Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. — Pablo Picasso

It is very easy to get caught up in day-to-day routines, and become mired in the meaningless and trivial. It often seems that nothing will ever change, despite our fervent hopes. One day morphs into another, all much the same.

One of the effects of art can be to awaken us to a larger dimension of being, feeling, and experience. Even if we view the same painting every day, each time our eyes can fasten upon another part of it and open a fresh new world.

As a working artist, it is my great good fortune to often experience this. Each canvas offers a new arena to explore, slowly filling it with colors, shapes, and movement — literally dancing with Spirit. Creative expression is a journey, not a destination, and along the way all sorts of discoveries and delights abound.

In astrology, art has strong connections with Venus, the planet associated with imagery and sensuality. Yet Neptune also plays a vital role, expanding awareness and touching the realms of myth, dreams, and archetypes. All of these energies influence my work, at an intuitive level. The important thing is to stay out of the mind, with its tendency to criticize, analyze, and control, and allow the process to unfold on its own.

In the end the paintings create themselves, with me as the channel through which they emerge.

© 2016 Merlin Emrys. All Rights Reserved.