All images and text are Copyright 2004,
Cathy Carey, San Diego, CA. All rights reserved. |
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The desert was once an inland sea. The desert world holds the same fascination for me as the underwater world. As I travel in the desert or snorkel in the sea, I feel like a visitor interpreting symbols and artifacts of a similar prehistoric place. When I am painting my impressions of the combined scenery of oceans and deserts, I feel connections to things that are happening in my personal life and the global world today. Environmental issues cause me to wonder how the earth is transforming around me, is the ocean returning to the desert? The battle between global politics and religion causes me to question, am I a fish out of water in my world? My complex psychological road maps cause me to wonder, do I live with remnants and habits of other people and times I'm not aware of?" These thoughts come through in my paintings as symbols of mystery and hope, as life, death, and dream states all intertwined. |
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) The Strange and Beautiful Fantasy Between Boys and Girls 22 x 30 watercolor SOLD |
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) Reach for a Dream 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Song of Ginger 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
) Seven Dancing Princesses 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Ginger Courtyard 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Protean Moon 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed SOLD |
) Dragonfly Garden 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Dreams Fly Home at Dawn 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) In a Lost World 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
) Angels Visit Earth but Sleep in a House of Clouds 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Beneath the Phoenician Sea 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Devonian Desert 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
) La Quinta Cactus Flower Song 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed |
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) Under an Inland Sea 22 x 30 watercolor unframed, or framed SOLD |
Symbolic Images
. Images of doors and windows are symbols of moving into another place. The changes that take place from age and the growth of character. The "death" of old habits and ideas. I see these doors and windows as challenges to growth and renewal. A place that I am moving towards, things I yearn to achieve. Sometimes these ambitions are first revealed in a dream state, as a vague intangible movement of consciousness towards something beyond.
. Courtyards are "waiting" places. The places between waking and dreams, consciousness and death. They are like the watering holes of the wild west, places of sanctuary and rest where everyone needs to feel safe and replenish the body and spirit without fear of destruction and war. Houses are similar places of retreat and safety, but are "staying" places.
. Open pots and clay vessels are symbolic containers that house the spirit - the spirit "body". Pottery is made from the transformation of earth when combined with water (the spirit), then hardened into shape by the sun to hold water until they dissolve and return to earth.
. Sharp tipped agaves are symbols of the things that catch and hold you to a place. Beautiful bad things that hurt and yet fascinate, like the moth to the flame. The agave represents temptation and mortality.
. The Angel Trumpet Flowers and Datura have a dual meaning for me. They are very poisonous plants, yet fabulously beautiful and delicate. They bloom in the cool air or at night and wilt in the heat, they live intensely for a short time and exude a heavy perfume. They are symbolic images of beauty and potent women in my paintings. I also use them to indicate a dream state or the world beyond life.
. Cactus with their thorny exteriors and phallic imagery represent men. When they bloom, they represent the transformation into a dual spirit, the integration of the mortal and divine. A cactus flower in my paintings is symbolic of the transformation through longing and love into a self realized being.
. Flowers in general represent angels, or the divine on earth. The eternal beauty of flowers crosses all cultures of meanings and remains a gift from nature. The intoxicating smell and swirling shapes, colors and lines represent the joy of life. . Gardens represent abundance. The richness of the earth to provide nourishment to the body and beauty to the soul. . Birds, dragonflies and fish represent the soul. The manifestation of the spirit in the body.
. The moon is an image of hope and renewal, the light at the end of the tunnel. The bright light that leads you through the dark night. I also use it as a symbol of mystery, the protean moods of man and the cyclic passage of time. When I put the moon into a painting, I am asking, "what will happen next?"
. Water of any kind is the embodiment of the spirit. Either an individual spirit or the great spirit that unites us all. I often show two sides of a lake, or an island across an ocean. This represents the journey one takes to reach integration. The path one follows to their goals, ambitions and dreams.
These paintings were done using ground minerals: Lapis Lazuli, Azurite, Malachite, Minnesota Pipestone, Sedona Rock, etc.
The prices for the Devonian Desert watercolor series 2004 are unframed, or framed (depending on frame availability) The sizes are 22" x 30" unframed.