Progress on the latest painting

'I Shall Fear No Evil' -by Stephanie Tihanyi (painting)
(all copyrights are held by the artist)

Still working on this one steadily, in between smaller works. Its coming along in its own way, I have no image of the intended look or content, just letting it develop on its own. Just recently begun to add an angel in the mid top section, it kinda of appeared on its own, I already know it will hang from above, holding a sword down as if marking the boundaries of heaven and hell. Still a lot more to do, but want to finish it, before I present it for viewing at a small opening evening in a local art café, in mid December. It will not be for sale there, but I would like to introduce people to the art work of visionary art.

Continuing the underpainting on the latest painting

Painting "I shall fear no evil" by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by the artist)

For me, to be an artist means being able to see beauty in this world but also being unable to be unaware of the tragedy of the world we live in. As my heart breaks and my outrage ignites over the massacre's, beheadings, slavery and genocide, while the world chooses to stand and watch turns a blind eye to the evil of a religion, I find my paintings becoming very ugly, they now have death, blood and war in them.


I have done some more under painting in the old masters Flemish tradition of egg tempera, this is over an ink and English red earth ground. I hope to have all the under painting done by tomorrow, ready for the first glaze of yellow. I have used my live model sketches for my figure and the plant is a tall frangipani-like, white flowering plant, growing in my garden, of which I am yet to identify.







Painting "I shall fear no evil" by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by the artist)

The Beginning Of A New Painting

Detail of the under painting of my new work- Stephanie Tihanyi

I have begun a new painting. So far, I have only just worked upon the under-painting, following the techniques of the old masters, instructed to me by my professor Philip Rubinov Jacobson, who was directly taught by Ernst Fuchs, the founder of the Viennese school of Fantastic Realism. I started upon a ground of English red earth and egg tempera mixture, and the began to work on the under painting in titanium white and egg tempera. This image to me is very powerful and instinctual. It requires a lot of energy and fortitude to  draw forth this painting, a bit like cycling up a long steep hill emotionally.
Sometimes you look into the light, sometimes you choose to look into the dark...
 today I work on under-painting a detail of my new work, it features the
beast of the apocalypse , its about the beast of ones own apocalypse.  Confronting our darkness of our past, needs a certain level of understanding (light) to be able to make sense of what we uncover, plus courage. I am fascinated with the darker side, it is a mystery, most times a tyrant,  so a worthy opponent to confront. I understand its not a path for everyone. In myths it is the hero, that boldly walks into the depths of Hades to extract the treasure or wisdom or take back something stolen. To the ancient Greeks, the daemonic appears not only through elements “inside” the self—the passions, the blood, but also “outside” the self—in wind, rain, fire, animals. Plato understood, its the dynamic unrest that exists in us all that forces us into the unknown, leading to self-destruction and/or self-discovery. In Japanese Shinto, Buddhist tradition its known as theTengu.

The best book on Visionary Art 'Drinking Lightening- Art, Creativity & Transformation

me with Phil's book 'Drinking Lightening- Art, Creativity & Transformation'

I received it at last, by ocean freight, Philip Rubinov Jacobson 's book Drinking Lightning: Art, Creativity and Transformation Where he accounts his own journey into and discovery of the art and artists, of 'the invisible tribe' of Visionary Artists. A linage that tracks far back through the ages and across the globe. An historically important, a now steadily re- connecting tribe, who's existence still remains largely ignored and
denied by the art establishment today.

My painting: Cup of Abundance is finished

 Its my first one that is in the new technique of oil/egg tempera of the Old Masters. A technique I learnt from Prof. Philip Rubinov Jacobson at the workshop in Vienna this year. Its on canvas and the size is 24X30 inches:





Cup of Abundance -by Stephanie Tihanyi
 

This is my painting, The Cup of Abundance is finished  In the  painting, the Peacock Colored Angel hold the Holy Grail to all who can sees spiritual light, traversing from afar into the realm of the Kingdom of Nature, where the laws of life and death are set in place, Souls, like moths flock around, drawn by the light and heat, desiring to be consumed by the flame of eternal love and carried to realm of softer, higher vibrations.

After reading The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds, Written in 1177, in Persian by the poet Farid ud-Din Attar, who is commonly known as Attar of Nishapur.  It is a poem about the king of the birds (souls) leading them to enlightenment. I became interested with the symbol and tradition of the Pheonix.
 In Persian its known as Simurgh (/ˌsɪˈmərɡ/; Persian: سیمرغ sɪmorγ), also spelled simorgh, simurg, simoorg or simourv, is a benevolent, mythical flying creature. It is sometimes equated with other mythological birds such as Arabic Anqā (عنقا) or Persian Homā (Persian: هما‎). The figure can be found in all periods of Greater Iranian art and literature and is also evident in the iconography of medieval Armenia .  The mythical bird is also found in the mythology of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and is called Kerkés, Semrug, Semurg, Samran, and Samruk.^[3][4] The word was also borrowed into Armenian as siramarg ‘peacock’.

Old Masters New Visions Painting Seminar Payerbach, Austria 2014


 In March this year I decided to go to Austria, to take part in the Old Visions New Masters painting workshop, run by the visionary artist, writer, philosopher and teacher, Professor Philip Rubinov Jacobson. Prof. Phil, as he is known affectionately by his students, teaches the traditional painting techniques of the Old Flemish Masters and early Renaissance painters of the 14th and 15th century. These were artists such as, Botticelli, Jan Van Eyck, Messina, Hugo van der Goes, Andre Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Holbein, Pieter Bruegel and many others. These Renaissance techniques are still considered to be the finest in the history of painting.

Jan van Eyck-
 Giovanni Arnolfini and his bride

Leonardo da Vinci-
Madonna of the Rocks

 I had long achieved a measure of mastery with modeling paint and a high degree to realism in my work but had for some time, struggled to find a way to achieve a greater depth, luminosity and light. I had got the bright colors, yes, but my shadows seemed flat and without depth, I needed to progress my painting technique. I read about the mische technique after I joined the visionary art collective, called The Society of Art of the Imagination, (AOI). The founder is the British fantastic realist, artist Brigid Marlin. Like Brigid, Prof. Phil, studied in Vienna under the world renowned Austrian visionary artist, Ernst Fuchs .

The techniques of the old Masters were considered lost to history by the 20th century and it was Ernst Fuchs, along with Arik Brauer, Rudolf Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden and Fritz Janschka, who began to research the Old Master’s painting methods. All were students of Albert Paris von Gutersloh. It was Gutersloh’s emphasis on the techniques of the old masters, that influenced their painting technique and a small revival was born among the visionary artists. 1946, they founded the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. In addition to his own research, Ernst studied the manuscripts of Max Doerner(1870–1939) a German artist and art theorist, who wrote The Materials of the Artist and Their Use in Painting published in 1921. Doerner Institute

Ernst Fuchs

After 1954, with Fuchs's fame spreading in Europe and the UK , many artists came from America to Vienna, including Professor Phil, and others, such as, Bob Venosa, Mati Klarwein, Joseph Askew, Brigid Marlin, Bob Venosa, Herbert Ossberger, Linda Gardner, Clayton Campbell, Hanna Kay, Sandra Reamer and Olga Speigel, and many others. They were joined later by artists from around the world and a new World-wide Art Movement was formed.
About the Mische technique. Is a method of painting with egg tempera, used in combination with oil based paints and resins to render a luminous, resonant realism. The egg yolk of the egg tempera is a naturally occurring emulsion of water and oil. As such, the old masters found ways of extending the natural advantages of its emulsion to create lean, siccative, smoothly transitional and semi-transparent layers of paint. The visual effects created by working in the mixed technique essentially rely upon the phenomenon of light refracting through many subsequent layers of paint that are luminous and jewel-like


On Wednesday, June 11th, I flew first to Miami from St. Maarten in the afternoon and then in the evening, took the night flight to London. I am not a fan of travel though I do like seeing new places, but airports, train and bus terminals are hectic, busy, noisy stressful places, with delays, unexpected changes etc, and who the heck sleeps on overnight flights? I was glad to arrived in London on Thursday morning where I was met by my stepdad who drove me to my late mother’s house in Luton.  I had just enough time the next day to get some art materials I needed for the course in the town center. These were things I couldn't get on my little island St.Maarten, such as a varied selection of brushes, oil colors, permanent inks and other stuff. At 2am on Saturday morning, I took a bus to Stanstead and flew to Vienna very early.



The walk on the road to Payerbach
 from Gloggnitz

With instructions emailed to me from the Professor, from the airport, I managed to locate the train to Payer-Reichenau. Apparently there are two trains, an inexpensive slow one (snail ban) and a fast one expensive one. Conserving cash, I took the slow one. I arrived in Payerbach around midday.




 
Payerbach is a little Austria town nestled in a valley below the Rax mountain range of the alps, about an hour or half drive from Vienna. Its famous for the Semmering Railway, and the town had been long been a vacation spot for the Austrian imperial family and other celebrities of Viennese high society, such as the famed Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.

 I had a reservation at the Hotel Payerbacherhof and once I got off the train it was just a little walk to the hotel. It was extremely quiet I walked into reception and found no one except a huge yellow Labrador laying across the hallway, he came to greet me in a friendly fashion. Eventually some one came out of a doorway. It was the son of the owner. He helped me take my luggage up to where I would stay for the duration of the workshop. I had booked the shared female dormitory. This turned out to be a very large room in the attic, with a number of beds in it.

I was the very first one of the students to arrive, even the Prof and his partner artist Mantra Cora, were not arriving till the next day. It was nice weather to walk and explore but I was exhausted. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. The attic had beautiful old wooden floors and wooden beams, the roof was full of many skylights, that gave great views of the mountains and surrounding area and plenty of light, too much light, actually it was blinding with sunshine. A housekeeper came up the stairs pulling a ladder, with black trash bags and tape to cover the windows for me. After seeing her small frame, nervously wobbling around on the ladder; I ended up doing them by myself, rather than see her injure herself. With a darkened room, alone, it was utter bliss to take a nap knowing I didn’t have to take a plane somewhere soon. Sometime in the evening, I went down to the restaurant and got a nice thick bowl of Hungarian goulash with a glass of local red wine. It did the trick and I slept well. 

The next day I meet the Prof. and Mantra Cora in the lobby. We only had time to exchange short greetings before they had to return to Vienna, to take back the rental car they had used to transporting here, all the materials for the course. They would then come back on the train. During the day I took a pleasant walk along the Schwarza river, admiring the mountains, meadows and forested hills. I walked in one direction towards the next town Gloggnitz, following the little road along the railway track and then I took a walk later in the other direction into another town, Reichenau.  The weather was beautifully warm and sunny. In time I met another student Romanie who came from Ibiza and Dakini from Amsterdam. We all ended up in the attic together, which we eventually dubbed the the ‘creaky attic’ on account of the ancient floorboards.

 

 

to be continued

New paintings, new techniques

sketch from dream
-Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)

This is a some of the work I am currently doing. I have already begun to use what I have read, about the 'mische' technique of the old masters. I am very excited and looking forward to learning more about it when I go to the workshop, taught by Prof. Philip Rubinov Jacobson in Austria this year.
This painting came from a series of sketches I did that were inspired by a dream of an angel I had and wrote about earlier. The Angel is giving the spiritual water of life from the holy cup. The angel is a messenger and it carries a message across a great distance as  

detail of painting 'Cup of Abundance' by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)

detail of painting 'Cup of Abundance' by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)

  seen in the far off spinning galaxy in the above right-hand upper corner. There is a lot going on in this work subconsciously, that is far exceeds my conscious minds ability to explain. Its like I have to paint it first to understand it later. I glimpse pieces and bits but have not got the time to go into it right now. For me, realizing the image, is something that has to come first. The angel sits in a lush shady tropical lowland, with waterfalls behind and a landscape that sweeps upward into forests and snow-capped mountains that merge with the stars, nebulae, and constellations of a light filled heaven. Also present in the landscape is a small local hawk, the American Kestrel, known locally here in the Caribbean as 'gli-gli, a name that came from the Caribe Indians.
It means 'fearless one', a warriors symbol and a symbol of courage. In its claws it has a small iguana. This shows that all earthly life is also bound with the law of earthly death.The angel holds out the cup, full of the water of spiritual everlasting life, its beckoning light draws in moths from all corners of the darkness.

detail of painting 'Cup of Abundance'
 by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)

 There's is much to add in this work yet so I will write again more in time as I go. I don't know why but I feel compelled to look into the myths Sir Gwain and the Green Knight and the Holy Grail stories to explain more. The work is still in progress and still in layers of various under painting and color-glazing and not the color of the intended final colors


Unfinished stages of my painting-
detail of painting 'Cup of Abundance' by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)
 

:

Now a Member of the Society for the Art of Imagination

Since the beginning of last month (March), I was accepted into the Society for the Art of Imagination.
 The Society is one of the largest Fantastic, Visionary and Surreal artist groups in the world, with over 400 artist members in 23 countries.


Flight of the Bride-Brigid Marlin

Origin and History of The Society for Art of Imagination
In 1961 a group of artists from England, dissatisfied with the way the art world was going, began to work together, calling themselves the Inscape Group. They were Diana Hesketh (1931--), Peter Holland, .Brigid Marlin (1936--) Jack Ray and Steve Snell (1946-). They worked together to experiment with different ideas and techniques. Their progress may be summarized as follows:

Brigid Marlin

1966 One member of the Inscape group, Brigid Marlin, went to study with Ernst Fuchs in Vienna. She was able to learn the Mische Technique, which was recieved with enthusiasm by other members who began to work with, and teach the technique in England, Europe and America.

Ernst Fuchs

1968 Members of the Inscape group were invited by Ernst Fuchs to come to Wartholz Castle, to his Summer Seminar, where artists from all over the world came to exchange ideas, and work together experimenting with old and newly evolved techniques. The Summer Seminar continued for seven years under the direction of Wolfgang Manner, and brought about great art and great friendships.

1972 As artists from different countries worked to promote each other and the cause of fine art, World-wide Exchange Exhibitions were set up in different countries and the Inscape Group became known as Inscape International.



 

   Adam and Eve-Ernst Fuchs     

1973- 1992 Inscape International. went on to exhibit in Paris, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, Tokyo, the United States and Canada. Lectures and classes were given on the Mische technique in Europe, the United States and Canada,

1993 Professor Ernst Fuchs summoned some of the Inscape artists to meet at Grafenegg Castle near Vienna to discuss the way forward towards promoting the Art of Imagination. He asked each artist to work towards this end. He had by now founded The Ernst Fuchs Museum in the villa built by Otto Wagner, and was planning an International Museum for Fantastic Art at the Saxe-Coburg Palais in Vienna.

1994 Maurizio Albarelli launched a major Exhibition "Du Fantastique au Visionnaire", the largest of its kind ever to be staged, at the Zitelle Cultural Centre, Venice, which included the work of many members of Inscape International.

1996 Rosemary Bassi organized the first of several shows of Fantastic paintings and sculpture inclluding Inscape International Members at her Galerie Rolandseck near Bonn, Germany

1997 Inscape International decided to expand their Membership and work to help to promotion of Imaginative Art around the World. To facilitate this it changed its name to The Society for Art of Imagination. Ernst Fuchs agreed to be Honorary President.

1998 The Society for Art of Imagination launched a World Premiere- the very first Open Exhibition for Art of Imagination. It took place at the Mall Galleries, London. Virginia Rogers, a patron of vision, pledged to the Society $10,000.00 every year to distribute as prize money.

H R Giger

1999 The Erlangen Museum near Nurnberg, Germany, arranged a huge exhibition "Phantastik am Ende der Zeit" planned by Dr. Christine Ivanovic. The show was arranged in historical order , starting with the early woodcuts and engravings of Schongauer 1481, and Altdorfer c 1511, then on to the paintings of Bosch and Breughel, followed by Ensor and Munch, Max Ernst, Dali , and Paul Wunderlich. The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism was well represented, and the Exhibition displayed the work of many Members of The Society for Art of Imagination .The Exhibition formed part of a Symposium on Fantastic Art and attracted more than 10,000 visitors.

Martina Hoffman

1999 & 2000 The Open Exhibition for Art of Imagination at the Mall Galleries continued. This Exhibition had now become a very popular annual event, giving artists of Imagination a public forum, and a chance to win valuable prizes. Many artists have been discovered through showing there, and have been taken up by visiting art dealers. The money awards helped artists who were finding it hard to survive.

A Magazine called Inscape was launched by the Society, to appear twice annually.

Lectures and classes were set up to spread the knowledge of good techniques in painting and sculpture. 

De Es Schwerthberger

 2001 H R Giger agreed to be an Honorary Patron, and invited Vonn Stropp, 1st Prize-Winner of the Art of Imagination Exhibition 2000 , and other members of the Society to visit his home in Switzerland, and travel with him to the H R Giger Museum at Gruyeres. An Exhibition of Members' work at his Museum was discussed.

Damien Micheals

2001 Damian Michaels from Australia, a Member of the Society for Art of Imagination and Editor of the 

Michel de Saint Ouen

acclaimed magazine "Art Visionary", launched the opening of his International Collection of Fantastic and Visionary Art at the Orange Museum, Australia, which was opened by the Director of the Society or Art of Imagination. The Exhibition was recieved with great enthusiasm and praise for its excellent quality. A special workshop on the Mische Technique was also organised in Melbourne.

(excerpt from The Society for Art of Imagination) website 

Philip Rubinov Jacobson

 




In June this summer, I will be attending a month long workshop in Vienna, Austria with Prof. Philip Rubinov Jacobson 


Philip Rubinov Jacobson

to learn the secret Mische Technique of painting with layers of egg-tempera and resin/oil glazes, shown here below in the first stages by the brilliant master painter, Madeline von Foerster



Mische Techique demonstrated by Madelaine von Foerster

 

I will talk more about the Mische Technique and the up coming workshop in my next post soon. Please check out and like my Facebook page for updates on my current work Artist Tihanyi

one of my current paintings in progress - Stephanie Tihanyi

My Artwork on cover of New Book: Been There, Done That, Try This.

book cover by Stephanie Tihanyi

I am excited, honored and very happy to announce one of my paintings was chosen to grace the cover of a newly published book. The book has just been published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. It has been co-written by world leading Asperger's (Autism Spectrum Disorders) expert, Dr. Tony Attwood and community organizer, Craig R Evans, who himself parents a child with Asperger's syndrome and is also the founder of the online autism community Autism Hangout. The third author is Anita Lesko, mentor, advocate and author of When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade. She is also a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, in addition to, a published military aviation photojournalist and has flown an F-15 fighter jet and a Navy helicopter., she also has Asperger's herself.


'The Visitation' a painting by Stephanie Tihanyi (all copyrights held by the artist)

detail of painting by Stephanie Tihanyi
(all copyrights held by artist)

The painting is one of my earlier works called "The Visitation", oil on Masonite ( 30" x 48"). The publishers felt it was best suited to illustrate one of the many books chapters: Accepting Change & Transformation as well as the actual cover. My personal feelings about my painting also coincide with this. I was trying to express the struggle and effort it takes of going through the process of transforming from a difficult past to perceiving and building a new future, full of hopes, possibilities and greater happiness and life fulfillment . I did this painting at a particularly difficult time in my life, when I felt very much in an emotional crisis. It was an emotional therapy for me, as is much of my artwork, it helped me to express feelings and thoughts I did not have words for, or even concepts to clothe them on. In the painting, the angel/child is balanced at the intersection of a corner of a building. One side is on fire, cracked and broken and in pain, the other side is whole and beautifully colored with the angel's one-wing. At the bottom of the painting, sits a
cat on the door step, (we used to have a cat in our family home), like a friend, who is waiting to be let in. Above, startled birds rise up into a deep blue sky with a crescent moon, as if showing the way to liberation.


'The Visitation' a painting by Stephanie Tihanyi
 (all copyrights held by the artist)

This book is the start of launching a mentorship movement within the autism community to help each other find success in life, this is an inspirational guide to life by Aspies for Aspies. Its a straight forward, clear, how to manual, chock full of perspectives, life stories and advise, not only just survive, but to thrive and reach your full potential, build self -esteem, be accepted for who you are, find support with each other and learn how to share your gifts with the world. I have not had a look inside the book yet. Its only just been released to the UK and Australian markets (21/2/14) and in the USA in March. I am really looking forward to reading this and reading all the wonderful advise , tips and support these other aspies are giving. Its great to know you do not feel alone and there are others that share, have struggled and found solutions for the unique challenges we experience, which is often invisible and not easily understood by others around us. I hope my copy will not take too long to get here.

From reading the reviews I can see it contains as many as 180 essays from 30 Aspie Mentors, including internationally well-known figures such as: DrTemple Grandin, Stephen Shore,  Liane Holliday Willey, Jennifer Cook O’Tool,  Lars Perner and Anita Lesko.

You can see more of my Visionary and Surreal painting on my website: HERE

Dweller Bettween The Worlds (re-edited)



Painting by Stephanie Tihanyi (all copyrights held by the artist)

The simple, absolute and immutable mysteries of divine Truth are hidden in the super-luminous darkness of that silence which is revealed in secret. For this darkness, though of deepest obscurity is yet radiantly clear; and, though beyond touch and sight, it more than fills our unseeing minds with splendors of transcendent beauty.”- Dyonysiusthe Areopagate

As I posted in my last post, I would write something about my current paintings. Often its not easy to put into words or conceptualize the thoughts about my spiritual interior experiences. A visual art like painting, is a more natural language for the spirit, than the intellectual mind. While it is important to explain what ones work to others, its just as important to explain and comprehend in a conscious way to the self also. By the act of trans-muting my experiences to others, I gain understanding. When one is sensing a spiritual truth or awakening in spirit as I am, it is important to transmute this knowledge down thru the lower levels to the conscious human earthly experience to be fully aware. Spiritual knowledge is a river, it must keep flowing.

Painting by Stephanie Tihanyi (all copyrights held by the artist)

 In my current painting you can sees a woman pouring out a dark liquid from a jug. It is an image I have been attracted to because of its mysterious beauty. It is said, spiritual and mystical knowledge comes into the mind and we create images or symbols as vessels to contain them. Where this spiritual knowledge comes from is hard to say, it seems all around, all directions. I feel sometimes like I am a bowl being filled with something, a kind of information or knowledge, so fast, I barely understand. Maybe not only do we create the symbols for our truths, we become them. I am an artist, I am conduit, I am not a spiritual master or authority, only one simple soul seeking truth, I feel is my purpose to record and communicate things I can only describe as mystical truths and spiritual gifts because as it is explained in Proverbs 11:24-25  "Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered".

In my painting a hidden obscured woman is pouring a dark fluid. This dark fluid spirals around her, causing all around her to be brightly illuminated, while the figure and water remain dark. Why is it dark, how can darkness illuminate?
Sometimes the image of a woman (or a man), carrying the water of life, is universally known as Aquarius, the water bearer, or the self appointed world-server. This fits well with my own path as an artist and the deepening commitment I feel to it, not just as work or a job but as a duty and a calling to a path with purpose. This symbol has had long history in human cultures, from ancient Egypt, Sumeria and the around the Mediterranean. This image is also associated with the 17th card of the Major arcana of the tarot. The Star, a symbol of hope and promise. Common sayings like, 'follow my star, wishing on a star, my lucky star' etc., pertain to this. In  ecclesiastical circles it is known as the star of the Magi. In the tarot card, some pictures show a man with a telescope, looking at the stars, and sometimes its called 'the astronomer', but usually it is a nude woman holding two vessels, from one she pours water on the ground to nourish the earth and the other jug pours water into a pool. Above her one large star and seven smaller stars shine. To me this mysterious imagery is reveling the path or space that connects the eternal waters of the subconscious universe to earthly consciousness, in order to draw its healing energies into the everyday world.   

                                         Paintings by Stephanie Tihanyi
                                           (all copyrights held by the artist)
I have tried to show in my painting, the forces that dispense the essence of, the renewing waters of life; that which gives the means of perpetually renewing its creations, after destruction. The Star is a card of faith, and of hope, both in your own power, and in powers greater than your own.

                                           Paintings by Stephanie Tihanyi
                                                         (all copyrights held by the artist)

"Alternative names of this card are “Daughter of the Firmament” and “Dweller between the Waters“. This card corresponds to the path that connects Netzach and Yesod on the Kabbalistic tree of life. We can also attribute to this card the Hebrew letter Hey  and the symbolic image assigned to Aquarius".The Path Of The Star

 In my painting the jug the woman pours out a dark fluid, a spiraling river of dark light into the waters of the firmament. Her body, the jug and water seem to be dark or hidden, but that does not mean it its absent of light, because it illuminates all that it contacts. It is what is known since ancient times as 'invisible light', the 'super-luminous' or 'quintessence'. In the physical universe 'dark light' is merely type light energy wavelength  beyond our visual range. You can detect the 'dark light' spectrum around the base flame of a candle, next to the wick, there is a dark area, then you see the visible white flame light, and then the amorphous aura around the white flame itself.

This darkness does not deny the glory that flows from it. It is nοt the absence of light: rather it is 'more than luminous'. Or again, cοincidentia oppositorum, the coincidence of opposites (which in their very unity remain opposites): the darkness is simultaneously both the brightest light, dark through excess of brightness, and the blackest obscurity because it is 'transluminous'.
Likewise the darkness does not deny the Word but reaches the Silence in the very heart of the Word.
 Olivier L  Clément -The Roots of Christian Mysticism;
I intend this work to have three parts, I have pretty much finished the first panel and need only to work some more on the center panel. The final panel that represents the physical universe of matter, is what I am currently working on. These are the most detailed and the longest time I have ever spent on a painting. I have really enjoyed being so immersed in one subject, though the subject seems to develop many themes as it progressed. I have starting and am working on other paintings as well, this is my longest obsession so far. I will keep updates on progress and new insights as I work.

                                 Painting by Stephanie Tihanyi (all copyright held by the artist)