Can a painting show a mind — including your mind– at a moment of inspiration?
A sunset can be understood to represent a moment of inspiration and creation, as thoughts are actually things since they have mass and energy and can be measured.
Although in our culture we often comment that “the dawn has broken”, sunsets represent that idea more realistically. We tend to gain new, inspiring ideas or understandings, which are then followed by a period of germination and rest. The dawn can be understood as a kind of time of fulfillment when the new ideas and understandings become real and actionable.
For example, Jane and Joe have been thinking about creating an online way to add to their income. One day, Jane’s potato peeler breaks. She fashions a makeshift one from the old peeler and a tool she uses to sew with, which works better tan any potato peeler she ever had. John comes into the kitchen and sees her using her homemade peeler. He has a Eureka! of sunset moment when he quickly recognizes that if they get a patent and then manufacture this unique new peeler the may make a fortune– or at least enough to be able to quit their day jobs. Jane is also inspired by his vision for their future.
And then the sun sets on Jane and Joe. To fulfill their vision of their new future profitably selling potato peelers they must navigate through a less bright time, even a darker time, when they rest on their idea and also, behind the scenes perfect their prototype, patent it, discover how to manufacture their peeler in a cost effective way, and then deal with marketing, setting up distribution channels and dealing with order taking, shipping, advertising, etc. Joe and Jane have a lot of work to do, which will take time, before the dawn breaks and they can begin to reap the rewards (financial profit) from their idea.
In the Bible, a sunset is always a new beginning. This is true beginning with Genesis 1 and for all of Christendom continues to include the sunset death of Jesus, because that is really a new beginning.
The sunsets that I paint using Genesis 1-2:7 as strokes are always depicting a moment of inspiration, a new idea. As such they can be visually understood as symbolizing a mind at a moment of unique inspiration.
The shadows and darker trees, bushes, signs, windmills, etc., are a part of the structure that leads to or is a part of the new idea. For instance, all inventors have had to deal with the realities of the physical universe. The Wright brothers, Edison, Einstein saw the reality of the laws of the physical universe in a new way, and thus the previously seemingly impossible “miracles” of flight, light bulbs and atomic power are now common to us.
Many of the paintings in my Genesis: Sunrise-Sunset series have “frames” painted around the image area, which are often golden. They are placed a bit inside the background color, which then surrounds the outside of the frame. Sometimes the frame seems to hover within the edge of the image so the image continues past the painted frame. Why are they painted this way?
Watermill Sunset by Judy Rey Wasserman
Strokes: Genesis 1-2:7,Deut. 6:4, Psalm 18 frame
See larger version, available print and more information: CLICK HERE
We “frame” our reality with our understandings, beliefs and prayers. Saying this another way, we know what we know, what we have been taught that we accept, what we believe because of experience, and what we can hope for as we can imagine it becoming reality.
For each of us individually and for society as a whole, there is much more beyond what we recognize or envision.
We are held in the boundaries unconscious and unexamined beliefs are often in conflict with other ideas that we have chosen intellectually, but struggle to make real on an emotional or deeper soul level. When confronted with the perception of a new reality, we sometimes use denial, until we can filter and process the new reality.
The gold of the frames denotes the outer boundaries where we are stretching to grow and encompass more understanding. The gold in the frames also symbolizes Prayer (hopes, affirmations, visualization, positive thinking by other names) as it helps us to create new and better beliefs, to believe in new possibilities for ourselves and others. Praying encourages our ability to consciously choose a new reality. When we pray for someone who is ill to recover we are acknowledging the illness, just by the very act of praying for recovery, since no one prays for the very healthy to recover. By praying we are visualizing the healing we want to occur.
For example, when Jane and Joe were first standing in their kitchen delighted with their bold idea for a new business, they affirmed that vision, and discussed the future that they could imagine, which was then framed by the knowledge and beliefs that they then had about starting a business. However, as they moved forward, their understandings and experience about how to create their business expanded. During times of stress, as they create their business they most likely will pray, or at least strongly hope for some “luck”.
Frames are usually created from the words of psalms, because psalms are prayers. Our reality is created by our beliefs and memories. We base our prayers, and our wants and hopes on these understandings. These beliefs may or may not be consciously held or chosen.
Prayer (affirmations, visualization, positive thinking by other names) helps us to create new and better beliefs, to believe in new possibilities for ourselves and others. Praying encourages our ability to consciously choose a new reality. When we pray for someone who is ill to recover we are acknowledging the illness, just by the very act of praying for recovery, since no one prays for the very healthy to recover. By praying we are visualizing the healing we want to occur.
By my reckoning, our prayers reach further into the ultimate, into the spiritual realms or heavens than any of our other thoughts or communications, since by the very act of being in prayer, which means communication, we are furthering our alignment with The Divine. The frames are in the paintings to depict and remind us that we consciously or unconsciously create the boundaries of our reality with our beliefs and that we are always able to reach The Divine, even when The Divine seems to be as far away as the edge of reality.
Dock Less Traveled by Judy Rey Wasserman
Strokes: Genesis 1-2:7,Deut. 6:4, Psalm 19 frame
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art at ungravenimage.com.
Check out the Fine Art Limited Edition prints, decorative prints, books, and printables that are currently available to you through Judy Rey’s Art of Seeing The Divine Shop. You don’t have to buy to avail yourself of the art and inspiration available there. However, if you select to collect investment quality archival art, or decorate your home with images created with strokes that are original letters from Bible texts, or buy a gift for someone special, there is a secure shopping cart that accepts most credit cards so your purchase is easy to accomplish. https://artofseeingthedivine.com.
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