PASSION FLOWER

 

Passion Flower

digital, archival prints

file#220309

Passion Woman

digital, archival prints

file#220307

Passion Flower, genus passifloraceae, grows almost all over the world. It grows wild here, in Washington Parish, Louisiana.  I am delighted when I find it blooming and fruiting on a tangled vine.  The name "passion" refers to the passion of Christ in Christian mythology.  

The flower is complicated.  I had to study the multiple layered parts in order to create these pictures.  It is not like a simple daisy that can be painted with ten quick brushstrokes.  I enjoyed learning about the unusual parts and creating these pictures.  

Passion flower is a favorite of pollinators, bees and hummingbirds.  Seeing hummingbirds flying around and sipping on the flowers makes my day.  The leaves and roots have a long history of  medicinal usage for anxiety and sleep.  It makes a delicious fruit.  

Inspiration for the woman's face is Audrey Hepburn, one of the most elegant women of all times.

Prints may be ordered from Saatchi on line. 

Janet Boyd Art Artworks | Saatchi Art

 To commission a painting of a digital picture, email me at   

  lunazure101@gmail.com. 

LEDA AND THE SWAN

 

Leda and the Swan

digital, archival prints, 2/22

(file name #220222LedaSwan)

close up

This painting is based on the ancient Greek myth about Zeus, the king and father of mythological gods and goddesses.   Zeus fell in love with the earthling Leda.  Zeus transformed himself into the image of a swan in order to seduce the queenly woman.  Leda became pregnant and laid two eggs which hatched two children from each egg, for a total of four children.  Her children were historically active in Greek and Roman history.  

This fascinating myth has been portrayed by countless artists throughout the centuries.  The artists include the great masters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.  This is my humble contribution to the stream of art illustrating this enduring myth.  I will not tell the entire story here, but it is worth googling to learn the ancient myth.  

DRAGONFLY WOMAN

 

DRAGONFLY WOMAN, PAINTING

acrylic on panel, 24x16", 2019

DRAGONFLY WOMAN, DIGITAL

digital, 2019

She is in a dreamy trance. She is tranquil and peaceful. Is she thinking of her lover? Is she dreaming of a garden that she wants to create with rampant wisteria and dragonflies dancing in the air? Is she meditating and lifting her consciousness? What do you think? Your guess is as good as mine.

Here are two versions of the picture, a digital creation and an acrylic painting.

Invite her into your home, where she will remind you to create dreams.

Go to my Saatchi site to purchase, prints start at $60.00

Janet Boyd Art Artworks | Saatchi Art

TRIPLE SKULL

 

    TRIPLE SKULL

digital, 2019

TRIPLE SKULL is an unusual creation of three skulls merged together.  I was inspired by the concept, just thinking that I would create something unusual.  I enjoyed combining the skulls in a cohesive image.  

This picture may relate to many historical concepts of the triple attributes of gods and goddesses throughout the ages.  There are many deities that have three faces, indicating the different aspects of the deities.  The Christian God has three aspects, God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.  Shiva, a Hindu God has three faces. Many Goddesses are attributed with three faces indicating the characteristics of the three ages of women; maiden, mother and crone. Three faced Goddesses were worshiped in Anatolia, ancient Greece and ancient Rome.  

The deities are depicted with three faces, but, I haven't seen any other three faced skull pictures.  The concept is intriguing, an inspiring conundrum.

 2017, Landscape on Paper

acrylic in a watercolor manner, 16"x24"

 MY MOTHER'S OPAL RING

Invited by the jewelers, Jack and Ava we were dining at Commander's Palace.  My husband of the time, Richard was flirting with Ava.  That was nothing new, I was uneasily resigned to his idiotic alcohol steeped behavior.  The day was balmy, we were seated on the lovely garden patio.  The food was the best cuisine in food city. I savored crab bisque followed by bread pudding with a luscious sauce.  As we waited for the check, Jack complimented me on my ring and asked to see it.

That opal entranced me.  I would gaze into the stone and my imagination would see in the depths of the jewel an aqua and peach colored world.  My mind is subject to flights of fantasy, visions, dreams, zoning out, I get a lot of channels.

My father had gifted the ring to my mother way back in the day, maybe the 50's.  

I worked off the ring and let Jack look at it.  He said that it was a beautiful stone, but it was dirty and would look better with a careful professional cleaning.

It would look even better!  Thirty years of grime gone.  That sounded good to me.  

DUH!

A few days later, over the phone (the avocado green kind that hung on the kitchen wall back in the 80's) Jack said that the Australian opal was high quality and deserved to be surrounded by diamonds instead of zircons.  

A few more days later, he called to say that the ring had been stolen by one of their workers.  He was so sorry, they would make another ring, just for me, just like my opal.  

He delivered the ring to my house.  It was pretty.  It fit my finger.  I wore it a few times but soon lost it.  I suspect that the opal was man made, not the natural Australian opal of my "real" ring.

I lost the new ring.  It did not enchant me.  I carelessly misplaced the pretty new ring.  But, the old jewel remains with me in my mind.  The colors, the aqua and peach colors with a bit of grey for depth, still show up in my paintings, as you can see in the pictures posted here.

Gold Ribbon, Opal

digital, archival print, 2019

Dancer, Opal

digital, archival print, about 2017

POMONA

POMONA

digital, archival prints

close up, head shot

 Pomona is the Roman Goddess of fruitful abundance. 

I named my vegetable garden after her.  The garden is 22'x22', rather small.  It is organic and I tend it with hand tools.  The recent harvest was abundant for the size of the garden.  

The inspiration and reference for this digital painting is an ancient Roman statue.  The statue is approximately 1300 years old.  Prior to this Roman conception, the Greek Goddess Demeter had similar characteristics.  Prior to the Greeks the Sumerians named their goddess of agriculture Nibada.

I enjoy feeling a part of a stream of creations that have been developing for many centuries. 

I hope she will inspire you to be abundant in whatever field you endeavor to cultivate. 

Prints may be ordered from Saatchi Art online:

Janet Boyd Art Artworks | Saatchi Art

A similar acrylic painting may be commissioned by G-mailing me:

lunazure101@gmail.com

Visions of Joy

ANNA FLOWER

archival digital print, 1/2022

close up

VISION

archival digital print, 1/2022

 close up

Two new pictures completed this new year 2022, a year that we are hoping will be better than the train wreck of 2021.  I am grateful to be an artist in these troublesome times.  Time spent in my studio is an escape from "reality" into the "flow state" of creating.  Making art enriches my life, and I believe that creating beauty makes the world a bit better.  

Who or what are these images that I create?  Are they Goddesses, dreamy earthlings, Angels, figments of my imagination, fantasies??  They are illustrations of the joy that I search for in life.  Metaphors for enlightenment.  

Lately, I have thought of a reply that I can use if someone asks me, "What is your religion?".  My answer is, "I am a Spiritual Seeker".    

I have been wondering "What is belief?"  A mental construct of our minds, that satisfies our earthling needs for reassurance that life has meaning.  Mental scaffolding for our baffling questions about existence.  I think that most religious teachings are metaphors for something, for what? for our basic need to know what we should be doing with our life.  

I believe that there is a spiritual realm.  Something so above our limited verbal capabilities, something beyond words.  The spiritual realm can be experienced in elevated states of consciousness.  The experience may be more accurately communicated through images than words.