I recognize the fact that although this program has capabilities far beyond what are expressed in my piece, I decided to try and stick with what I know and make a collage. My starting point was the concept of the Chakras and their various connections with different aspects of human life. The Root Chakra, the lowest Chakra of the 7 main chakras I chose to illustrate, is supposed to link one with the physical world, so I put an earth there. The naval chakra is the center for pure emotion creativity, so I used a moon that I painted in my last painting over that. The next one up is the solar plexus and it is where feeling and being are integrated and where personality is formed. For this spot I chose a sunflower because to me a sunflower seems like a physical manifestation of joy. Above that is the heart chakra and this chakra governs the ability to love without fear or self-consciousness. Over this one I put a picture of my son Raleigh’s face. This deals with all things related to sound. Over this I put a mandala with a sun a moon and stars on it to symbolize the natural communication that goes on in the cosmos. The next one is the third eye. This chakra is connected to all of the senses. The uppermost chakra is the crown chakra; this is where human beings connect to the universe or god. I used an image of an iris to illustrate a cone of energy that connects me to super love!

Standing next to me at my feet is a great white egret, which is one of my favorite birds. This summer at the park I work at I would go to the boat ramp almost every morning and say hello to these birds. There was a couple of them nesting in the reeds on the other side of Gordon’s creek. I would watch them at low tide on their long graceful legs, walking slowly across the water or looking down waiting for a fish. One morning I saw 14 of them in a Cyprus tree across the creek and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Next to the bird on the left are my rivers, The James, which I grew up swimming in and loving and the Chickahominy, which I only within the past couple of years developed a relationship with. I think about rivers a lot and what they mean to people. On the other side of my legs is a picture I took in the alley next to Joes Inn in the Fan. I love this picture because it shows the unexpected sweetness that is around so many corners. In the top left is a picture of Mount Kailash, this is a Tibetan Buddhist holy spot and I heard somewhere that it is the crown chakra of the earth. I guess I like that idea, it has sort of stuck with me ever sense I heard it, so now it is a part of me so that is why I included it. So that is me!

This is what I started with

This is a picture of the beautiful and talented stephanie! I Croped the image to get a more intereting composition and I put a color layer or her eyes over the black and white.

Our Super Hero
When we were thinking about heroes Stephanie and I both thought about gods or I guess goddesses. We have combined several holy ladies to get this super woman. We thought about Mary and her love and gentleness, but also incorporated the Hindu goddesses Kali, who is a little more ferocious. We also decided to use Venus the Goddess of Love, but a more earthly love. We thought that all of these deities together make a pretty amazing hero. Mary’s divine love balanced by Kali’s cleansing fires of destruction and rejuvenation, along with Venus who knows her own body so well all rolled into one for me personifies all the necessary characteristics of a mother. In her hands she holds four sacred symbols that I like to think of as her gifts to mankind. The ankh which represents life, both eternal and physical life, and the star of David which symbolizes the merging of the god consciousness with man’s consciousness, and the rose a symbol of silence and the nautilus shell which represents the divine proportion on which the universe is formed. Our hero stands in front of a mandala, which is a meditation tool that represents a map of the universe.
Stephanie did most of the photo shopping but I got down with the magnetic lasso tool to cut out some symbols and the paint bucket to fill in the mandala.

Our Hero