Lucia is the second painting I made after I agreed with Linda that she was going to inspire me from her world, the Afterlife, or whatever you want to call that dimension.
Lucia was created in 2002, as the second painting after Linda’s passing.
I had asked her to inspire me, and that is what happened, but her inspirations were and are not simply meant to make a painting look nicer. There are hidden messages within, and something is being told. But what exactly is the message?
At that moment, I still questioned what was actually happening, but the feeling I had was to want to paint a cross. But not a Christian cross, and certainly not with a Jesus figure attached to it. In fact, I should have nothing to do with religions, although I respect the thought behind them as long as all people are left free to have a different opinion or a different religion. However, that has often not happened in the past, and therefore I have no affinity with religions and religious symbols.
Nevertheless… I strongly felt the need to create something with a cross. I struggled with that, and eventually accepted that it might indeed be meaningful to take a cross as the theme for this painting. But… I would only ‘agree’ if that cross would be an energetic movement, seemingly created by chance.
The technique for this painting is airbrush. With a tiny spray gun, liquid paint or ink is atomized and sprayed onto paper or cardboard, or even onto a car if necessary. I wanted to create very soft color transitions, and to achieve that effect, I sprayed almost homeopathically diluted ink. So 95% water with 5% ink. I could hardly see where I was spraying the paint. It only became dripping wet if I continued for too long. If you do that long enough and patiently enough to let the water evaporate, a very soft gradient color gradually appears. My arm became tired from the thousands of monotonous movements, and that went on for days.
Depicted is a Holy Grail from which flowers ‘flow’. At the very top, a white rose can be seen, symbolizing Love. Linda gave me a white rose from her world, and I, in turn, gave her one physically. Purity, serenity, truth, freedom, purity, and ‘I am worth it to you’… are concepts symbolized by a white rose.
I applied this white rose with pastel chalk, and when the painting was framed with a mat, a thin space remained between the painting and the glass. The pastel pigments of the white rose were attracted by the glass, and so the rose suddenly floated in front of the painting. I did not understand the meaning of this at the time, as it just happened. I did not expect that.
There is indeed a hidden message. When you look at the grail from above, it is a perfectly round circle. Not inside, but above it, the rose floats. The grail is supported by a cross.
That symbol, a cross in a circle with a rose in front of it, would later play a significant role with the symbol Two Roads.
The name for the painting, Lucia, is the name of medium Loes van Loon, who plays a significant role in the Akaija story. When we brought Loes a reproduction of this painting, she predicted that I would create a very large cross. That ultimately became a 1-meter large Two Roads cross.
In my eyes, the Two Roads symbol represents the essence of what every religion has arisen from… our Connection with the Higher. And the ‘Higher’ could be translated as God, the Afterlife, Love, the Cosmos, Creation, We are one, our Heart, etc., etc. Every religion is ‘merely’ a perspective, a way of dealing with this Divine Connection. Everything and everyone is part of Creation, of the Universe, and every particle is a unique part of it.
Lucia means Light. Summarizing the symbolism of this painting, it tells of Victory over Suffering. When the pain, symbolized here by the purple veils, is understood, it can dissipate. You could also explain it as: when the darkness is overcome, you can see the Light.
What is then revealed is the cross, which symbolizes Love.
Lucia during an exposition an a hospital
In I think it was 2007 or so, that there was an exposition from the many dutch artists in the Flevo Hospital of Almere, not far from Amsterdam. I submitted this painting for this event. It was interesting to learn that after the exposition not one single artwork from no one had been sold. Except… Lucia, of which four framed reproductions were sold. Obviously this painting has a good energy for people in despair, struggling with their health or the health of their loved ones, fighting a battle that, in the earthly plane can not always be won.
Yet on a soul level, such fights can result in victory over suffering.