Labyrinth Rose

Not long after painting this rose, the bestseller “The Da Vinci Code” was released which made crystal clear the ancient symbolism of the rose as the Divine Feminine. Working with the rose so closely, I additionally knew the rose to be  a natural labyrinth with the visual journey to the center and back nothing short of transformational. On this particular painting, I wasn’t planning to incorporate an actual labyrinth, but it was to be a special rose which is why I had a custom 77 x 77 inch canvas made. As it turned out, the red rose, which I was inventing as I went, didn’t look right as I neared completion. The size of the center was too small to balance that much rose. It was still wet, so I scraped the outer petals back from the edges of the canvas until the rose looked balanced. Now what?? Of course — the labyrinth! I got the sacred geometry from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and using the center of the rose as the center of the labyrinth, I painted a golden 7-circuit Chartres labyrinth onto the canvas with mathematical precision, most of it implied behind the rose of course. To complete the balance I added a bud at the bottom, held out as an offering to the world. And there was the Trinity: Mother, Daughter and Holy Ghost (sticking with the Divine Feminine aspect). I think the canvas knew all along and just needed the painter to get with the program.

Original painting size:  77 x 77 in
Year created:  2002