two sister pieces. I did both of these after getting readings from my oracle deck. The one I use is the "druid animal oracle" by Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm, with illustrations by Will Worthington

Earth and fire dragons, 2026, ink and colored pencil

Earth and water dragons, 2026, ink

The dragons in the deck are based on the four elements, and there is a very interesting boarder illustration on these four cards which show the interaction of the elements. I would show them here but I don't want to copy Worthington's work without permission. Go look at some of them on their website though, all the illustrations are very thoughtful and painted meticulously in egg tempera.

The second one was a much more interesting process. They were both done after a long block, but you can really see the desperation and frustration in the mark-making here. This one was started over an unfinished painting I had given up on (there's actually another unfinished painting on the back). Because of the transparent nature of the ink you can still see it. I gave up and painted "You can't have what you want" in ultramarine green. It just came to me, but as I was working on it I realized how true it was. These hard, imposing structures ruled my life, the text was a good visual metaphor. I turned the work around after, abstracting the letters, and decorated them without regard for their meaning. The rest of the painting was a meditative conversation between these two forces.