"Heaven / The Creative" Process

This painting is the fifth in the I Ching series. It refers to the first hexagram, called "Heaven / The Creative" in the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. Over a dark blue underpainting, I put in a horizon, and Orange areas in the sky.

This is the painting with yellow tape surrounding the image area, which will later become a white border.

Then I tried taping collage elements onto the surface, to see what worked best. I liked them but they did not advance the main intention, which was the brilliance of the heavens.

As I worked into the sky area, I pushed the horizon lower and lower, and added other colors to the edges of the sky, so that it intimates dawn.

The final version has a small strip of collage that is a reference to the series, in the lower right corner.