Mountain Ash / Luis I

Mountain Ash, also known as Rowan (Luis), is the tree of protection and vision. In the Ogham alphabet, Luis is linked with the rowan berries — bright sparks of red among dark green leaves — and with the magical ability to guard and to guide.

For this painting I wanted to carry forward the geometric language I’ve been developing: vesica piscis, spirals, and floating “donut” shapes. I also overlaid a branch silhouette, echoing the approach I used with Hawthorn / Huath. This creates a conversation between flat symbolic forms and the living tree itself.

The painting grew through layered collage and acrylic: first building a ground of interlocking shapes, then bringing in the green leaf forms and the bright berries, and finally settling the branch as both anchor and veil. It is less about literal depiction than about the energy Rowan holds in my imagination — a flame of clarity in a protective net.

Luis is said to bring discernment, a way of seeing true patterns where others see only confusion. That was exactly how this piece felt to paint: a gradual weaving until the design revealed itself.

Mountain Ash / Luis I