Conversations with the Spirit of Elder III

23cms x 30cms
Elder tincture and elder syrup on cartridge paper

These paintings focus on a dialogue between the spirit of Elder and myself. There is a relationship based on equality where both of us have agency.

This is achieved through a process of deep immersion with the plant, as a medicine, through consuming extracts and teas, and as an intelligence (or energy essence) through psychic contact. The images themselves and the staining of the frame are produced using Elder extracts. They are embodiments of energy that provides a force inspired by the plant spirit. The colours and shapes of the paintings shift and move, breathe in and out, dissolve and contract with time.

The colour is a direct transmission of knowledge, which has brought clarity and purpose to my work. Helping me look more deeply at the tones and depth that can be explored by simply using one colour. The shapes appeared automatically helping me to enter a previously unknown world that shapeshifted from one image to another.

The spirit of Elder guides us to and through the veils of this life to the land of our ancestors. Their blood still runs through our veins, and the dark rich red of the Elderberry shows us its magical virtue and a deep connection to blood and our past.