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This piece started with the beauty of the frame that you see in the piece. The frame is the frame of a mirror that hangs in my daughter’s room. I love it! One day I was staring at it, and this whole little world started to evolve inside of it. As I was planning and sketching, the piece took on a life of its own. It wasn’t until the piece was finished that I could stand back to realize what I did. If you read on, you’ll find out what prompted me to finish too. This freedom in creating from trust is part of the beauty of being a visual artist. You create. You don’t always know why. What you do know is that you are pulled to give birth to something beautiful. You trust and breathe it out. The cardinals represent 2 of the angels who watch over me. My mother coming from the feminine left and my father from the masculine right. One from the light and the other from the dark. They will meet right in the middle, as does all of creation. Everything we know lies in the balance in the middle. Light needs dark, masculinity he needs feminine. This piece is my mantra visualized-“You know that place where light meets dark? That’s is where you will find me”. The best part- just as I was agonizing over the finishing touches, two cardinals were standing right outside of my window. TWO!! How perfect is that!?

Creating this piece was fun. An interesting study on perspective too. The cardinals were realistic-looking models with feathers and all. I photographed them from a few different angles against a blue background so that I’d be able to get them into the proper perspective. I changed the color of the wall to blue from pink, then pasted the carefully chosen nature image (beach in Charleston, SC) inside of the frame to set the stage for where the cardinals will meet. It took a couple of days to figure out where the dark side cardinal would come from. Finally, I poked a hole in a piece of paper and used that. I applied some textures found in nature and then spent ample time bending and shaping the lighting to push the story further. I knew the piece was finished when I saw the two cardinals outside of my window. I watched them until they flew away. Then pressed save. Cheers, and enjoy.

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Fall is the fourth image in a five-part series that correlates the seasons to the elements. This one image speaks of the important place in the cyclical nature of the seasons where Fall resides. Fall is a time of reflection and release. A form of twilight, if you will. A ‘tween time that separates Summer from Winter, and most importantly, where my birthday is :)

To make this image. The same white sheet used in the rest of the series was used here to create the subject. I would fling it into the air then press the shutter button on the camera like mad! This repeatedly happened until enough images would work to mold the sheet into the leaf digitally. The background image was taken off the back of our friend’s boat on a cloudy day. Admittedly, cloudy days like this one are my favorite. They have so much personality! The splashes below the “leaf” are the water droplets from the wake on the side of the boat. I chose a sepia tone for the image to add to further the vibe of Fall.

Now for the why.

In the spiritual realm (well... my spiritual realm anyway), the element associated with Fall is water. Water is associated with emotions, relationships, flow, release, subconscious, transformation, birth, etc. ln this image, the water is releasing or birthing a leaf. To me, falling (or, in this case, rising) leaves are symbolic of transformation. A way of letting go of what no longer serves so that new things have room to grow and blossom. Water helps things to flow in that way. Sometimes gentle, sometimes violent. It just depends on what the water is being fed if ya think about it. It’s receptive like that ;)

In this image, it seems as though the pure, white leaf is being powerfully expelled from the water with an unmistakable air of confidence. As if the water knows something that we don’t. Water can be so wise! My Uncle always said, “Water will find a way.” Of course, he was mostly talking about roofs and stuff like that, but still, it couldn’t be more true! It really does always find its way.

My guess about what is going on in this image is that Water tells us that this pure white leaf has another, better purpose than it did while underwater. This leaf is being shed to rise to light up the dark in the air and earth around it. A gift even. Life under the water for this majestic leaf was over. It was time to begin anew.

This is just my own guess. These days I’m finding that I am more of a conduit than anything else. Creating is my passion and quite possibly my purpose, but I’m beginning to believe that what the images “say” isn’t entirely up to me. Since starting this journey, I’ve been floored, brought to tears, belly laughed, and just about everything in between at what the world says that it sees in these images. So please, please share with me, and the world, what you see in this one. My job is to bring it to you. Your job is to tell me why it’s here.

With Gratitude,

Natalie Allgyer

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