Aquarius the next painting in this series occupies most of my 4th house. The house of family and home life. A big inspiration for this piece was captivating different ideas of motion.
Symbolism
Many of the ideas in this painting take inspiration off motion of flowing energy. The motion a flame has as it flickers, the swirling shapes throughout the background almost representing a type of cloud.
Elements of water appeared throughout this painting as well, especially with the rain and the orange blob shapes almost like puddles of water. I think this helps subtly tie into the idea that Aquarius feels like it should be a water sign. The symbol associated with Aquarius is the water bearer after all.
Music Bb/G
Songs:
Motion Sickness: Phoebe Bridgers, Youth: Daughter, Sweater Weather: The Neighbourhood, Cigarette Daydreams: Cage the Elephant
When I was listening to these songs I wanted to capture this idea of motion, especially with the song Motion Sickness. What does that look like to me, how can I create what that feels like in my body as a stagnant element in a painting. One of the big things that came from wanting to achieve motion was through the red swirls in the top right and the gold swirls in the back.
I find that with Motion Sickness its almost this idea of spinning and getting all dizzy in the head and these symbols seem to help capture that.
The lyrics and the way the music is in the chorus for Sweater Weather inspired some of the other elements.
Reflection
The Aquarius painting changed drastically in the amount of symbols and ideas that came to mind while working on it. This was created during a time of high energy and lots of creativity. Many big projects going on at once and I think the imagery of the painting reflects this shift in energy from an Earth sign Capricorn to an Air sign Aquarius.
While working on the previous painting in this series Capricorn I was emotional in a much lower mood. The ideas while working on the concept art for this piece though filled the whole page of space I had to design the painting.
The difference in my own emotional moods reflects this change we see when we move from Capricorn slowed down, persistent energy, to the energetic, mental agility of Aquarius.
Where in your life is there a lot of innovative, creative energy?
How do you manage and find balance when multiple ideas are floating around?