The Evolution of my Artistic vision: a whole new chapter in my Becoming

It has been some time since I have recollected the fragments of moments that were once just random brushstrokes on the canvas of Life. Looking at them now, I see in each one the power and presence of their synthesis. I see how every stroke has added to a living unity; a unity that is decorated by infinite colors and the brilliance of the brightest stars. And it is in this living unity that there exists, simultaneously, a memory of what once was and a potential of what could be.

The Masterpiece we are creating here in this human experience is an unveiling of Eternity and if we choose to dance with destiny on the path of Becoming, we will be lead on an adventure that will reveal to us more and more of the Beauty of Being that has been here all along.

In my opinion, this is the greatest and most exquisite opportunity!

...One that inspires me to keep on painting and loving and living and breathing into gratitude for all of it.

My purpose for sharing this is to expand upon the reason why I chose to be an artist and devote my life to making and multiplying more of the beauty I see around me and the truth I feel inside of me.

The creative act has taught me so much about the great unfolding of life and has revealed to me secrets that I would have never been aware of should I have chosen a different path.

To respond to the call of adventure of the artist is to say yes to exploring a whole new world of magic; while at the same time, mustering up a tremendous amount of courage to traverse the challenges alone.

I was twenty years old when I decided I would be an artist. I now know that that decision was not mine alone, but part of a greater vision wanting to be realized through me. I believe we all came here for a very special reason and it is our mission to let the Great Mystery reveal it to us in whatever ways it wishes to.

For me, it has been through the wonderful world of Art; where the seen and the unseen are bridged through expression and given voice through color and form and a visual language of the spirit.

I plan on elaborating on my full story at another time, but for now I will keep it short and sweet as my intention here is to share the evolution of my artistry and this new chapter that is upon me now.

The past few years have felt like there is an entirely new version of myself and my expression being birthed. The birthing process can be very intense and feel extremely uncomfortable. However, I have found that just beyond the intensity and discomfort of change, there is liberation. Just as the caterpillar feels as it emerges from the cacoon and realizes it is a butterfly and it is in its nature to actually fly!

Life is full of seasons like this, and I have found that each one has gotten me closer to my truest essence. I celebrate every single stage of my Becoming and how each one continues to take me further away from who I think I am and closer to who I actually am at the core of my Being.

The greatest gift I have given myself in the past few years has been the gift of experimentation. I’ve worked on countless bodies of work; some of them telling a greater story that is still unfolding and others I see as merely a stepping stone to a more aligned vision. Every iteration of my creative expression has been vital in shaping the artist I am today.

Right at the beginning of my journey as an artist I started a series I called Color Channeling. You can find my portfolio of pieces here. I started playing with images and layering in photoshop and decided to create oil paintings from these.  It was a more commercial way of creating stimulating portraits that were imbued with color and life. I shared these on my instagram and people loved them. I painted the classic photos of legendary faces and lucky enough, people were buying them. My decision to paint the Mona Lisa in this style led to my instagram going viral and gave me a greater audience to share my story.

Of course these paintings had their own beauty to them, but they did not feel like they contained the Beauty of my Soul. I was eagerly seeking for my own voice. I found that painting famous people or my own iterations of famous paintings became dull an did not nourish the parts of me that needed real authenticity. Here and there I would create a painting which sprang from my Soul, but it seemed that all throughout my twenties I was crying out for that true inspiration… Inspiration that would make my heart sing.  I had always felt it, but I knew that it was hidden in a reality deeper than I could even see at the time.  There were layers of myself I had to let go of completely to even access the gifts that I am aware of now.

There was a pivotal painting and a clear vision that came through in 2023.  She introduced herself as the Weaver of Worlds. It was clear to me that she was the embodiment of my true Self, sitting proud on a throne; accompanied by her owl guardian, in some imaginal realm far from this one.  Her illumined imagination was shimmering in gold and surrounded by rainbow spirals. She wore a crown of blue forms that she brought back with her from her journey into the Matrix of Spirit, a body of work that came through around the same time.  She cries a collective tear containing both our deepest pains and our highest joys, as a reminder that what truly connects us all is our capacity to feel.

The Weaver of Worlds reminded me of my power as a creator and that on this great Mission of Art, I must use my creative imagination to weave worlds of my own; worlds that will awaken others to their own Beauty and Truth.

The Matrix of Spirit was a body of work that emerged at the same time as the Weaver of Worlds and was a deep dive into the world of form. Particularly, blue forms: blue forms freed from the limitations of matter, flowing from an unconscious communion with spirit.

I suppose every artist has their blue period.  This is mine. And I must say, this collection is still in the process. I have finished three of the paintings and five are still in the process of Becoming… to be fully completed in perfect timing. What I’ve learned about paintings is that they have timeline of their own, and will call me back when they must be completed!

For now, they ask for space, so I can explore and tend to some other magical gardens and landscapes of my inner worlds.

I see how this body of work was a bridge and an initiation into trusting my hand and my mind to bring life into imaginary forms. Every painting in the Matrix of Spirit was completely unplanned; a spontaneous combustion of organic forms. And it was in this spontaneity that I unlocked something valuable in my creative process.  I started to listen and respond to the creative impulse without letting thoughts or attachments get in the way. 

I let the forms take a life of their own and shape-shift and change and become something entirely new.  Oh, the beauty in surrender!

This was a breakthrough that allowed me to start seeing my purest essence breathing through my work. All the countless hours of painting had paid off! Through this initiation I cultivated a tremendous amount of patience and a deeper level of trust in my creative imagination.

The other body of work that came shortly after was called The Matrix of Matter, a collection of nude self portraits celebrating the female form and the nature of Woman in the beauty and glory of the naked body. 

I honed into just the body as the subject matter, so as to detach from any identification that may come with portraying my face, as my intention was to go beyond the self to a more universal symbol of Woman. The paintings that emerged became a source of empowerment and liberation.

At the time, I was really desiring to know myself better.  Self being both the spiritual aspect of my Being and the physical aspect of my Being.  Spirit and Matter.  The Nature on the inside and the Nature on the outside. The unseen and the seen.

The paintings in the Matrix of Matter became another initiation: an initiation in technique, one in which I was honoring and revering my physical form in the process.  What emerged was an offering of my own Beauty into World, eternalized through painting. This was the first series in which I pushed my technique in oil painting further, exploring the process of layering. I applied the same technique I used on my earlier color channeling pieces, but pushed it a bit further, adding more depth and perspective.

The seven paintings pushed me as an artist and I felt like it was a major up level in my ability to render realism, while maintaining a sense of the dreamlike nature of reality where colors are sensed with the Soul.

The Matrix of Matter and the Matrix of Spirit, together, helped me find a more integrated sense of self in my artistry and were a stepping stone into where I am now.

...So where exactly am I now?

I am on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and I look out my window to see a wonder world of greening forms.  I hear the faint whispers of wind that are dressed in birdsong and I feel the power of the mountains as they gaze out into an endless Sea of Peace.

I am in Paradise and the Natural World is buzzing my body alive.

Here I am, in the next chapter of my Becoming, where I embody the energy of the woman whom the spirit of the flowers used to bring forth a renewed vision of Earth!

When I moved here, I brought with me a package of the remaining paintings in the Matrix of Spirit and another self portrait I haven’t mentioned yet (she deserves her own post entirely).  I took only the essential, as part of me knew that there was whole new world of inspiration waiting for me in my new Life.

A Garden of infinite possibilities has been awakened inside of me!

Never before have I looked to Nature for inspiration and yet, now she is my muse! I have a studio filled to the brim with mystical flowers in transcendent landscapes and every day I look around me to find more and more inspiration in Mother Nature who is teeming with an abundance of life force. Her forms are alive and breathing with Spirit and she gives and gives endlessly.

My eyes are being opened to an intimacy with Nature that I have never experienced before! What a gift it is to experience this closeness to the Creator and this purity of connection to the elements.

In this intimacy, there is a collaboration and a celebration of the beauty of the World and a Beauty Beyond this world. I am learning how to use what my eyes see and translate it to a whole new reality, one that can only be experienced by going beyond the senses.

My true imagination is being activated here and along with it, a desire to pour it out and give it to the world with as much enthusiasm, love, and vitality as I have received it with!

The purity of my vision is becoming very clear. A mystical consciousness is entering into my work.

I have just finished my first body of work called Visitations of the Beyond. I see these new paintings as a revelation of this refined vision; one that will continue to expand and evolve into greater realization as I learn the language of the Water, the Earth, the Air, the Fire, and the Spirit…

More on this in my next post.

With Lots of love, the deepest gratitude, and Aloha,

Zoe Rose