Water
Leap of Faith – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2020
Cramond Falls, Edinburgh
One might face into the impasse or abyss, fear the unknown and be tempted to avoid a difficulty. Finding hope is to find courage and acceptance to face uncertainty: to take that step of faith and to persevere even in the face of the darkness looming.
We may look at the the darkness ahead of us in the face of the climate and health crisis, and find a strength to continue and seek to bring kindness into the world; for in the end when all is no longer, all we have is the humanity within ourselves.
Listening to the Margins – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2020
It may feel troubling to sit at the boundaries of the water’s edge, to feel the fluidity of the not quite land, not quite water. Yet often it is only when one listens to difficult margins that transformation will occur.
Along the Fair Tweed – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2020
“So thick the tangled greenwood grew,
So feeble trill’d the streamlet through:
Now, murmuring hoarse, and frequent seen,
An angry brook, it sweeps the glade,
Brawls over rock and wild cascade,
And, foaming brown with double speed,
Hurries its waters to the Tweed.” [From Marmion, Walter Scott]
Reflections of the Weeping Willows – Watercolour on Paper – Omay Lee 2018
Reflections of stillness in a garden in Suzhou:
The Qingming 清 明 spring festival is the time when the Chinese mourn their ancestors. Qing [清] means ‘reflection’ – like reflections of water [清水] – the idea that through the waters of stillness comes a deep clarity. In times of environmental loss, what collective mourning might we do for our ancestors of Mother Earth?
Mourning by the Lakeside – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2020
Edge of the Wild, Green and Away
What reinforcement may we gain from Hope, if not what resolution from despair ~ Paradise Lost
The Ocean and the Moon – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2020
“When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.”
~John O’Donohue
The moon has an important regulatory function for the planet. It is known to alter the Earth’s ecosystems through gravity, contributing the a complex contortion of the oceans through tides, and transforming the topography of numerous species’ homes and access to food and shelter. It also has a stabilising function for the Earth’s climate, regulating the Earth’s tilt. Finally, the moon’s light has influences for the circadian rhythms and hormone production on many organisms, affecting breeding and mating behaviour.
Dance of the Golden Fish – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2019
In the hustle and bustle of city life with all its seeming energy, there may be a pond which may appear stagnant on the surface – drained of its inner vitality it longs to dance once more. Yet peer a little deeper into the depths and a glimmer of life will emerge, subtle and not of the material world, but of an alchemy that is worth more than any gold.
“金华即金丹，神明变化，各师于心..” [太乙金华宗旨] “The golden flower is the vessel of a red substance of immortality, where bones turn to gold as spirit is transformed..” [Secret of the golden flower – ancient Daoist text]
