After Eden

After Eden

After Eden

This is avery large oil painting on canvas I worked on from September 2024 and completed

in July 2025. It is the largest I have made to date, owing to the size of my studio which

begs for large paintings; I needed a step ladder for most of it. The painting was inspired by my study of astrophysics for the final year of my second degree in physics and maths, which I happily completed in June 2025. I do so miss the rigor of study but then there is more time to paint now.

Three is a powerful number

I love cosmology, the power, energy and maths of creative forces at work in space are incredible. I just wanted to paint something to represent those forces at work. Launching paint splatters on the black I then began to discover the outline of some figures which eventually began to resemble the three angels in the final image. There is something about painting three figures. Way, way back I had started a painting of three women conversing but never finished it. I recall, at that time, an energy between the three figures. Some years later I resolved to redo the painting but it did not transpire until this one. The three women seem to have been promoted to the angelic realms in the interim. Three is a powerful number: the Trinity; proton, neutron and electron; Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva; Buddha, Dharma, Sangha; Past, Present, Future; balance and harmony of mind, body and spirit; the stability of the shape of the triangle; childhood, adulthood and old age; beginning middle and end.

The three figures in the painting are angelic forces dancing across the newly created Universe, exuding large star forming dust clouds as they traverse space. One has a tear on her/his face as the significance of this creation was a result of the Fall, so I would fancy.

At the base of the painting are the figures of Adam and Eve, who is pregnant with Cain,

her first child. Adam is in an exhausted sleep from the distress of having been cast out of

Eden. Eve is pondering the child to come. In front of her is a long red pebble reminiscent of Uluru and a representation that the deep spirituality of Heaven is not lost but still present in all things on Earth. In the background is a city on a hill representing a holy place to journey towards. In the mid foreground and slightly to the right there is a hint of a migrating people leaving some boats behind, journeying to the place of promise.

Hope

I mused, as I was painting, the Creation of the Universe was like something that had spilled out of a vessel. Instead of it being lost completely, the forces within nature and being provide a way to return. The exasperation and fatigue of Adam is countered by the forward looking of Eve and a premonition of times to come, such as the Exodus and the return to a Promised Land. We can all make a pilgrimage in our hearts and we can all find a way to a place of balance and harmony but it requires us to see from the perspective of the cosmos. To regard ourselves from a more Divine perspectiuve, rather than grubbing around on the Earth being bogged down in our daily issues. We owe it to ourselves to think more widely and be open to the mystery physics, cosmology, math and true openness of spirit can lead us to.

So, despite the Fall there is also the hope of redemption and a way to return for every human being.