Inner Peace

Inner Vision

I always said of any of Keith's paintings - new style, old style, sad or comical - all have a quality of transmitting inner peace. As you look at them and begin to relate you can feel your frazzled nerves unravel and the essence of peace take hold. Even in the most frantic August summer day in St Ives (you who have been here in the height of the St Ives season know what I mean!) the Gallery was always an ocean of calm. When we brought our paintings and prints into our own home and onto our walls we noticed a marked difference in the energies and only wished that we had done so sooner. In the early days we had felt that each painting or print in our own home was a painting or print not shared, so for the first few years of the Gallery our own walls were bare! Our own little family benefited greatly when we brought them into our living environment and enjoyed their gift of calm.  From that day our hectic family of 6 with two working parents and a few teenagers thrown into the soup had quite a change in lifestyle. What is this transfer of energy from man to canvas? How can even a printed version carry with it the essence of the man? I have often wondered and tried to understand the quantum physics behind this phenomena.

Pearl of Wisdom

To begin with Keith was a man of peace himself. Having been a child during the second world war and been ten years in the RAF as a young man, he had made up his mind to emulate peace throughout the rest of his lifetime. We used several techniques in our personal lives to ensure this principle. One of them was "I love you more than..." which we used if something was lost or broken. This reminded us that the person behind the action was more important than the thing that was broken. Our family was not ever purposely trying to hurt one another so this phrase helped dissolve any anger energy before it took hold. Another technique was a short meditation which we found so effective we used to give it out freely as a leaflet in the gallery. This one is good for times when more stringent help is needed. I found it on the internet marked Anonymous by the writer, who said it was given to him from Archangel Michael.

Whoever wrote this is to be commended because it really works! What we so often forget is after we try to remove the bad energy from our bodies we can be left with a hole. Filling that space with light keeps it unavailable for more hurtful thoughts to reattach. Common sense says that if we have a place where our emotional injuries react, it could be just mental right now... but become a physical manifestation of disease later. So this was a working meditation we used to keep ourselves clear. Maybe it can work for you.

One last thought about energy in paintings. Of course light, colour and subject matter can all affect this. But some gifted individuals simply have an ability to share their essence with the rest of us. When Keith and I went to the Smithsonian Institute in the USA we unexpectedly came across a huge early painting by Salvador Dali. (Not that he was exactly a person who I ever thought of as particularly spiritual or someone I would want to mentor me.) But we both were stunned and transfixed by the energy that Dali shared with us in this painting he did of St John on the cross... it was a physical transference. So although Keith was a man trying to be the best that he could be in his own way, and many of you may know him as spiritual, I am simply saying that no matter what path Keith may have chosen for this life, I think he would have had this ability to share his life force with us. And for that, I am truly thankful.

Peace

May we all find inner peace in our lives. 

Any images in this blog on sale for £50 until November 30 2018, postage paid in the UK.