Things That Fly, Like Summer

Summer is almost over, we’ll be celebrating the Equinox in a few days. I start this blog series of “Summer Atlas” with the last of the 29 artworks completed this summer, “Things That Fly, Like Summer”. This is the only collage of the series that is a Golden Rectangle, most of the others are small, 9×12 (I’ll write more about that later) or 22×30. If you look closely, you’ll see the squares sectioning it off, most prominently the one marked by fire, symbol of summer and the direction south. Perhaps I will create an atlas for winter/north. These two seasons are my most productive in the studio. Autumn/west and Spring/east are spent showing and with garden work.

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

This series was inspired by being home-bound, longing to travel. So I traveled through art. I created soul maps of things seen and felt in my environment. It was also enhanced by swimming frequently, as a way to gently exercise my hurting knees. So there is a sense of floating, most especially expressed in “Things That Fly, Like Summer”. In later posts I will show and tell more about some of the other artworks.

There is a lot of white space. I wanted to express gratitude for the three energies used in the healing work I practice; white energy is the state of pure being. Gold energy is “all that can happen will happen”. Silver energy is “the joy that comes from working in alignment with your soul force”. These are things that fly around us, always available to help.

You can see this as an inner map by following the first marks I made, the five blue ribbons. Four come from each of the four directions, ending in a Larkspur petal. One starts on the left and continues off the page, along which the gold leaf spheres flow. The path is long and meandering. The silver triangles follow the path of the golden spiral within the golden rectangle. since it’s rather subtle to see, I’ve created a legend and added some details below.

You can see it upclose for the first time at the Annual Open Studios ARTTOUR, November 5-6, I’d love to show you in person!

Legend, “Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, detail of watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, detail of watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, detail of watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, detail of watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien

“Things That Fly, Like Summer”, 18.5×30″, detail of watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien