Yellow Rose Supernova

 

Title: Yellow Rose Supernova

Medium: Watercolor on hot press paper

Size 22 X 30 inches

 

Yellow Rose Supernova is an important work, a critical turning-point piece that is the first to be completed in phase II of Montana’s body of work: Exquisite Paintings on the Nature of Flowers. This painting marks the beginning of a new phase in Montana’s work originally dated early 2018.

 

The Story Behind this Painting

 

It was early 2018 when I began this painting and I was feeling a tremendous sense of creative renewal. Living in Santa Fe, NM at the time, I enjoyed the creative vibe of the city and spent a lot of time in my studio, walking around town, on nature paths and arroyos, and exploring. Doing my thing.

 

This painting began to materialize in January and seemed different somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it at first. But this was happening about a month or two after an intense inner experience triggered by music. It was in a social media group where coincidentally, I'd connected with an artist I'd seen perform at Carnegie Hall years before. We had a brief connection via chat which made an unexpectedly profound impression on me. It was an energetic activation that went beyond the casual interaction. Beyond words, my experience first came to be expressed in the painting Yellow Rose Supernova. I doubt he was aware of the energy that passed between us. But I sure was.

 

This exchange served as an initiation, an activation, for me and it left me changed. This is not the first spiritual awakening I've experienced, but this one directly affected my work. This musician was the conduit for an energetic download that the universe wanted me to receive. It essentially gave me an understanding that art was a profound means of communication, and of great importance to humanity. This goes deep for me and the resounding chords it touched set me further along on my path and gave me a push.

 

As I received this activation which lasted less than a minute, I hoped it would never stop. And in a way, it didn't. It was the beginning of a new phase of my work that I didn't yet understand. As time passed I realized I just had to reach to it within to draw on its vast sustenance connecting me to all of life.

 

Expansion can happen quickly and it can sometimes destabilize us. You may have come across this yourself, and if you have, you know it's not uncommon. There are no how-to, directions, or manuals for how to handle these shifts. Most of the time we aren't even aware they're happening, and we cant make them happen. They come when it's the right time. When we are ready, even if we think we're not. People may think you're crazy as you integrate and level up, but artists are known for thinking outside the box, so not a big deal for creative people like me. Real creativity is not for the faint-hearted or those who need certainty based on conventional norms.

 

An upgrade like this often makes you somewhat incompatible with your current surroundings but you don't know where you're supposed to go next just yet. And yes, it can be scary. At the time of this awakening, the road ahead was suddenly unclear and what was about to unfold was a series of experiences that would be very challenging. My sense of self-worth was on the block. Looking back at the paintings that followed this one I can see how they were all incredibly relevant as I explored my interior traversing this rocky road. The great takeaway is that now when people see my work they can benefit without having to go through all the turmoil I did. Maybe less of it. Through what I can only call compassion, the road is cleared. The paintings are encoded with light and provide transmissions.

 

During my experience, I was shown how energy can be wrapped in form but communicate in ways that go beyond our current structure of understanding. Its light just bypasses the thinking mind, activating the codes within us that are the light of our being. It's all inside us all along.

 

This confirmed what I already knew, but lifted me, speeding things up so I could do my work with power. Literally. It plugged me into a deeper layer of myself. It showed me that certain kinds of communication can come through unimpeded by fixed forms of thought and I was directed to trust this more. Trust. It demonstrated this as I received the download with direct and immediate understanding. Nothing in the way. Nothing to think about. Boom. Supernova. 

 

Though I can write about this my words can't do it justice. Who doesn't know this stuff? No one. It's so simple. Or is it? The seed already inside me was sparked by a flash of lightning and now it was germinating inside me. All I could do is followed its prompts. And, so I did, through creativity, through painting.

 

For weeks, the fallout from this event filtered down into every aspect of my life and integrated a little at a time. I didn't realize it but I'd begun a whole new phase of my work with this painting. Yellow Rose Supernova marks the beginning of phase two of Exquisite Paintings on the Nature of Flowers, building on nearly 20 years of the original body of work that began in the late 1990s.

 

The story continues as my work continues.

 

Leslie Montana