This drawing comes out of an exercise for another on-line art class I am taking from domestika.org. It’s an ink drawing class taught by Diego Andrade. I love these classes, because the artists come from many parts of the world and, so, my world expands.

The portrait is called “The Three Lives of ShawnSky Farmer”.

While this exercise was coming together, in my mind, it became a portrait of the three lives of my inner child. From left to right, the first one was influenced right out of the womb, rooted in family and cultural standards and behaviors coming from German immigrant parents. The second one is the child who would rebel, individuate and explore her own personality, creativity and both worldly and spiritual desires. The third is the inner child who maintains a ‘spiritual’ presence, with fewer boundaries, which created some challenges, and also more experiences of love, peace, contentment and compassion.

From a timeline perspective, while all three showed themselves early in life, the first was more pronounced as a child, the second began developing in the teens and active in adulthood, while the last began in later teens years with a strong focus beginning in mid-20s – late 40s, then ebbing and flowing through the rest of the life, recently beginning a renaissance in a more possibly mature, yet individuated and spiritual stage of life.

1. Represents the Physical. Heavier ink pens and stronger, darker image.
2. Represents the Mental and Psychological. Unusual style of lines and shadowing to convey individuation and creative exploration.
3. Spiritual. The Pointillism technique allows space between the points for the energy of the world to flow in and the energy of the girl to flow out. The promise is for the Ego/Mind and Spirit/Soul collaborate for a more calm and meaningful existence.

My astrological background always comes through while reflecting.

Finally, while practicing drawing with ink, I have been rereading Dane Rhudyar’s Lunation Cycle. Synchronistically, the book, discusses the expressions of the Progressed Moon cycles over a lifetime. As I was drawing, the images, though representing a 2 -3 year old child, they were also showing my evolutionary progress (we hope it is progress!) or journey through life.

What is a Progressed Moon cycle? A basic interpretation begins with the understanding that all humans go through different life phases. Sometimes we notice them as a generalities… teenager rebellion, seven year itches, mid-life crises. Using astrology we can determine other cycles that represent phases of life, which are personal to someone and dependent on when they were born, but do not coincide with the general public.

One of these personal phases is related to the Sun and the Moon. This is not necessarily event driven; it is more an inner process which reflects how a person moves forward or make adjustments to one’s evolving mission in life from an emotional perspective.

We know about the Sun and Moon in their actual monthly cycle, which begins with a New Moon and midway through a Full Moon. For each individual, we can mathematically expand that month cycle to a 28-29 year cycle where instead of a 3.5 day New Moon phase, there is a 3.5 year New Moon phase. Astrologers refer to these cycles as Progressed.

Each human can have up to 3 full Lunar Cycles (84 years) and often a partial cycle. If born on a 3/4 Moon, the first full cycle begins with a Progressed New Moon between age 6-7.

The synchronicity of reading this book again, is that I am in the last stage of my second cycle and will begin the third in a few years. While drawing these images of me as a girl, I reflected how these cycles have been active in my life.

Art is special in this way, that we can start simple projects, learn more about ourselves and bring additional meaning to our creative efforts.

Peace,