ascension

Ascension was finally finished today, after some days of deserved rest - and even a little frustration. I had loads of problems with the background, but I think that I managed to fix them. I got so happy with the final result that I'm seriously thinking about using this image in my promo postcard.

Ascension was painted and repainted a couple times in watercolor paper before I get to this version. I had initially planned something more ethereal and soft for the deeply spiritual concept, but the colors started to explode on the board almost uncontrollably and I decided to go with the flow. in the end I realized that that was the spirit. Ascension is about love and its power and it is everything but subtle and smooth.

Anahata is the chakra located in the heart region. it has 12 petals and it is connected to the capacity of loving deeply and also to the feelings of compassion and empathy. it is generally depicted in the color green, but in my mind it appeared in luminous yellow with hints of red. it is through the anahata chakra that we can achieve universal love. it is the main point of contact to the so-called "inner Christ" and the upper planes, and this is why the general depictions of Jesus and Mary carry a flaming heart.

other symbols I used to represent the same concept are the water, running upward in a straight blue stripe across the picture, and the fish. the fish is connected to the Pisces sign and also to the primitive Christianity message. both symbols are related to universal love and compassion. the skull is there to say that loves transcends even death, and that it leads to a deep transformation - put here the meaning of the XIII arcane, Death. things that die to give place to other ones. yep, love is a profoundly alchemical force.

the upper figure is representative of a state of ecstasy and bliss conduced by deeply spiritual experiences. when we are able to achieve a full state of love, even for brief moments, we feel like we are connected to something bigger and higher. in our average level of evolution we can only realize a small part of this. only rarely our love is not attached of some kind of selfish intention. experiencing love is also a totally libertarian thing, which I wanted to show through the hawk with open wings emerging from all that violet at the top. it's absolutely amazing to get rid of feelings like hate, vengeance, jealousy, prejudice and all the things we read everyday in the news and that make our world so miserable. love feels like you can be everything and do everything. and it's only through love that we can transcend our material condition and achieve perfect happiness and fulfillment.