PEONIES (UNION)

Some paintings arrive quickly.

Others wait.

For nearly two years after completing Peonies – Life Cycles, I carried the intention of painting a pair of peonies — two blooms in relationship, neither dominant, in living conversation with each other. The inspiration simply didn’t come. Then this spring, two threads converged: a visit to a local peony farm that brought fresh images and a felt sense of the painting, and an unfolding conversation with feng shui expert Tracey Stanton about the energy of partnership. The whole thing came into light.

From the beginning, the composition carried a clear intention: both centers fully visible and open. In a true partnership, the heart of each person is neither hidden nor defended — it is present, available, seen. The two golden centers face each other and tilt upward together, oriented toward the same light. The flowers themselves are complementary rather than matched — one warmer in yellow and peach, the other softer in pink — distinct natures in a shared orientation. Partnership is not sameness. It is harmony.

This is a painting of longing. In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes describes a time when human beings were whole — then divided by the gods — and how each half has wandered ever since, seeking the other. “The desire and pursuit of the whole,” he says, “is called love.”

In sacred geometry, the Dyad — the Two — carries this same nature.
Between two distinct beings something generative arises, and the Two always carries an impulse back toward the One. This painting did not use an imposed geometric framework, and that is part of what gives it its softness and organic warmth. Yet the centers of both blooms orient naturally upward and toward each other — precisely where they would point if the Vesica Piscis had been laid beneath them. The archetype surfaced through the hand without being asked.

Peonies (Union) is a companion to Marigolds — both paintings explore the dyad, two centers in living relationship. Where Marigolds is solar and electric, this painting is tender and aspirational. The upper petals dissolve into light, giving the composition a quality of surrender alongside the longing. Reaching without grasping. Wanting without demanding.

Two flowers, one light.

In Feng Shui this painting is a natural fit for the Partnership and Relationship area of the home. It is equally at home in spaces of reflection, healing, and conscious living.

You can read more about this painting and it’s journey here.