'Divine Illumination' Part 2

Do you know how sometimes little things in our lives that don't seem significant, make sense after a while?

Well, over the many many years I've been painting, I noticed recently that LIGHT is a major theme in my work. I think that's why I was attracted to ancient techniques using genuine gold as well as making my own paints using thin glazes and pure pigments. Because all these techniques preserve the light.

One of these is the ancient technique is water gilding. Water gilding is the Rolls Royce of the gilding world. It is the pinnacle of this craft and produces the best results with the most longevity. It has many different stages that must be completed for the final finish, and each stage is a skill and craft in its own right. It consists of applying loose sheets of genuine gold on a layer of prepared clay (bole). The bole supplies a flexible surface that allows me to polish the gold with an agate burnisher (stone). This gives the gold a brilliant and very smooth effect. The bole gives the gold red warm reflections due to the gold transparency. I didn’t know how transparent gold is until I took a sheet of gold and could see through it!!

This technique of gilding requires a significant investment in materials and long practice to obtain good results.

It's magical how all pure materials from our planet work together in harmony. The clay, gold and agate stone all work together to bring out the gold's divine beauty and reveals its heavenly light. Each element in this process has its purpose.

Timing is crucial for the process to work in each step.

 I see that as a metaphor of life. 

 Do you find that when you embrace the humbling events in your life and allow them to shape you, surrender to them then you’ll be more able to shine the light within and become stronger like gold? I think that’s when we can experience a glimpse of Divine Illumination that I talked about in my previous letter.

 Every moment and event has its purpose in the grand scheme of our lives.  

It’s a great relief, to be able to embrace the most humbling of moments in our lives or what it seems trivial and allow them to work together to bring the beauty and light that's within you.

Without the clay and the agate stone, the gold won't reveal its true essence, it's reflective beauty. And so without the clay, and the stone in your life,  the light will not shine in its full glory. 

So are you embracing and trusting the Divine Creator that the clay, the stone and the gold will work together in harmony to bring out the beauty of light within you? and for you to experience Divine Illumination?

I’d love to hear from you. How have you experienced these moments in your life recently? Leave a comment below.