Soot and Soul
3. Raptus
August 2017 - October 2017
"We forget about the bulb, how it lives in a world of stillness, of darkness and dirt, invisible, yet trusting that one day, from deep within, a spike will swell and thrust itself into the world above.
That is the moment of raptus for an artist, when suddenly, with great intensity, an image erupts from within, shines forth, fusing dark soot and flaming soul."
Herlinde Spahr, Notebooks, 10-7-2017
Raptus 1
Raptus 2
Raptus 3
The Lily Within
"I am drawing the first large sketch of the final panel in Raptus, and I am struggling.
I draw and erase, draw and erase. I know the anatomy of the lily, how the leaves unzip from a common seam, how they arch outward with the tips curled backward, how the body is elongated like a trumpet. They have three sepals and three petals. They have six stamen with anthers pivoting on tiny filaments, they have a style and stigma that juts out from the center.
I know the vocabulary, I can draw each part. The problem is: I don't want to draw the lily in front of me, I want to draw the lily within, that invisible flower filled with emotion, with longing, a pistil at one with the stars."
Herlinde Spahr, Notebooks, 10-8-2017
Raptus is the third part in Soot and Soul
Size: 57" x 27"
Medium: oilpaint, lithographic ink, pencil on Formica panel. Scarsmade by the lithographic levigator
