Not for sale

Original painting is 18″ x 24″, acrylic on wood panel.

I painted this in winter 2022 to express what I was feeling in terms of psychic and telepathic experiences. I was beginning to understand my own hero’s journey and the fact that I was calling out for an equal to match me on my journey.

I didn’t have any models for the intensity and magnitude of what I was feeling, so I made Star Wars: The Force Awakens my bible. If seemed closer on the spectrum to a literal description of what I was experiencing than a metaphoric one. The Force was awakening in me. If Rey can do it, so can I.

This was my first time painting in this psychedelic-impressionist style, which became my favorite way to paint for the next year. I first manipulated some screenshots from The Force Awakens in Photoshop and projected them onto a wood panel, and traced an outline in pencil. The energy loop around Rey and Kylo Ren was not something I originally planned, but there was a perfect loop in the wood itself and I traced that into the scene. It would have looked empty without it.

I put down many, many layers of color as I painted this over the course of a few weeks. In between each layer, of course, I had to let the paint dry, or it would have been a muddy mess. Sometimes I scooped up multiple colors on my brush and let them mix themselves on the panel.

“The Force” is what I envisioned the unseen energy realm to look like- infinite energy available from everywhere at all times and able to be summoned by enlightened minds. I felt that two people in alignment with themselves and each other would be able to manipulate this energy field in ways “unseen for generations”.

I could also have called this painting Dyad, but I like The Force.