Labyrinth

14x11

mediums/materials: phosphorescent paints, found objects, paper, wax, photo collage, oxidative inks, distress paint and inks, acrylic pouring, digitally altered images, acrylic paint, watercolor, spray paint, walnut ink, staining mediums, tissue paper, mica powders, glitter, heavy gel medium, gesso, pebeo prism and fantasy paints, ceramic paint, stained glass paint, alcohol inks, iridescent inks, distress crayons, charcoal, pastels, oil pastels, string, beads, jewelry, gems, chains, buttons, foils, newspaper, vinyl, plastic, walnut inks, india ink, colorshift paints and more!

The aerial view of Mediterranean architecture creates literal labyrinth—narrow streets designed before cars, organic growth patterns of settlements that evolved over centuries rather than being planned. From above, human order reveals its underlying chaos, or perhaps its organic intelligence, growing like coral or fungal networks. The Buddha hands in mudra position reference specific gestures with codified meanings in Buddhist and Hindu practice—teaching, protection, meditation, or fearlessness. Here they suggest that spiritual guidance exists within the maze, that the path includes pausing for prayer or contemplation. The spirals scattered throughout reference sacred geometry found across cultures—the Fibonacci sequence, golden ratio, the shape of shells and galaxies and water draining, suggesting universal patterns beneath apparent randomness. The oxidized surfaces with their chemical reactions create maps of transformation, showing how materials interact and change, how combination creates new properties

This work contemplates the difference between being lost and following a winding path that simply hasn't revealed its destination. The labyrinth traditionally functions as walking meditation—the path is singular, determined, but so complex that the walker must surrender to it, trusting without understanding the overall pattern. This differs from a maze where choices lead to dead ends and backtracking; the labyrinth has no wrong turns, only the appearance of aimlessness from within the journey. The piece asks whether our lives follow labyrinthine rather than maze-like logic—perhaps every choice leads eventually to center, perhaps getting lost is impossible because all paths are the path. The turtle's patient swimming through aerial architecture creates surreal collision between element and environment, suggesting we often find ourselves navigating territories we weren't designed for, using skills adapted for different contexts. Yet adaptation is survival—the turtle persists. The Mediterranean buildings represent human attempts to create navigable space, our need for streets and doorways and orientation points, yet from sufficient distance our order appears organic, unplanned, labyrinthine despite intentions. The painting suggests that perhaps labyrinthine is the natural state, that linear paths are the illusion, that everything spirals. The spiritual element (Buddha hands) introduces the possibility that the labyrinth is not obstacle but teacher, that confusion and circling are methods of instruction, that arriving at center requires accumulating all the peripheral experience, walking every inch of the winding way. You cannot shortcut to enlightenment; you must walk the whole labyrinth, however long it takes. ```