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JL. Right now you are
the locksmith what lock would you fashion to unlock the key to your own
work?
RA Deep breathing and
meditation.
JL You mean as a
state of the mind to induce a state of contemplative attention.
RA Yes - to sit and breathe deeply, be calm, and sit
very very quiet and if possible to take on the shape of a ladybird.
JL. A ladybird! Why
a ladybird?
RA. Well by changing
your scale you will receive different images which are transmitted back
to your conscious and unconscious and welded together - to reveal
different dimensions. Also if anyone is interested in picking up a
paintbrush for pleasure, if they will meditate, imagine that they are a
ladybird and walk over the object, and feel the object with their six
legs - their sense of form will be transformed.
JL. Shall we move on
- now at the end of the book there are quite a long series of paintings
lyrical in kind, largely of the theme of the hedgerow the English
Flower. The Rose, Poppy, Acorn, Oakleaf, Honeysuckle, Fern and the
Dandelion.
RA. "After the Rose"
I think relates to that continuity we were talking about earlier, inside
there is that poetry that was left from the early summer - we can almost
smell the rose...... that has passed. Now we have these bright
orange-red lips. It's like music, one playing against the other and
creating this magical world of transportation.
JL. When did you
start painting these - 1984? And you continue to paint them, and they
are oils, what size?
RA. I suppose the
largest would be 3' x 2'6" and the smallest 14" x 18".
JL Now every year in
spring, the snake sheds it's skin and grows a new one. Do you feel when
as it were stylistically, you change from your Anima & Animus paintings
to these - seemingly so abruptly, that it is a kind of RENEWAL such as a
snake might enjoy?
RA. Yes - that's
splendidly put John.
JL. Not at all.
RA. I like it.
JL. But what was the creative spark for these paintings - how did they occur? Did you see something - how did you begin?
RA. A desire to
recreate, to substantiate the transient quality of the visions in oils.
I hoped that in doing so I might find my own mark that can be as
individualistic as I think are my watercolour. To do this I studied the
technique of the PRE-RAPHAELITES and the FRESCOS OF GIOTTO. Put them
together and came up with a twentieth century formula that expresses and
I hope perpetuates the magical painting tradition of English landscapes
and hedgerows.
JL. Would you
describe perhaps each one as it were as the portrait of a flower?
RA. Yes. I may be
wrong but I feel that all art is in the first instance created in a
state of solipsism and in a space or non-space. Perhaps in
Apollinaire's space. "The fourth dimension represents the immensity of
space externalised in all directions at a given moment; it is space
itself, the dimension of the infinite." - Guillaume Apollinaire 1910.
The artist then pulls this "sock" inside out, revealing if you like a
few parings off of the toenail of God!
JL. An attempt to
realize its quintessential nature. Looking back over some of your work
- there is a kind of restless intensity about it.
RA. Yes.
JL. These by contrast
appear to be characterized by a much calmer almost magisterial calm.
Now why is that?
RA. Perhaps as we get
older we all find it more difficult to turn the "sock" inside out, but
having done so we spend a little more time savouring the beautiful
perfume of the sock. If we are lucky there is just a chance we may be
rewarded by a glimpse of who is wearing it. What I did feel was a
tremendous excitement and enjoyment in the flow of the two wet paints.
JL. I wouldn't say it
was the first time you have painted lyrical pictures, but the lyricism
of these paintings is very apparent. There is a poetic quality of light
and continuity and rapture.
RA. Rapture!
JL. In the creative
world that is - they have got a very easy handwriting. Did you feel that
in yourself when you were painting them?
RA. Definitely,
thoroughly enjoyed every moment, it was as if the bag of jewels had
finally revealed to me a map to this treasure showing me how and why I
had been taken into this cave of jewels. At the same instance realizing
we all have a copy of the ancient parchment in each of our pockets. All
we have to do is discover which one! Mine happened to be in my
minuscule contribution to the world of art, as every artist's legacy is,
we then leave behind a small revelation of the enveloping magic of the
colours of the infinite!
PREFACE TO ‘THE AMAZING MARRIAGE’ BY RON ATKIN.
“Did we dream the world thus? Or do we project the wrong dreams upon the world, and thereby make it our nightmare? Is the nightmare of reality within or is it without? Where will the healing begin? Lao wondered. Can the world be remade from without? Can the cracked walls of reality be fixed from the outside? Can the starving people be fed only from without, and can feeding them solve the problems that brought them to the point of starvation in the first place? Where is the world first made, within or without? And where must the world first be remade? Must we first remake the world within, remake our minds, our hearts, our thoughts? Or must we first, like builders without a design, without a plan, remake the world, improve the world, brick by brick, with no sense of the overall picture?” ‘In Ardadia.’ By the Booker prize-winning author Ben Okri. Weldenfeld and Nicolson 2002.
Having read Ron’s book more than once I personally think you, the new reader, will discover he has answered Ben’s questions in a way that will reveal a symphony that is as ancient as the rocks held in the hands of a child. “ And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music” - Frederick Nietsche Ron has reawakened an ancient song that will, I believe, be the phoenix of the Aquarian age. Thank God I heard the music, this book changed my life.
Marie Carr 2004
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The late Betty Shine, Sunday Times Best Seller, with books in 16 languages, said:
“A rare book that contains the key to open the gates of heaven.”
To obtain a copy on CD, A4 size with 445 pages and approx 350 colour plates, send a self addressed label and a cheque/postal order for p/p of £2.50 to Wild Flower Cottage, Abbots Bickington, Devon EX22 7LQ.
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