't always easy, but the rewards of self-discovery and the chance to connect with others on a deeper level make it all so worthwhile. This is my art, my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
As a young child I used to pray every night. No-one taught me to pray, my parents did not attend any church or follow any spiritual path. I remember asking my mother to buy me a bible that I saw when shopping one day. I loved the illustrations and still have it. Animals, nature and our wonderful garden were my solace in those early years. I spent many hours trying to draw, especially horses. I kept a scrapbook of illustrations and was fascinated by alphabets and collected decorative letters and words from magazines.
During my early teens I suffered from severe anxiety and agoraphobia which continued through to my 30’s. I gradually learnt how to cope but it began in the 60’s and I experienced very little understanding or help other than prescribed medication with the disadvantages of side effects. Life was very challenging!
I was unhappy at school, and couldn’t wait to leave. I left at 16 and applied for two art colleges. In spite of the art teacher telling me “It is a waste of time you applying you will never get in!” I was accepted by both! My first choice was for fine art, unfortunately that college was out of my area for a grant. I settled for second best, a course in shop and store display. I learnt a wide range of practical skills, including all kinds of decorative lettering, taught by a Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators. Many years later I was also elected for Fellowship of this prestigious society.
On completing the course I managed to get work in a large department store, joining a small team of display artists. We made all the props for the windows. It was hard work at peak times but great fun. Eventually I left to work freelance.
In my early twenties I gave up all medication after my mother took me to a homeopath. I became increasingly interested in natural methods of healing, inspired by the homeopath and a biography of Dr Edward Bach who had turned to the healing properties of flowers. I joined a practical philosophy group and learnt to meditate. We studied the Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit and the Upanishads. In my spare time I began to write out Shakespeare Sonnets and passages from the Gita in calligraphy.
At a weekend calligraphy course, I was recommended to visit Roehampton Institute of Higher Education where they held a diploma course in calligraphy and bookbinding. The evening before the arranged visit, I was casually asked to bring some of my work. When I arrived I was surprised to find it was a formal interview for a place! Six months later I received a letter of acceptance. The course was taught by some of the top artists and craftsmen in their field. It was a wonderful opportunity, no longer available. We studied all aspects of lettering and design, bookbinding, the use of vellum, quills, gilding and colour.
At the end of three intense years, I began teaching the craft and working freelance with a colleague. At first the work was repetitive, names on endless certificates, copying out grants of arms into the record books at the Royal College of Arms, addressing envelopes for grand parties. I gradually broadened and improved my drawing and painting my skills to include heraldic design, botanical painting and animal portraits. I completed commissions for BBCTV, The British Museum, Livery Companies, Clarence House, St Paul’s Cathedral, for publishers and private commissions, each with an interesting story to tell. Presentation addresses, Memorial and Benefactor’s books, decorative maps, family trees, wedding stationery, and greeting card designs are some examples.
Meditation has remained a daily practice since my early 20’s. In 1999 I was led to a Sufi teacher, Llewellyn Vaughan Lee; that path has been a very important way of life for me since.
Reflecting on my work, I felt the need for less precision. I decided to book a painting and walking holiday. I contacted an artist I found online who invited me to stay in her beautiful log cabin on the edge of Dartmoor and use her studio. She introduced me to a method of free watercolour painting and left me to experiment. It was exciting to return home with a collection of very satisfying paintings.
I was managing the anxiety well with the homeopathy, herbs and in 2003 I decided to do a training in homeopathy. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and thought I might take it up as my main profession. I went on to do courses in flower essences, shamanic work, Reiki and various methods of emotional healing. Still my main income was through my art. Homeopathy has suffered much opposition and constant attempts to discredit it which made it more difficult to set up a practice at that time.
One of my tutors on the homeopathic course noticed my paintings and asked if I could design a logo for her practice. We talked about her favourite colours, flower essences and what was important to her. Afterwards I asked inwardly to be able to make a painting that reflected her practice. She was thrilled with the result and I went on to design for other practitioners.
Through a friend I discovered a system of numerology called Soul Plan and had a reading with Blue Marsden who has provided new interpretations to modernise the current system which is based on ancient Hebrew Gematria. I found it a healing experience and went on to do several courses with Blue, inspired to help people see their challenges, talents, goals and life purpose. I have been fascinated with the accuracy of the system and find it a privilege to share it and moving to share the deep insights that it brings.
A long journey but the soul plan work alongside the paintings with the aim to capture the essence bring together perfectly my passion for healing and creativity and hopefully helping others to clarify meaning and purpose of their life.
As a self-taught artist, my journey into art began in 2013, guided by intuition, meditation, and a profound connection with nature and the cosmos. In this lifetime, I have not followed the traditional path of formal art education, nor have I had role models to emulate. This absence of external influence has empowered me to cultivate my own unique style and technique—one that merges the ethereal with the tangible.
My creations are reflections of cosmic energies, ancient symbolism, and universal truths that transcend time and space. Each piece of artwork serves as a visual portal, offering viewers an opportunity to connect with the deeper layers of existence. Through sacred geometry, celestial events, and symbolic representations, my art explores themes that invite personal and spiritual transformation.
The process of creating my artwork is alchemical—each canvas is not just a space for expression, but a mirror of my own inner transformation. Often, I take older works and breathe new life into them, symbolizing the continuous evolution we all undergo. The transformation of a painting is a metaphor for the transformation of the self, from old to new, from illusion to truth.
I use a variety of mediums, including oil, acrylic, and various structuring materials, blending them in layers to capture complex forms and energetic flows. The creation of my work is never a predictable journey—I begin without a fixed idea of the outcome. Instead, I rely on my connection to the timeless dimension of inspiration, allowing the artwork to reveal itself through my hands, step by step.
Every brushstroke is guided by an inner knowing, and each completed work carries a message meant to inspire, uplift, and heal. My art is more than a visual experience; it is a tool for transformation and self-discovery.
My greatest hope is that my work serves as a source of light in a world where many are searching for meaning and direction. It is my offering to those who seek to align with their highest potential, to connect with the sacred, and to walk a path of creative self-expression.
ART BEYOND THE ORDINARY
When there is a WILL, there is a way. Everything starts from inside as a surge of inspiration to create something that needs to emerge in the physical world and be seen.
Each painting I create is a snapshot of the cosmos and cosmic events . it reflects my inner self and the message I want to convey to the outside world. During the creative process, I receive the name and the message for each artwork. It is a form of channelling through colours, shapes, structures, and symbols, all in complete harmony and balance.
The Creative Journey:
What matters is using my full creativity and love to create something that serves as a source of positive inspiration in a world turned upside down. These artworks are flames of hope and prosperity.
The Process:
This process, which I call "art beyond the ordinary," demands a disciplined lifestyle. It requires persistence, patience, continuous alignment with the inner self, and gratitude for the opportunity to be a conduit of visionary messages.
Supporting the Creative Process:
These elements are essential pieces of the puzzle that support my creative process, allowing me to produce artworks that transcend the ordinary.
Creating visionary artworks involves integrating complex formulas related to colors, shapes, and structures. Each new step in this process feels like standing at a crossroads of unlimited possibilities. With sometimes hundreds of steps, each requiring special attention and discernment to ensure it fits into the big picture, the journey is intricate and demanding.
The Journey of Creation:
Persistence and Intuition:
This process reflects my belief that persistence and inner guidance lead to the desired results. It’s a testament to the dedication required to bring visionary art to life.
ARTISTIC ALCHEMY
In my artistic journey, it’s not uncommon for me to revisit a painting that has been with me for a long time.
These pieces often carry a deep significance and reflect a specific period of my life. Taking such a painting and transforming it is an alchemical process - turning something old into something new.
This transformation showcases how far my inner journey has progressed because each artwork is a reflection of the artist's soul.
While some might say it’s easier to begin with a blank canvas and create a new story, there is profound magic in transforming the old. This process is akin to addressing parts of one’s life that need intervention—taking the "old you" and bringing forth a "shining you."
And came a day when I decided to transform the WHEEL OF LIFE, a painting from 2016 which was made of four canvases joined together. I felt a deep urge for this transformation which was a deeper urge for my inner transformation.
I invested 4 months , during the last winter/spring season of 2024 in completing this artworks. During the works I received the new name “ALPHA CENTAURY” and then one day a young lady in her late years (80’s) came in my atelier and asking me what is the name of the painting.
I told her the name and she was pondering on that and as a comment she said this sounds to me like the “King Of Gods”. So I said , let it be “Alpha Centauri, The King Of Gods”.
While creating “THE GREAT PROMISE” which was also a task of transformation, a white point just fell from the colour bottle on the canvas in the place where there was not intended to be. My first thought was to remove it, because it does not fit the formula but then I said to myself, lets leave it there, there is always time for that. Instead lets see the perfect imperfection. And then I understood why I gave the name for this artwork “THE GREAT PROMISE” because that white point was the smaller me while the great circle, the complete artwork represented the “Whole I”, my Mighty I, My Powerful and blessed I“. The I of my deepest desires, the I which I promised again to remember and Be. Some of us, before coming to this planet made a promise to our selves, a GREAT PROMISE that we will be born again as a true self and remember why we came here and what is the purpose of our coming, our mission.
I am an illustrator, writer and fine artist, fascinated by the nature of reality - who and what we are and why we are here. I draw inspiration from remembered landscapes, intuition, and feelings carried within me. I want to make the invisible seen, felt, and known.
As an analogue artist, my creations evolve at a personal, human speed with mistakes less readily erased but integrated. In our fast, digital world where disconnection, distraction, and instant gratification is commonplace, this way of creating feels essential to my humanness.
When I paint, I am unbound from my finite mind and aligned with universal mind. I paint to emote, stir the soul, and awaken the imagination. For me, this is the portal to freedom and transformation.
My ideas come from the dance between human experience, quantum science, and spirituality. I blend the real and imagined into a new metaphorical landscape because I find it frees the mind to see with the heart.
I have often felt like an outsider looking in at a world where I didn’t understand the rules and struggled to belong. Challenged by a noisy planet, I became skilled at masking my sense of loneliness and invisibility, and found solace in paint and words, creating worlds in which I felt seen.
Creating these worlds, I explored my stories and wounds, while unearthing deeper truths about the universe in which we live. Storytelling became the channel for communicating with my cosmic self – my unique spark of Universal Consciousness.
Exploring the science of quantum reality, I learned new ways of seeing and being in the world. Had I known I had a direct line direct to a loving, conscious field of energy from which I came, I might have felt less alone.
Now I know, my journey is to remember, to open the transmission from my heart to my mind and share it, so others can feel at home inside themselves and align to who they have come here to be.
As an illustrator, I am inspired to write and illustrate stories that invite readers of all ages to come home to their heart and align to their cosmic self.
I liken the idea of my picture books as medicine for the soul. Images are story. Art permeates the invisible, the unspoken, the language of the soul for healing and conscious growth.
Themes of my picturebooks address the struggles of survival in our three dimensional lives and the sense of wholeness and potential that comes with reconnection to soul.
The words usually come first as a spring board for images and metaphors to come into fruition.
As an artist, my process depends on the medium I use. I start with a feeling, as sense or a memory that wishes to express itself. Charcoal is the most direct access to this place within me, often exploring the shadow within.
When working in oils, images often lie in layers beneath the surface, symbolic of the struggle to discover the metaphor that wishes to be seen, guided by listening and an inner knowing.
The landscapes often appear despite me, with only a sense of right and wrong as a guide. This is not a cognitive process, rather images are created by my psyche’s need to reveal itself.
And oftentimes, I simply call myself a storyteller.
By exploring the unseen, we can go within to deeper truths about our existence that shift our reality to empowered creators in ways that are meaningful to our lives: where the story is not our prison or end.
But to experience these truths and be unbound from limitations, I believe we must first free ourselves from the conditioning we inhabit.
Until we do, it remains as trapped energy, repeating experiences painfully, until is heard, loved and released. Therefore, to ‘see’ our story, we heal the split between ourselves, the world and the universe.
Through the lens of quantum physics, art psychology and spirituality, I see this experience and process as my light body or soul inhabiting an incredible virtual reality suit, which uses senses as a mechanism for experiences that translate to the brain and nervous system, received as electromagnetic vibrations.
The way we translate experiences becomes reality through our thoughts and beliefs. Therefore, we are a collection of stories, which can empower or limit us.
‘We may not be able to control all the conditions in our external environment, but we certainly have a choice in controlling our inner environment.’ (Dr. Joe Dispenza)
Ultimately, my journey has brought me to the science of inner transformation. Central to this, is the imagination. It is a mysterious realm of creation itself, and when harnessed with conscious intention, acts as the intermediary to bring our dreams or fears into the material world.
As an artist, I believe imaginary worlds are more impactful when they are rooted in truth rather than pure fantasy. This bridges the imagined and real events and speaks to the language of the soul. Fantasy is like daydreaming, unanchored and cut off, whereas imagination is a way we reach out and connect with otherness.
‘I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.’ (Einstein)
‘The secret of imagining is the secret of God. Anyone who finds it finds supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme delight. Everyone should aspire after this secret and try to unravel it, for whatever you find about your own wonderful human Imagination, you are finding about God, for your Imagination and God are one and the same.’ (Neville Goddard)
Whispers from a silver tongue calling my name pierced by childhood with spirit song. At 8 years old, my sleep was awakened to the green life, leaving me somewhat bemused. A spirit voice called “Rosemary, Rosemary” and, frightened, I hid under the covers.
I turned, thinking it was my sister but she lay asleep in the bed beside me. From then on, my hidden life has been a journey of spiritual awareness and a path shaped by God’s hand.
It has reflected my deep Christian faith, intertwining sorrow and joy giving me moments of ecstatic wonder and absorption in beauty or the intense pain of losing suddenly my only sister Bernice of 24 years, preceded by dreams and premonitions, reflected in my art and both of our poems.
From the age of eleven when I drew the Virgin Mary, my artistic gift naturally focused on my Catholic faith and was encouraged by both my parents who had entered religious orders in Ireland before leaving and marrying. My dad had been a Divine Word Missionary in Roscommon and my mother a Missionary Sister for Africa in Dundalk.
My early memories growing up were falling asleep to my dad’s Gregorian chant records playing downstairs and my mother’s insistence on saying the family rosary.
In my teenage years, I kept a diary and began writing a few spiritual poems; religious art was the theme of my six-year studies at school where I tentatively drew from Christian themes.
In my reading I was particularly influenced by the works of figures like Vera Britain, C.S. Lewis, the secret diary of Beatrix Potter.
I also discovered a book in an antiquarian bookshop on ‘Christian Art’ by Percy Gardner and one of extracts from the writings of St Francis. My own writing was full of the yearning in my soul for a closer experience of God and eternity with a belief that to uplift and focus on beauty was essential to wholeness. In 1995, I painted a life-size version of my sister called ‘The Yearning’ taken from a study painting I did some months before my sister’s sudden death.
Parting increased my spiritual desire and I was more in tune with the spirit afterlife. My prayer deepened and I was aware of the blue and white spirit lights around me and the blanket of snowfall at my sister’s funeral confirmed in my heart that great pain could give birth to great beauty reflected in nature. Christ has always been the sweet piercing sound in my heart and my beloved.
The God-given gift of art and poetry continued to be manifestations of my inner life of prayer expanding into ecstasy in my early 30’s where my teenage search for beauty blossomed into wide vision and deep transcendence in my soul as I swooned in love of God. I had the desire to annihilate myself for renewal of faith and a new age. As with so many, this branched with me into mental health suffering as I was overwhelmed and misunderstood in my deep vision with an expansion of the mind with infused knowledge and traumatic experience.
Poetry then poured fourth as an expression of the dark night of suffering and pain like my poem ‘Nada’ (below) also of wonder, magic and universal love. The supernatural life enthralled me and took me to closer union with God; my guides were the Carmelite saints like St Teresa of Avila as I explored the interior mansions she describes in ‘The Interior Castle’ as spiritual life progresses. I has some spiritual guidance from Carmelite religious and eventually I spent memorable time living in with Carmelite nuns in a monastery in Tallow, Ireland.
I first wrote an article on ‘A Quest for Beauty’ for Catholic Life Magazine in September 2004, developing my writing over the years since. I began to formulate a vision of a neo paganism branching into Christianity in the new age as in the early days when Druidism gave way to St Columba and Christianity in a very pure and fresh fusion of Celtic spirituality.
My later research formed in a ecstatic moment saw the crossover between the Celtic Renascence mystics and Spanish Carmelite mystics where pagan myth and belief fused into one path. My thesis focused on the brilliant visionary writings of William Sharp who wrote as Fiona Macleod and who influenced me immensely. I saw the contemplative life as gradually evolving in society in general. Through my doctoral studies I rediscovered the beauty, purity and inherent goodness in Christian art of the late 19th century and its ability to transform the inner life of the viewer.
I critically discussed the work of Edinburgh artist William Hole (1846-1917) whose book of paintings I discovered discarded at a jumble sale many years before. My belief grew in universality and unity of the many spiritual paths with universal love at the centre. My marriage to a Jewish man more recently has deepened my commitment to tolerance and respect for each others journey.
I believe contemplation, direct mystical experience of God, and sensitivity to beauty will gradually deepen and purify our interior lives expressed in word, image, and music in a world purged by suffering to give a new tomorrow.
My latest book, 'A Brush with Belief-The Art of William Hole' is out now from Handsel Press and discusses Hole's religious art.
Nada
To see your weeping eyes
To feel your pain upon
That public post
The shame, the fear, the
Agony-
Oh! This dark night
When desert sands blind
Your vision and beat against
Your tired face
Cold comfort in your nakedness
Exposed to only your nothingness
Nada-your downing moan
Nada, Nada
Upon his empty stage you wait
Lost, broken, deserted
Point me north in this abyss
Soften my wounded heart
With gentle reminders of warmth.
From ‘The Cry of My Soul’
Hi everyone, I'm Allie Joy, I'm an artist, entrepreneur, and creative producer. I'm going to share with you about how I ended up writing this article with you today.
It began with two qualities that I have nurtured from the start of my career, which are following my curiosity and walking with courage.
I remember sitting in my college library trying to write my university statement. I couldn’t refine what I wanted to do as I had an interest in science, art and the English language. I was trying to write one statement to study three different degrees! In the end I decided to study art, because my logic led me to realise art gave me the freedom to research and incorporate other subjects, hence why I found my path in creative technology with a conceptual interest in psychology with a mission for wellbeing.
Very quickly, in university I gravitated towards moving image (video) as my medium, using performance and installation as further components to strengthen the concept and exploration for metaphors about human nature.
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”.
A common artist's mission is how to make the unseen seen, the invisible visible. This is a common driving force for an artist, each expressed in their own unique way. My way to express this was through a variety of creative technologies and using nature as my muse for understanding the abstract nature of behaviour. This rollercoaster ride of conceptual thrills has led me to many interesting projects and to work with some amazing people.
So how did my journey develop from where I was to here today?
A lot of the work I exhibited was video projection installations, this took me to festivals and theatres, however I quickly understood that this was more of a technical than creative role. It was close but not satisfying enough as a career. My search continued…
Then, I was a part of a workshop where we got to build a 3D printer with a Korean artist duo, one of these kits you can buy from eBay. I met a mental health nurse who was a part of the group and we got talking, networking and she invited me to deliver a series of workshops at the Sue Ryder Leckahmpton hospice she was working for.
The project was called 'Pocket of Laughter', it was my first experience with palliative care and my first time using the 3D printer within a project. Anyway, they invited a bunch of artists with different skill sets to make with the patients, so I decided that I wanted to turn someone’s sound bite into a 3d printed soundwave that was unique to the individual that their loved ones could keep. We had a brilliant time, patients sang songs, said their favourite phrase, others messages of love. This way of working with technology for me really complimented my constant curiosity for how to make the unseen seen, and how expressing this through technology can allow us to better understand, experience and manage emotions.
“Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination. Art is the aesthetic ordering of experience to express meanings in symbolic terms, and the reordering of nature--the qualities of space and time--in new perceptual and material form.”
I kept going down the rabbit hole to define and refine the purest way for me to create a sanctuary for the viewer to experience positive emotion and I landed in shapes and colour - the building blocks of perception and the fundamentals of abstract art. This journey also landed me at the heart - how can I visualize and interpret heart data, what part of heart data is important for this research, I found it was Heart Rate Variability. Once I knew this was the data I wanted to express, this is where I found my business partner and co-founder of Syntropy States, Gavin Andrews. Gavin is the managing director of Heartmath UK&IRL, they research into heart rate variability and a psychophysiological state called coherence, “Coherence is the state when the heart, mind and emotions are in energetic alignment and cooperation,” that can be induced through a heart-focused breathing meditation that we use with the Syntropy breathe videos. After much conversation, research and creation we decided to create the app Syntropy - a digital platform where we could bring our experience and expertise together. Making mindfulness a quick and effective part of the day, when your head is too busy to ‘empty’ your mind like traditional meditation. This is because abstract art bypasses the meaning-making part of the mind, and does not engage in associative thinking, unlike the real objects and items we see, abstract art is free of these boundaries and limitations. It activates the visual cortex of the brain. The artwork below is an example of one of the videos stored in the app that aids in relaxation. We also hold a further two functions, Elevate and Breathe. I got to work designing and building the app and entered the world of business.
It's been nearly 2 years since we launched the Syntropy app and began our work collaborating with international artists and musicians who shared our vision for creativity and wellbeing. This means more variety for the user who can choose from over 90 completely different art styles and the artists get international exposure. We are advocates for artists and we hope to close the gap between digital art and wellbeing.
Before I show you where this part of the journey went, you may remember my 3 'hats'. Well, an artist cannot live on inspiration alone and must find innovative ways to survive in the world in order to keep making, this is where my creative producer role comes in. I lend my skills of problem solving, time management and leadership to community groups such as Empower Poetry where we put on live poetry events and free workshops for the community around Birmingham. I’m also a tutor at the MAC in Birmingham where I tutor young people how to create VR films using 360 cameras. Being an artist means using any means, workarounds, and hacks to create your vision, to not allow a lack of resources or equipment to stop you from creating. This is the reason why I chose art; it gives you the freedom to grow different skills and then lend these transpersonal skills to reach new ways of expression and new communities, and more paid work!
I'd like to show you one of the breathwork videos here. These were designed to induce a state of coherence, this isn't relaxation or meditation but a gentle focus, ideal to help reduce anxiety whilst still needing to function. We've received amazing feedback on how effective these videos can be from a range of audiences. So, before you get started, here are some basic instructions: breathe through your nose if possible. This video speed is 5 seconds, so that’s inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, if this speed is uncomfortable, please just breathe at your normal rate. This increases oxygen circulation to your body, focus on your heart center, which is in the center of your chest and a few inches left, breathe into your belly so it expands, and watch/listen to the art and music.
Notice the colours, the sounds and allow the movement and sound be your guide for the next 5 minutes.
Enjoy and stay coherent!
William Blake (1757 to 1827) was a visionary poet, painter, engraver and musician.
He had no formal education, but read widely in Greek philosophy and that of his contemporaries, and studied and challenged the psychological and philosophical theories propounded by Locke and Hume.
He read the Bhagavad Gita, Jacob Boehme, the Jewish Kabbalah, the Swedish philosopher Swedenborg, and he knew the Bible intimately. Apprenticed in his youth to an engraver, Blake later used his engraving skills to invent a new method of printing.
By engraving his texts and image outline backwards in ‘mirror-writing’, he was able to combine word and image on the same page.
This allowed him to create a highly dynamic artwork, with the resonances and dissonances between image and text generating new and unexpected meanings.
With the help of his wife Catherine, who hand-coloured some of the work, he became entirely self-sufficient in the production of his extraordinary, illuminated books. The Blakes’ unique process, in one small room, replaced the necessity for large teams of artisan specialists in two separate workshops.
Blake is a champion of the creative imagination, striving to overcome the alienation between people, and between humanity and the natural world. For Blake “Nature is Imagination itself.” He strove to show us how to throw off our ‘Mind Forg’d Manacles’, both the bondage of social conditioning and the domination of our rational faculty. He shows us how to enter the world of Imagination, and through love and forgiveness to realise our divine nature, as in this line from the major prophecy, Jerusalem:
“Cannot Man exist without mysterious offering of Self for Another?
In sacrificing what Blake calls our selfish ‘Selfhood’ we can also restore the soul of the world, for ‘Everything that lives is Holy.’ The earliest work in which he experimented with his new printing method was All Religions are One, and whilst his core beliefs could be described as a unique form of Christian Hermeticism, he embraces the wisdom of other cultures and other religions.
There is much in Blake that is reminiscent of aspects of Sufism, Buddhism and Hinduism, but the human is always front and present. As he writes in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: ‘Thus Men forgot that All deities reside in the Human Breast’. This pivotal early text printed in 1790 contains some of Blake’s central concepts:
‘If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern’.
In the same text Blake overturns the dualistic concept of Body/Mind as separate:
‘Man has no Body distinct from his Soul, for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age’.
Blake created his own mythology, drawing on a number of traditional sources, which enabled him to convey ideas and concepts that had never been expressed in this way before.
‘I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man’s
I will not Reason & Compare: my business is to Create’
Through poetry, prose and image, Blake explores the human soul, psyche and body; ecological, political and social systems, and the scientific thought of Newton and Descartes.
In Donald D. Ault’s book, Visionary Physics: Blake's response to Newton, Ault, an American physicist and literary critic, demonstrates how Blake brilliantly exposes the limitations of Newton’s and Descartes' models of the universe and in so doing, anticipates Einstein's theories of relativity and the New Physics.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
Blake’s evocation of the psyche strongly foreshadows the concepts of both Freud and of the depth psychologist, Carl Jung. Jung describes Blake as one of the few Westerners to have achieved Satori: the inner, intuitive experience of Enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. Blake is profoundly concerned with universal suffering: through his art he deconstructs the mechanisms of patriarchy, politics and power, envisaging the cycles of history that turn revolution into tyranny.
Blake’s work also explores ideas of fluidity of gender and identity, insisting on the balance of the feminine and masculine in the divine and in the human, both fully realised in what he called the Human Form Divine. He taught himself a number of languages including Hebrew and Greek; he learned Italian in a matter of days in order to read Dante, and at the end of his life painted 102 pictures to illustrate the Divine Comedy.
Although much of his work was neglected and even scorned in his lifetime, Blake had some very eminent admirers, including Coleridge, and in later years a group of young artists including Samuel Palmer, who described Blake as ‘A man without a mask’. Blake died singing.
The current Blake Society was founded in 1985 and is a fast-growing community of members from all over the world, across six continents. Whether you are just beginning to be curious about the Blakes’ work, or have been enjoying and studying it for decades, we will welcome you into our Society. The Society’s aim is to celebrate the work of William and Catherine Blake in all manifestations of their poetry, prose, and artwork.
We also strive to inspire, to encourage and to give a platform to work arising from Blake’s incredible influence on artists, scientist, writers, musicians, performers and academics around the globe. We invite you to join us in this endeavour, exploring Blake’s work through live and online events of every kind.
Recent events have included; an art exhibition, readings and performances in Lambeth, where Blake use to live; three authors referencing Blake and a book launch of a lovely letterpress edition of Auguries of Innocence; Billy Bragg talking about Blake and the Dissident tradition; a live concert with Mike and Kate Westbrook and a seven-piece jazz ensemble performing The Westbrook Blake; a new multimedia play about Blake called Albion, Awake!; Patrick Harpur, author of The Philosopher’s Secret Fire, Daimonic Reality and Mercurius in conversation about Blake and esoteric traditions.
As a registered charity, we charge a minimal amount for the many benefits of membership. These include free access to the majority of events, a regular, free email newsletter with news of Blakean events and publications, and a copy of the beautiful Blake Society journal, Vala.
The Society has a distinguished pantheon of past Presidents and Patrons, including Philip Pullman and Kathleen Raine. Our current president is the celebrated poet, author, performer and playwright Kae Tempest and our patrons are Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Mike and Kate Westbrook.
We are in a direct line of descent from the Blake Society founded in 1912 by Thomas Wright, a schoolmaster in Olney, Buckinghamshire. This earlier incarnation of our current Society was inspired by a suggestion made by the Irish poet W.B.Yeats and Edwin Ellis, British poet and illustrator, both members of the Society and editors of the first full edition of Blake’s work.
Yeats, with his esoteric interests and extensive occult knowledge wrote extensive commentaries on the poetry. Members included other early Titans of Blake studies: Geoffrey Keynes, Joseph Wicksteed, Dr Greville MacDonald, and the president Sir William Blake Richmond K.B. Women were strongly represented in the membership although, unlike the Society today, noticeably absent from the Trustees of 1912. Miss E. Harnden was a member, giving her address as ‘Blake’s Cottage, Felpham, Sussex’. Members hailed from England, Scotland, France, Portugal, South Africa, Canada and Tokyo.
Below is a picture of the 1912 Society. We warmly invite you to join the Blake Society:
Do join us here https://blakesociety.org/
The Blake Society is a Registered Charity, No 1106130.
With thanks to the following for the use of the images:
The New York Public Library: Blake’s autograph
(https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c352b62a-0cd1-154f-e040-e00a18067a56)
Yale Center for British Art: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion
Wikimedia commons: Newton
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia: Dante’s Inferno
Degard is a pioneering British ‘Painter of Auras’. Degard is a visionary artist, writer, researcher, curator, and founder of the genre Contemporary Visionary.
Degard sees auras, trace energy around people, animals, and places. She can intuit people who are long gone and through her art create spirit portraits. Spirit portraiture is a wonderful method to meet people who have passed. Degard’s latest paintings aim to capture the lives of lost family – family who were killed in concentration camps who she never had a chance to meet. In fact, Degard’s current family had no idea these ancestors even existed. Degard is bringing them to life and giving them a place in society today.
Degard says “It all started when I ‘saw’ a blue square around the chest of a man who I discovered had just had triple by-pass surgery. I suddenly understood what these flashes of light were; they were his Aura, his conscious energy. The square indicated surgical human impact, the colour blue- healing – I could see the experience of the whole operation in his energies.”
All of Degard’s current work has followed from this experience which led to painting the auras of people, places, and things in the hope of understanding our lives in more depth.
Degard has founded the genre Contemporary Visionary which further discusses a number of notions. One of these notions is about scientific understanding. In the past the Visionary has sought to justify its existence by associating itself with scientific methodology. Visionary methodology is however a stand-alone knowledge system which needs no justification. The Visionary can describe through the arts both life and consciousness which is impossible through scientific empiricism! Seems extraordinary but science can open a brain, but it cannot find the mind inside! Artistic practice shows the mind at work. Contemporary Visionary can reveal through channelling aura the vortex of that aura and what a person’s self is and can be.
Contemporary Visionary also associates itself with political notions which need redefining. The current political paradigm relies on a ‘dog eat dog’ version of life. The issue with ‘dog eat dog’ is the lack of inclusivity this idea generates. This we all know is problematic and creates a harsh society for us all. The Aura and its energies are without compromise inclusive – as the air we breathe includes us all so does the auric light. This auric, radiant light is filled with presence, vibrancy, intelligence, consciousness, our personalities, our life plans, our free will, and our intent. These aspects of our lives are not involved in ‘dog-eat-dog’ and need to be understood as such. We don’t need to attack each other to get our fair share of Aura. Aura is beneficent and energy is generous.
Lastly Contemporary Visionary as an artistic practice critiques the barrenness and bleakness of post-modernist art. In 1966 Carl Andre put bricks on the floor and one of these sculptures in The Tate is Equivalence VIII. It is a series of rectangular bricks and that is all there is to it.
‘Andre’s Equivalent series consists of a rectangular arrangement of 120 firebricks. Although the shape of each sculpture is different, they all have the same height, mass and volume, and are therefore ‘equivalent’ to each other’ (Tate)
Degard with her latest series is exploring the bricks of The Western/Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. She acknowledges from a pantheistic and visionary point of view the depth of meaning that bricks can have. Each brick of her painting series known as The Visionary Wall contains powerful significance; none of these bricks are the same as each other. Post-modern work attempts to strip out all richness of meaning, exuberance of thought, even explanation of the art itself. This is a situation Degard wishes to change.
This painting above shows the Aura of Walter Benjamin as he would have become if he had not taken his life due to Nazi persecution. Benjamin was one of the most powerful thinkers of the 20th century and wrote extensively on why and how the atrocities of the 20th century could come about. As a Jewish thinker he understood the persecution ahead of him at a concentration camp and decided to take his own life. This painting commemorates his life and shows us in his aura the man he would have become. The circles represent the scientific diagrams which are shown to represent human life simply composed of six elements. This comparison is intended to show the vast discrepancy between scientific thinking and the visionary i.e., life itself. The Auric patterning, colour, form, and light shows a man with a love of the natural, a simple symbolic landscape. Further the ladder type structure underneath his head reveals a desire to ascend; he was after all an intellectual giant. There are also two or three significant people in his aura.
Degard highlights the value of Contemporary Visionary art and all Visionary artists at The Visionary Brit Museum at https://www.visionarybritmuseum.co.uk.
The Visionary Brit Museum is a red heritage telephone box outside of the British Museum which hosts Visionary art exhibitions exclusively. Degard says, ‘We often receive up to 3000 visitors who take photos of the work inside the Vis Brit weekly!’ This is a statement that the visionary in art is no longer an aspect of an artist’s practice that needs to be hidden.
Degard is also doing a Doctorate in Fine Art on the Visionary in Art which she finds very challenging and exhilarating. Degard explains.
‘Defining the visionary in art as a methodology in its own right is so thrilling. I am creating an index of terms which can be referred to by all future visionary artists.”.
Degard has exhibited extensively with recent exhibitions, Aura II at Brook Street Gallery opposite Claridge’s, London, Quintessence of Consciousness at The Royal College of Art, solo show at Museum Al Zubair, Oman, and Saatchi Art. She has hosted and arranged talks ‘Art with…’, at the Royal Society of Art, where she is a Fellow. Degard works alongside Anxiety UK to bring Art into mental health. Degard has recently published a paper with The Astropolitics Institute ‘Space and Art’. Degard is represented by Laura I Gallery, London.
Degard has written four books all of which can be found in The British Library, is a committee member of The Colour Group and a fellow of The Galileo Commission for the Scientific and Medical Network. Degard graduated from The Royal College of Art. She received awards from the Alan Davie Foundation.
Degard’s Art joins a long history into the study of consciousness, perception, cognition studies interwoven with visionary experience; as exemplified by visionary artists, Susan Hiller, Kandinsky, Hilma af Klint and William Blake. Degard’s Art brings this visionary and mystical genre, into a contemporary, socio-political context.
Molly Hackney, writer of The Medium’s Medium (written for an exhibition at Frieze, London 2019) says of one of Degard’s recent exhibitions, The Power of Things, Drip: Still Lifes https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=HgyLejEty25
‘The canvases at Drip enchant the viewer with this glimpse into spirit connection. It is her choice of objects that give this exhibition such magnetism.’
My connection with spiritual art has been a gradual journey of discovery, which began when I was a child growing up in West Yorkshire. I was an imaginative and creative child with an inclination to drift away into my own imaginary world.
I recall drawing and painting from an early age, and credit my father for helping lay the foundations for my interest and abilities in art. He would encourage me to copy drawings from illustrations in books, such as Dean’s Nursery Rhymes, which was often an escape into a magical world.
When I was sixteen years old, I found a friend and mentor named Mr Gooding, a gifted artist who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. He was the first who recognised my abilities, and helped nurture my artistic skills. Another important figure in my life was Brian Needham, an artist with a studio and gallery in Manor Row in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He was very interested in my art and could see I had potential. He took me under his wing and invited me to his weekly watercolour classes.
During this period, I found employment as a self-employed picture framer, which lasted for seven-years. I then decided to leave my hometown because I wanted to travel further and explore different places.
This is when I received a call to relocate to a natural region. I found the perfect location, with a small cottage, nestled in a dense oak forest, overlooking a secluded cove in Exmoor. It was time to develop my creativity and I had many visions, and psychic experiences, which inspired my art.
Later, I moved to Glastonbury, which was an important period in my life as it acted as a powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. I found the energies to be highly transformative and curative. It was an intensely healing journey, which also opened me to many spiritual experiences.
During this period, I started to specialise in oil painting because it is slow drying and lends itself to my channelled approach to art. I have developed and utilised the technique, which is applied in a combination of thin opaque and translucent layers.
In 2016, I had a solo exhibition at Glastonbury Galleries, Glastonbury. In 2017, I was invited to become a member of a private network by Austrian artist Otto Rapp, who is founder of Visionary Art Gallery (vagallery.com) - which includes some of the most renowned Visionary, Surrealistic and Fantastic Realist artists worldwide. My art is also featured in an Encyclopaedia of women artists within the Visionary and Fantastic art tradition. The publication is called: The Lexicon of Fantastic Artists by Professor Gerhard Habarta: ISBN 9783746035307.
During my time in Glastonbury, my interests developed, including my artistic leanings, which were in the esoteric, spirituality, Jungian psychology and healing. In parallel, both dreams and the hypnagogic state began to play a part in facilitating my creative approach.
My art is a reflection of my own inner world, which transcends that of the physical dimension. I believe art is an offshoot of our deepest innermost self, which often manifests in the form of dreams, symbols and visions.
I believe that it is our challenge, as artists, to find a new direction, which honours art and spirit. It is a calling to all Spiritual and Visionary artists to infuse their natural creativity and imagination, and to follow their own original and unique vision. This is the essence of what spiritual art is, it is an expression of the higher self.
I am an open channel for energies and this can sometimes be intense, but it is what inspires me to paint! I ‘see’ and sense the presence of angels, spirit guides, and elementals. They appear to me as impressions and in clear visions, often in glowing and radiant detail.
I am also influenced, in a creative way by the hypnagogic state, which is like being a receptor to different frequencies, which coalesce and overlap at the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep. Hypnagogic visions are of a radiant, hyper real heightened reality. It is like experiencing a multitude of hallucinatory visions - such as colourful and illuminated scenes, humans, animals or strange composite creatures, abstracted forms, geometric shapes, bright lights and a full range of auditory sensory perceptions like sounds and voices. This is the fertile borderline half asleep state that instils flashes of insight and inspiration. It is this hypnagogic process, which has birthed many of my creations.
It is my belief that whenever we are in a relaxed state of reverie, we are receptive to the spirit realm. Spirits watch over us and inspire us to create beautiful art, writing and music. They are often silently present, and guiding us, not only in visions, but also giving us creative insights and inspiration.
I have always followed a creative path, and have been met with many challenges along the way. There have been times of sheer struggle, where I have been tested to the limits. Art is my passion, and despite all the setbacks, I have always been dedicated to my craft.
Part of my development is to open up and share my inner world with others. It has taken many years to understand this, and it has gradually been realised through my own inner guidance and learning.
I also have an avid interest in the fertile world of the imagination where we can access the strange and powerful images within the unconscious. This inner world is latent with endless creative potential, forming a wellspring of ideas and visions. Imagination and fantasies form the creative interplay between our inner and outer world. Many artists enhance their creativity by tapping into this ‘inner realm’, which provides an endless source of inspiration.
When I was going through an intensely challenging time in Glastonbury, I experienced a ‘visitation’ while in a very relaxed hypnagogic state. The entity bore the name of ‘White Hawk’ who came to me as a spiritual messenger and guide, and hovered above, while wrapping his protective wings around me. He had the features of a hawk and a human body, and was adorned with white feathers. I was reassured that there was a way forward and I needed to rise to a higher vantage point in order to find clarity and a solution. I did a drawing of the vision, which was later used as a blueprint for an oil painting.
Angels often feature in my art, and they are such a source of inspiration! I see them as beings of light that act as a powerful, guiding influence in my life. I always sense their presence and often see speckles and flashes of vivid colours, whenever they are present.
I was recently commissioned to paint an Angel of Healing for The Birmingham Holistic Health Centre. Stuart Morris, the founder and director said to me:“I believe you were meant to paint this and channel the presence of the angel that will bring light to many at the centre.” It is a place that has been described as a “portal for angels,” and it has a special energy where both practitioners and visitors have had many different sightings of bright illuminated orbs.
More recently, I have formed a close connection with Mother Mary, and she now plays an important part in my spiritual and devotional practice. She came to me in an unexpected way, while I was going through a very difficult time, which I can only describe as a Dark Night of The Soul. She has blessed me with visions of white and golden roses, and has appeared in a dream where she was adorned with a bright luminous star. My experiences with Mary and the visions that I have seen have inspired me to paint, and write in her honour.
My future plans are to continue with my paintings, which are very much in alignment with my spiritual practices. In addition, I am working on a book, which is a synthesis of my spiritual and creative interests. I am also very interested in connecting with other Visionary and Spiritual artists. I hope to develop more of an affiliation with creative people – from all different backgrounds – and genres. I am especially interested in participating in events, exhibitions and other venues such as workshops, and in engaging with like-minded people through social gatherings.
