This is the time of year when it feels like a good time to share my painting "Bone Sister". Years ago there was a website called Virtual Beret which accepted submissions from artists and asked them to describe a work of art in terms of a "beret" worn by the subject of their art. For me, I sent them "Bone Sister" and wrote about her. At a time when I was denying my spirituality, it still made its way to my consciousness through my art. Here is what I wrote about "Bone Sister":
This is Bone Sister.
Bone Sister is a very tall, thin, slender creature who has the appearance of being very frail though in fact she is very strong, as she has endured since the beginning of humanity. Her skin is pale and lucid, and has a subtle sheen like the glow of the moon on a clear winter night. Her eyes are of shimmery gold, and stare into your soul with the force of a thousand lasers. They direct their steady gaze deep into your subconscious and suck away all your pain with the strength of their glare.
She shares this pain with you, and helps you to understand and accept that which we can never escape - Death. Bone Sister is the Guide through the Underworld, and helps those on an earthly plane who have lost the ones they loved.
Bone Sister has mastered the art of creating shadows, illusions, dreams, memories and visions for those she helps, and she accomplishes these things in a couple of ways. One of the ways in which she does this is by spinning images from a glistening web-like substance emitted from her long spider-like fingertips. She does this so fast that it is almost impossible to see her move. The images are faint and ghostly, calling forth souls that have passed into another dimension so that they may bid one last farewell to those they left behind. Another medium she uses to do her work is her knowledge of the human psyche and her empathy for the human plight, which make it possible for her to cast images beneath the eyes of a person while they are sleeping.
These images are such that they will cause sweet dreams reminiscent of times that are past, and people that are gone from the material world.
Bone Sister's "beret" consists of two bone-like structures that are affixed to the sides of her bare skull, sitting at the sides of her head like two stationery closed angel's wings. They have become permanent, and have melded with the bones in her head. These bones are her crown, and make her face the altar at which to pray when darkness has unbiddenly descended and will not lift.
