Michael Pearce

 

I re-started working on the Geomantic Man painting, which is so big that I can barely manage to move it around the studio on my own. I have never been satisfied with the face, and now I want to change some of the symbols to more accurately present what I was not certain of before. I’d like to have the circles at his hands contain symbols that relate to the position of the sun in those positions on the horizon, so in the NE corner the symbol is for summer solstice sunrise; in the East, equinox sunrise; in the SE, winter solstice sunrise; in the SW, winter solstice sunset; in the West, equinox sunset; and in the NW, summer solstice sunset. The symbols about the circle are a different matter and I’ll get to them later.

 

I’ve spent an improbably long time painting these drops and the circle of the sun with white gesso, preparing the ground for the red bole primer then the gold leaf. I’m looking for enough gesso that can be sanded down to a smooth surface in this piece, particularly the surface of the sun itself. The monad (circle with the point) will be pure clean gold, representing the purity of spirit sought by philosophical alchemists. The teardrops look excessively bright right now, but they’re going to get a layer of gold, then a glaze of colour over it to dull them down a bit. 

The Marseilles card is sitting in my easel drawer for easy reference; it’s good to see what the old deck looks like and to compare it to my version while I’m working. I enjoy considering my relationship to this long gone designer who I’ll never meet, but feel a close affinity with.

Justice and Temperance are in a small show in Anaheim. Driving down there yesterday to deliver the works took five hours. Coming back took one. Beware of the vicissitudes of LA traffic!

  

I started on a new piece today, the Twins. I’m pretty excited to get started on more of the series of cards, and getting deeper into understanding the imagery contained in them. This one is particularly alchemical, using an image that’s found repeatedly in early alchemical illustrations, with the condensation of the distillation falling from the sun, which is a symbol for alchemical gold, or the fifth element.

I’m planning on doing the image of the sun as a circle with a point within it, but probably in gold leaf over a gesso surface. This is straight out of Pythagoras’ view of the universe expressed in numbers.

You’ll notice that this is the panel I’d started working for the painting of the pregnant lady. She has become the victim of prioritization, I fear. I really enjoy the tarot card project and I want to finish it sooner rather than later, so I decided to keep moving with the project rather than getting sidetracked.