2000 · 75 × 75 cm (approx. 30 × 30 in) · Genesis Mandalas · by Stephen Meakin
At the turn of the millennium, Stephen had not painted for fourteen months. Then a peacock butterfly came through the window.
He built the work on the Flower of Life, a geometric symbol found carved into the Osireion at Abydos and studied by Leonardo da Vinci. It is the structure from which all other sacred geometry derives. Its natural form is the dodecagon: twelve, the number every civilisation has used to mark a complete cycle. The zodiac. The apostles. The months.
The peacock butterfly carries eyes on its wings. In Indian tradition, it is the companion of Lakshmi. In Roman mythology, its markings are the eyes of Argus, a symbol of all-seeing vision.
In Greek, psyche means soul. It also means butterfly.
This large, dramatic and explosive design was originally conceived in the days after a large peacock butterfly flew through the studio window of an old cottage in the spring of the year 2000. The circumstances surrounding this gentle visitation were nothing less than miraculous. The butterfly appears from within a dusty sunbeam, flying in a spiral to land in the centre of a 5ft blank canvas, and it opened and closed its wings 3 times before flying back up the sunbeam and on its way. — Stephen Meakin