More than meets the eye...

Allegorical landscape

“more than meets the eye”

Digitally enhanced ink drawing

Sometimes there is more to art than meets the eye, even in landscapes. A picture of a green valley is not only about a valley if the artist intended it as an allegory. In art, allegories express a truth about life or human nature through symbols. As an allegory, a green valley might represent many ideas, such as prosperity or optimism for the future. 

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Dreams...

Island of consciousness 

“dreams and fantasies”

11"X14" Ink drawing

“At the very apex of the psyche is the ego, which is at the center of consciousness. Jung likes to think of consciousness as an island, and surrounding this island is a very large ocean that represents the unconscious. Stretching away from this island toward the deep is a shadow land Jung calls the personal unconscious. It belongs to the individual and holds countless forgotten experiences; it is formed from impulses, wishes, and subliminal perceptions. Memories can be recalled from this area either through dreams, fantasies, chance associations, or even direct recall.” http://www.soultrek.com/12%20psych%20jung.html

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Phenomenology...

Phenomenology of Perception

“complex scenes of life”

“Gestalt principles, or gestalt laws, are rules of the organization of perceptual scenes. When we look at the world, we usually perceive complex scenes composed of many groups of objects on some background, with the objects themselves consisting of parts, which may be composed of smaller parts, etc. How do we accomplish such a remarkable perceptual achievement, given that the visual input is, in a sense, just a spatial distribution of variously colored individual points? The beginnings and the direction of an answer were provided by a group of researchers early in the twentieth century, known as Gestalt psychologists. Gestalt is a German word meaning 'shape' or 'form'. Gestalt principles aim to formulate the regularities according to which the perceptual input is organized into unitary forms, also referred to as (sub)wholes, groups, groupings, or Gestalten (the plural form of Gestalt). These principles mainly apply to vision, but there are also analogous aspects in auditory and somatosensory perception. In visual perception, such forms are the regions of the visual field whose portions are perceived as grouped or joined together, and are thus segregated from the rest of the visual field. The Gestalt principles were introduced in a seminal paper by Wertheimer (1923/1938), and were further developed by Köhler (1929), Koffka (1935), and Metzger (1936/2006; see review by Todorović, 2007). For a modern textbook presentation, including more recent contributions, see Palmer (1999).”

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Gestalt_principles

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Connections...

Connections inside my head

“That reminds me..”

11”X14” Ink drawing

If one thing makes you think of another thing, you form a connection between them in your mind. The more connections you have, the better access you have to cross-connections. The more things something can remind you of, the more you know about it, or are learning about it.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Free passage...

Free passage for the soul 

“a place of transition “

11”X14” Ink drawing

In The Book of Symbols, the door is described as a place of transition. In ancient Egyptian tombs, doorways were built to allow free passage for the soul. In ancient Roman cities, the deity Janus protected doorways into the city. The door also protects a house from the elements and whatever else is outside. In the Christian tradition, people often hang crosses over the doorway to keep out evil spirits. In some Eastern traditions, it is recommended to keep a Buddha statue facing the door, so when people enter he is the first thing they see.

(Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. The book of Symbols. Germany, 2010.)

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Abyss...

Voyage over the abyss 

“rare for the rare”

Ink drawing 11”X14”

“In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound, the delicacies and thrills for the refined, and, to sum up shortly, everything rare for the rare.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Little planet...

Insignificant little planet

Ink drawing 9”X12”

 “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Earth...

Earth speaks

Digital print/ink drawing. 9"X12"

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Fulfillment...

Earth’s Cycle of the Soul
spiritual fulfillment
Ink drawing 11”X14”

A  minor variation of the cross in a circe is often depicted in ancient esoteric societies, in sacred religious orders, in indigenous cultures, and in petroglyphs.  This symbol represents a fundamental foundation upon which many faiths are built and it is also made to remind us that something profound is to occur for the entire Earth and for all people. This symbol is a precursor of an event pointing to the spiritual fulfillment of all life.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Great chain..

Great chain of being

hierarchical structure of all matter and life,

Ink drawing11”X14”

“The great chain of being (Latin: scala naturae, literally "ladder/stair-way of nature"), is a concept derived from Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus; further developed during the Middle Ages, it reached full expression in early modern Neoplatonism.  It details a strict, religious hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God. The chain starts from God and progresses downward to angels, demons (fallen/renegade angels), stars, moon, kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, domesticated animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious metals, and other minerals.”

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

The endless sea...

Teaching

“the endless immensity of the sea”

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.