Plant Spirit Portraits (Paintings)

Scroll down to see the paintings

In the summer of 2012, I was out for a hike at one of my favorite places: the Black Balsam/Sam’s Knob area of the Blue Ridge Parkway. As I took in the beauty of the wildflowers and grasses, I noticed a patch of flowers that was unfamiliar to me- Roan Mountain Goldenrod. Shorter and of a different shape than the goldenrod commonly seen in fields in the summer, I was curious to understand its particular energy and character. I entered the patch of short purple-hued stalks and rich yellow petals and sat down to meditate.

During that meditation, this variety of goldenrod gave me the vision for this project: a large scale, collaborative body of work meant to illustrate plant spirit medicine.

Fellow collaborators chose the setting, pose, action, composition, and costume for the plant. I photographed them in the setting of their choice (often with the physical plant in its natural habitat) and then I painted the visions they wanted to convey. Participants could act out their own experiences or connections with their chosen plant, or visually illustrate the archetype the plant represented for them, finding creative ways to personify the transformative energy. After working with each subject through this process, I would then create paintings to document and illuminate their vision. A few of the participants submitted photographs they took themselves for me to work from.

I asked each participant to give me a short explanation of their inspiration for the work, and you will find those on under each painting.

This project was awarded a grant from Toe River Arts Council to help offset some of the material costs.

I continue to paint new work for this series and plan to keep working on it for a long time to come! 

ST. JOHN’S WORT

Harper writes: 

I first met St. John’s Wort many years ago on top of Max Patch.  It is one of the loveliest places on earth.  Being on Max Patch on a beautiful day makes me feel like my soul is shining out of me as brightly as the sun beats down on the mountains.  It’s easy to feel the magic of life when you’re in such a place.  At that time, St. John’s Wort grew rampant on the mountain top with little stands of yarrow and clover and a handful of other wildflowers amid the tall grasses. 

Years later, walking through my own garden’s stand of St. John’s wort one summer day, I felt myself being pulled into its orbit.  I sat down with it to listen.  It felt like the sunshine feeling of the plant was radiating out of me,  helping to give a voice to the stories of the plants.  I felt a deep connection to nature bringing a complete sense of peace and joy, and it simply spilling out of me.  

And that’s what I wanted to convey in the painting.

 

POPPY 

Kitty writes: 

I left Baltimore in 1995, to escape the ravages of Papaver Somnferum, in the form of heroin. I was tired of falling in love with the doomed. I suppose it must be my karma, but some of the first people I met in Asheville were also junkies. Opiates have a purpose, to ease pain. If they are ingested to excess, when one is not in physical pain, one soon enters a state in which it is painful not to always have the substance in one’s system.

My life long trade of tattooing attracts a variety of odd sorts of people. Many of them are drug users. When I opened my first tattoo studio in Asheville, I painted the inside of the lobby with poppies. Despite my desire to flee the damage I saw done to folks by this flower, I have always been drawn by its charisma. I’ve never done dope myself, but I feel like I have been close enough to understand its power in some measure. 

I’ve often heard it said by people in recovery circles that some of the most amazing people are struggling with addiction, and I have also found this to be true. I feel that the culture in which we live, with its mad obsession with money and power, does not contain a reasonable value system against which to judge the actions of the people within it. When so much importance placed on wealth, and creativity is undervalued, the creative are put in a confusing position regarding what they have to offer us. It’s interesting to me how many intelligent and creative people have found the joy eaten out of the middle of their lives by a self-perpetuating cycle of addiction and depression. I’m not a psychologist, but I have eyes and a heart, to see.

I sometimes wonder about the nature of my loved ones, with all their crazy behaviors, including drug use, and the accompanying altered states of consciousness they constantly seek. In some cultures, altering consciousness is done in a controlled environment, with guidance, and often with substances. My understanding of the evolution of a shaman is that the shaman is often perceived as crazy by the others of the tribe, and may themselves think that they are crazy, until they realize that they are actually unusual. They find that once they realize that, yes, those actually are the voices and faces of the spirit world, life is restored to balance. And they embark on their work path. I sometimes wonder if the crazy starry eyed freaks that I always seems to find in my life are shamans in a culture with no established need of their services, yet their unrecognized spiritual calling draws them into an unguided and unstructured relationship with altering consciousness.

I’ve always been fascinated with death, and the dangerous. The poppy juice contains a healing sedative that relieves pain and stress, and yet can kill when indulged in. Though I haven’t shot heroin into my body, I have taken deep draughts of darkness, and reaped what there was to reap from the experience. 

I tend to mythologize my life. To me the poppy is a symbol of that tendency, and a symbol of my individual energy and relationship to existence. Mythologizing one’s life in my definition means to take events that occur and craft them together into divination and/or story line. I have come to this perspective because it has been my consistent experience that the events of my life are uncanny in how they can be crafted into a shockingly coherent and fascinating narrative, with direction, purpose and epic ultimate outcomes. As a story, my life is filled with unique and complex characters, bizarre occurrences, dark beauty and deep magic. As the opiate of my own fascination and imagination relaxes my senses, reality softens into a finely crafted psychedelic tapestry of interweaving and orchestrated experiences. 

This choice of mythologizing my life begs the question of how the story was/is written. Are there unseen hands at work? An equally mystifying question is, how is it that plants exist naturally which provide cures for human ills, or pitfalls for our issues? Is it by design? Do God and the Devil exist in nature? I personally choose to function within existence as if there is a system at work, origins unknown, working on behalf of my success. Though it leaves the question of how unanswered, I have already moved into the choice of working with the clues I find. The poppy symbolizes that charged and effective unfathomable presence of deep, dark, and possibly dangerous magical power. I intend to be the Queen of that.

 

JEWELWEED

Tanya Jewel writes:

“Pssst… over here,
Come closer…near the flowing water”
Finding myself surrounded in a forest of tender
stemmed little trees
illuminated with glowing
freckled orange fairy caps
Time stops,
I feel a soft embrace
my body relaxes
I can feel…
Life
all around and within
Pulsing, whispering
a delicate dance
as it always is
I’ve been given a gift today
The medicine of Jewelweed….
Go for yourself,
lie under her cool shade
Drink it in
It will revive you, remind you what Life is really about”

ROSE

Michelle writes,
“Rose is an epicurean at heart. She delights in earthly pleasures and makes no apologies about it. The sun, the moon, the rain, and the honeybee are all her lovers. Some find her behavior far too provocative and promiscuous for their taste. They say Rose is flamboyant and always has to be the center of attention. In actuality, Rose is shy and sensitive, but she is so fascinated by the idiosyncrasies of others that she feels compelled to mingle with them. However, she has trouble discerning who around her has the best of intentions. She opens her petals wide and shares her sweet scent without reservation. Unfortunately, there are those in this world who will take advantage of such innocence and charm. This is why Rose’s mother made her with thorns- to protect her. But rose is happiest when she can trust those around her and sink deeply into herself. The audacious beauty that she is, she refuses to apologize for the ferocity with which she loves this world. And so she is the chosen muse of artists, mystics, and lovers alike. “

MUGWORT

Margaret Mary Writes:
“For me, mugwort has been a source of vision, wisdom and guidance. Connecting me more deeply with my own nature, she embodies all things feminine and protects all that is dark and mysterious. Mugwort has been a powerful ally in ritual, grounding me in the fertile darkness of the earth as my consciousness expands. She has helped me to embrace myself as a woman, encouraging me to cultivate sacred moon time rituals. She beckons me to listen to the subtle rhythms occurring within and around me. Artemesia often reveals her secrets as abstract images, symbols, sounds, sensations and visions that appear in dreams both waking and asleep. She is the crone, the witch at the edge of the woods, the wise woman who has navigated the dark forest of self and returned with healing balms for the sick and suffering. Often misunderstood and powerful beyond measure, she is a doorway to a deeper way of knowing.”

IRONWEED

Cat Writes:

“Iron weed is about ancient strength. The strength that passes on thru all time.

The iron in our ancestors’ blood went into the earth where it became, and remains to be, the nourishment that feeds us all.

So tall and beautiful, the color of spirit.

It calls in the fall time for us, when we are reminded that we too, will return to the earth. “