The Elemental Gene Keys

 Greetings! In recent years my meanderings have led me down a very unique path and to a secret project, one that is both radically different yet familiar to my previous work~ lingering still in the Mythic realms (where transformational cycles are embodied in the landscape) but here its born out of a vast perennial wisdom. A seed of an idea that was awakened by thunder, created through heaven, forged out of fire and nurtured by earth, wind and water~ a dance with yin and yang~ into an alchemical experiment and a vessel that will one day lend itself to being produced as a book or oracle. It arose out of my own journey of self discovery into a deep calling to unite it with my creativity, through the transmission that illuminated it.
 In a nutshell, The Elemental Gene Keys are a weaving together of the nature elements of the I Ching (an ancient Chinese oracle named the 'Book of Changes') with the transformational pathways and living wisdom of 'The Gene Keys' ( a contemporary contemplation on the I Ching) written by Richard Rudd. There are 64 archetypes and in each drawing I attempt to depict the collective shadow merging and into a Mythic embodiment of its Gift and Siddhi (Divine gift)

Here are a few examples. Each drawing is only 8'x8'' in size, and after some time now of working at this scale its a struggle for my eyes, but I wish to persevere none the less and finish all 64.' It would be amazing to produce them in colour, but I would need to find a way and funds to do that, and without it taking the rest of my meandering days to complete.

 

 

 

 

Now I find myself teetering around the edges of my comfort zone, taking small steps to introduce this project to the wider world, while offering some options in how folks who may be interested could support me in the completion of this rather ambitious piece of work, while being the first to see these magical beings birthed and get exclusive behind the scenes content.

 This year I have been, and will continue to, regularly post each drawing for the first time, in the sequence corresponding to the zodiacal I Ching calendar, here on my Patreon page

https://www.patreon.com/virginialee 

 Some folks have expressed that they would prefer to donate, which I would be so grateful to receive and would put to good use, which can be done so here~    Paypal

or through my Linktree 

My wish is to continue to develop and evolve this and apply them in all sorts of creative and practical ways, both online, in community and one day in a tangible form. Offering a mirror for our remembering of our higher purpose in life and our greater compassionate nature. 

With love and abundance, 

 Virginia

 

 

Mythic burgeonings..

 

To bring you a bit more up to date with my meanderings, I can reveal in monochrome that....

I viewed life from within a nutshell..... 

Looked straight into the eye of the Minotaur.....

Ventured to illuminate hollow ground...

And pondered the intricacies of love...

After an abundance of rain there came an abundance of bluebells this May, how generous nature is. There also came much needed tonic of visitors who coaxed me from my festering nutshell and went out to revel in the beauty of the land in which I have the privilage to reside in.

Following the bluebells that were following us...

and found my own nook amongst all the crannies in Wistman's wood...

But even after passing the prancing pony...

and the three wise sheep...

I still needed to get my bearings...

Luckily I managed to find our way home..

To purchase some of the originals and prints featured here, please visit my Etsy store here. Thank you for visiting!

The Angel with no name...

 

Sometimes I will embark on a painting where the process is a journey that begins in the land of consciousness, but will then lead me into some unconscious territory. I will stumble around, not knowing quite where I am, but still have some faith that if I carry on I will eventually come to a familiar place and begin to get my bearings. Even when I do think I know where I am, I might turn around and find that from another viewpoint, the land is not so familiar, there are undiscovered rocks and paths and I am then faced with indecision, Which way shall I go? So I will focus my attention on the compass which is nestled within my heart and follow its arrow which leads me down a rocky path to a place that feels like home . And even when I have declared my journey complete I might still reflect on those mysterious lands, what lies beneath those rocks  and where those unfamiliar paths might have taken me.

And so I come to describe the process of my latest painting - a fusion of the ethereal and earthly.

 This painting had its primitive beginnings as a surreal idea to create a landscape, where the familiar tors and standing stones of Dartmoor, were figures, birds and other moorland dwellers.  I found though, that this alone did not have a strong enough premise for me to start from and I needed to develop a view point, encompass an emotion and a story. I wanted to convey the exposing nature of the moors and how the tors act like places of refuge from elemental forces.  As I began to mark out the naked stone figure with her offering of a place of safety, I found also that the shapes of angel wings would offer a strong dynamic composition and in turn a whole new premise and layer of symbolism.

An early stage of marking out a rough composition with pastel and laying down some earthy tones.

At this point I introduced it my mum, artist Marja Lee Kruijt. This brought in an interesting and new perspective on the painting, as she interpreted it very differently to me, through her visionary eyes and with her own personal language. I realised that because of its mystical quality it was a very subjective work.

The painting at its final stage.

Having reached a stage where I am brave enough to step away from it say 'its done', I now come face to face with a recurring problem of mine - that of naming the painting which has just been born. Often with my more personal paintings I struggle to come up with a title and cringe at my attempts. I am usually reluctant to give them a name unless I feel it adds something to the painting and often I find my efforts don’t.  So this time I have decided not to even try to think of a title and am offering out to all of you wonderful wordsmiths to have a go. If you feel inclined I would be very interested to hear what the granite angels  say and mean to you and, in your own language, will be grateful for suggestions for a title.  I only ask that if one of your suggestions resonates with me, you grant me permission to use it - should a title be demanded at some future time.

 She listens out for her name on the high winds ...