Saturn Conjunct Venus

SATURN CONJUNCT VENUS is a 29" x 29" paper photo-collage behind an old-fashioned, wood-framed window screen. When two planets are conjunct, it means that they are very near each other in the same part of the heavens from our point of view on earth, and they are said to influence each other.

Venus is, of course, the planet of love and Saturn is the planet of constraints and inexorables, like Time, Taxes, and sometimes, in the Grim Reaper role, Death. The romantic pinks of the Valentine collage give way to tones and images that are both fiercer and colder here. And whereas the other one can hang on any living room wall, this one is a more uncomfortable composition all round.

Valentine

VALENTINE is a 25" x 36" photo-collage which I am posting to close the parentheses on the February 14 holiday weekend. We had a very busy time in the Transit Art studios Saturday and Sunday, welcoming visitors from the area and also those who came to take part in the three-day Bluegrass Festival.

This piece is built around a central image of Botticelli's Birth of Venus, fractured and superimposed over a heart-shaped, mysteriously whirling Kali-esque figure. The whole collage is covered with a layer of glaze and tissue paper, to blur the hard edges and add to the mystery. There are a lot of romantic pink tones, but the Valentine itself is smoky black and gray, very "noir" in spirit as well as in color.