Essay

My creative process requires that I become receptive to the images, symbols, and visions that frequently come to mind in my daily life. Whether they appear in a dream, are insights upon waking up, or come to me while I’m performing everyday tasks their energy and pressing urgency takes a hold of me, demanding that I pay attention to what they are trying to convey.

When I began creating my Archetypal Art, I was drawn to the novelty of the images as they did not correlate with my usual way of painting at the time. In the process of creating these new images, I gradually became aware of things about myself and realized that my soul was trying to find expression through me.

The language of images allows me to connect deeper with myself.

When I work with images, I am engaging with a forgotten language. The language of images allows me to connect deeper with myself. And since images are the expression of the soul, I’m really having a conversation with my soul.

In the process of creating an image or bringing an image to conscious awareness, I find myself having a conversation with it. It’s time of connection; it’s time that I’m spending with myself. There is a sacredness in the moment that is of immense value to me.

When the images come to my attention, they manifest in various ways: it might be a shape, light, or colors that take on a specific form once I sit down in front of a sheet of paper or canvas. I don’t think about what I want to create; it comes to my awareness when I’m ready to receive and become conscious of it.

Part of the process involves becoming aware of feelings and discovering in which part of my body this image is embedded…

Part of the process involves becoming aware of feelings and discovering in which part of my body this image is embedded… is it my lower abdomen? stomach? chest? head? After I finish creating the image, I proceed to contemplate it and continue interacting with it for days. At times I will go to bed exhausted after hours of painting and wake up in the morning with more insights. Another thing I do is amplify the content of the image by reaching out to one of Jung’s books. Then I try to put this into context with my current situation. Other times I’m reading Jung, and the images start coming to mind as a reflection of what I’m reading.

There is an overall sense of trust in the process… trust in life.

The resulting symbol allows me to experience and express reality as a whole. In the symbol, I find a representation of the inner dynamics united as one. Inside and outside, up and down, instincts and archetypes, body and mind. The symbol, as an expression of the soul, unites the opposites within, resolving my internal conflict and restlessness, releasing accumulated energy, and bringing meaning to my life.

I began to see how the images formed a pattern that mirrored my life as it unfolded from within.

After many years of commitment to my inner development, I began to see how the images formed a pattern that mirrored my life as it unfolded from within. Each image tells us a story, and when we look at them together, we see the story as it unfolds on a larger scale, as personal and collective history intertwine.

There is a unique feeling every time I actively participate in my creative process, a feeling that impregnates me with a deeper sense of knowing. During the process I engage with my emotions, feel something, shape it, reflect on it, and in return become a bit more conscious of the direction my life wants to take as it unfolds. It is a form of active imagination, the process described by C.G. Jung in which we engage with fantasies in a conscious way, as a means of healing and personal growth.

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