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# The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker

Art and Works

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://paulruckerart.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [On Being a Painter](https://paulruckerart.com/2023/07/05/diego-rivera/) - "...I am not merely an 'artist,' but a man performing his biological function of producing paintings, as a tree produces flowers and fruit." (Diego Rivera)
- ["The Creative Fire" Catalog](https://paulruckerart.com/2023/02/11/the-creative-fire-catalog/) - Beautiful, limited edition catalog of the Mythic Art Circle's 2022 exhibition, available through Magus Books online! More description and link below. In November 2022, the Mythic Art Circle (Helga Hedgewalker, Roger Williamson, and I), exhibited "The Creative Fire: Illuminations of Being," a 3-person show exploring mythic and symbolic aspects of the element of Fire. From
- [New Works Created in 2022](https://paulruckerart.com/2023/02/09/new-works-created-in-2022/) - I have reproductions available of all of these works. Clicking on the images in color (the paintings) will take you to a full description page for that image, which has a "find in shop" button at the base of the text, on the right. This button will take you to the Shop section where that
- [At Last, My New Website!](https://paulruckerart.com/2021/04/16/at-last-my-new-website/) - What's New? This site's content. After more years than I would like to admit, I have FINALLY updated my artist website. It took a long time to get familiar with Wordpress and to design the style of presentation I wanted, but I am very happy with the result. At last I can show all of

## Pages

- [Home](https://paulruckerart.com/) - The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪
- [Faeries and Angels](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/faeries-and-angels/) - sizes available 11 x 14 print $30.00 USD greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available magnet $7.00 USD sizes available 8 x 16 print $30.00 USDgreeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set
- [Rituals and Holidays](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/rituals-and-holidays/) - sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USDgreeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available 11 x 14 print $30.00 USD greeting cards (set
- [Other Works and Desiderata](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/other-works-and-desiderata/) - sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USD greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available 11 x
- [Gods and Men](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/gods-and-men/) - sizes available magnet $7.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USDgreeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available greeting cards
- [Women and Goddesses](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/women-and-goddesses/) - sizes available magnet $7.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USD sizes available 8.5 x 11 print $20.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD magnet $7.00 USD sizes available greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD sizes available 8 x 16 print $30.00 USD greeting cards (set of 3) $12.00 USD
- [Oimelc 2010](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/oimelc-2010/) - These images are from the "Rite of Three Bredes" staged for a public celebration of Oimelc (Imbolc or Candlemas) in Paganistan (the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area). "Brede" is an alternate spelling of "Brigid", the Celtic Goddess/Saint to whom this holiday (February 1) is sacred. Brede brings light and warmth and the promise of Spring at
- [Wholesale](https://paulruckerart.com/wholesale/) - Click on the link below to visit my wholesale Square shop.
- [Selected Publications and Press](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/selected-publications-and-press/) - 2020 August 2, 2020 interview with Danielle Marie Pebbles (The Otherworldly Arts Collective) "OAC: Artist Conversations with Paul B. Rucker" 2018 March 11, 2018 by Rick de Yampert (The Wild Hunt Blog) "Pagan Artists Present Third Offering at Paganicon" 2016 August 3, 2016 by Dodie Graham McKay (The Wild Hunt Blog) "Minneapolis Art Show Explores
- [Selected Exhibitions](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/selected-exhibitions/) - Group Shows “The Creative Fire: Illuminations of Being” (November 5-26, 2022), ArtSpace Jackson Flats, Minneapolis, MN. “The Creative Fire: Illuminations of Being” (November 5-26, 2022), ArtSpace Jackson Flats, Minneapolis, MN. “I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head…” —WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Helga Hedgewalker, Paul B. Rucker and Roger Williamson, original founding members
- [About Me](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/) - Paul B. Rucker has been making art from personal visions of the spirit world from a very early age, seeking in visual language to render metaphors, and ecstasies. Theatre, myth and ritual influence this search. He paints in acrylic and other water-based media, as well as pen, pencil, and mixed media assemblages, combining various
- [Eyes of the Ancestors](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/eyes-of-the-ancestors/) - Eyes of the Ancestors (2002) This image is all about touching, earthing, connecting with the love, wisdom, and strength we receive from our Ancestors-- both those of our bloodlines and those who are Ancestors to our spirits. The energy of vision and the fire of love emanate back and forth between the spirit worlds and
- [Daughter of the Creative Voice](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/daughter-of-the-creative-voice/) - Daughter of the Creative Voice (“Bat ha-Qol ha-Yetzirati”) (2004) A messenger of Divine Passion, of the world-making Lust of God, my Daughter’s angelic condition partakes of all sexualities and yet transcends them. From the Empyrean s/he descends to Earth to renew the Call of God’s Desire. The name I have chosen to give hir is
- [Prakriti's Kiss](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/prakritis-kiss/) - Prakriti's Kiss (1994) A small mannikin receives the kiss of Nature, fructifying and wild, impressing upon him a simultaneous union of the human realm with animal, plant, and mineral. Prakriti is the Goddess whose constant dance creates all forms and all manifestations. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Return to GODDESSES Gallery Find in Shop The
- [Passage: The Gift of Death](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/passage-the-gift-of-death/) - Passage: The Gift of Death (2022) Here I began by combining a rib cage viewed obliquely with an oblique glance from an intersected couple; only after I added the cords of vines, and fiery tendrils of leaves, and the mysterious taproot, did I sense a fae connection between Love and Death in this composition. I
- [The Peri](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/the-peri/) - The Peri (2002) “All human beings must in beauty yield To you, a Peri I have ne’er beheld” (Saadi) Unique spirits of Persian origin, Peris can be seen as benign fallen angels or as holy faeries, whose goal is to regain Paradise through good deeds. They subsist entirely
- [Praying Kerub](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/praying-kerub/) - Praying Kerub (2006) Kerubim are one of the highest orders of angels; and their name means “those who pray” or “those who intercede.” In this image I have blended the youthful aspect of a kerub (cherub) with the many-eyed and fiery appearance of the next order of angels, the Thrones. I believe
- [Dunizel](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/dunizel/) - Dunizel (1992) My interpretation of a character created by author Tanith Lee, Dunizel (“Soul-of-the-Moon”) represents the Christos in a female avatar. She was formed before birth in the light of a star, in a generous outpouring of heavenly virtue that transmuted her mother utterly, into an angel of fire. Dunizel’s destiny was to fall in
- [Template Horizontal for Image Pages w/ Next/Previous](https://paulruckerart.com/template-horizontal-for-image-pages-w-next-previous/) - Title (0000) Insert descriptive text here. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Back to XXXX Gallery Find in Shop The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Template Horizontal for Image Pages w/ Next/Previous✪
- [Template for Image Pages with Next/Previous Added](https://paulruckerart.com/template-for-image-pages-with-next-previous-added/) - Title (0000) Insert descriptive text here. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Back to XXXX Gallery Find in Shop The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Template for Image Pages with Next/Previous Added✪
- [The Working](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/the-working/) - The Working (2022) “For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.” (Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law) My magus burns with intense inner focus as he performs his working; the purifying ardor of his meditation kindles etheric fire.
- [Conversation](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/conversation/) - Conversation (2022) “Behind him was a great expanse of shimmering, many-colored feathers, which appeared to be part of a cloak that appeared to be part of him, but was not wings that sprouted in any conventional way from shoulder blade or spine.” ( from “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A. S. Byatt) This
- [The Dreamer in the Land](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/the-dreamer-in-the-land/) - The Dreamer in the Land (2022) Within the Earth’s heart sleeps an androgynous angelic being of stellar origin, spinning out from its dreams the forms of all life on the planet. All living creatures are generated from the mingling of this being’s stellar light with the substance of the Earth. They are shown here as
- [Reverie](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/reverie/) - Reverie (2022) “Cette beauté dont je parle provoque une érection de l'âme.” (“This beauty of which I speak causes an erection of the soul.”)— Jean Cocteau My discovery of George Barbier’s Art Deco drawing of a reclining blue Eros inspired me to go further with the feeling by adding an erection, and creating a new
- [Painting Toradh](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/painting-toradh/) - Painting Toradh (2015) The Gaelic word toradh (pron. "torah") means effect, fruit, outcome, and yield. In faerie lore toradh signifies something like "authentic essence", "virtue" or "worth". The writer Orion Foxwood uses this word to mean "the living light that is poured into all." What if such a faerie was painting the toradh, the fruits
- [The Sacred Heart of Faerie](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/the-sacred-heart-of-faerie/) - The Sacred Heart of Faerie (2006) In the world of Faerie, things flow into and transform each other: heaven and earth meet under the ray of the Evenstar, at the magic Apple Tree that is the doorway to Faerie. Crowned with pearl flame, a star on her brow, the Celestial Faery bears a purified and
- [Faeries and Angels](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/) - Suddenly I realized That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom. James Wright, "A Blessing" (from The Branch Will Not Break) The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Faeries and Angels✪
- [Solstice Stag](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/solstice-stag/) - Solstice Stag (2015) The God wears many faces as the Lightbringer; here He is the White Stag, the "Bright Champion" invigorating the promise of the waxing Sun at Winter Solstice dawn. The Stag Who Bears Flames in His Tines brings fire from heaven, to warm and light the earth in winter. Because of the vegetative
- [Contact Me](https://paulruckerart.com/contact-me/) - Your Name (required) Your Email (required) Subject Your Message Δ The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Contact Me✪
- [La Coqueta](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/la-coqueta/) - La Coqueta (2000) This was my contribution to a Dia de los Muertos-themed show in New Orleans, at Gallery Gorgon on Magazine Street. It wound up being featured in the Times-Picayune. La Coqueta has been waiting in the garden for you; she peeps from the edge of her fan…. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Back
- [Blue Fire](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/blue-fire/) - Blue Fire (1999) Falling Icarus dissolves into darkened atoms Chimaeras surge in curdled ether, born of frantic urge and panic --the sleep of reason gets monsters on the deep. Behold the falling boy-- the woman emerging-- each lit from within Flesh worn from flight grows thin like a veil, yet stronger-- returning to its origin
- [The Divine Twins](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/the-divine-twins/) - The Divine Twins (2008) The Divine Twins of the Feri Tradition embody every possible duality and yet together form a unity: the coming-together of seeming oppositions into wholeness. The Bird Twin, "the Great Above", conjoins with the Snake Twin, "the Great Below", embracing in a sea of stars that evokes their Mother and Lover, the
- [On the Moon's Road](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/on-the-moons-road/) - On the Moon's Road (1995) A young Celtic shaman is poised to follow the zig-zag trail that leads to the Lower World. The circle of lights is cast; the full Moon lights his way as he prepares to impel himself forward on his quest. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Return to GODS Gallery Find in
- [New Aeon Nataraj](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/new-aeon-nataraj/) - New Aeon Nataraj (1994) Nataraja means “Lord of the Dance,” and refers to Shiva, envisioned here in a rather untraditional way, hence “New Aeon,” meaning the next phase of humankind’s collective spiritual growth. His left hand displays the mudra (gesture) that signifies simha, “lion,” and his right hand signifies padma, “lotus”; his abundant spiritual power
- [Green Man with Flowers and Fruits](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/green-man-with-flowers-and-fruits/) - Green Man with Flowers and Fruits (2017) “Faces in the leaves Nature looking back Green Man” (Steve Posch © 2013 “Nature Looking Back” ) The dying-and-reborn Green God appears in many ancient cultures; the spirit of green life that perpetually renews itself in spring, through summer, into autumn, as depicted here. Though Green Gods
- [Eros](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/eros/) - Eros (1995) Inspired by a dream, this image combines the beautiful youth of Apulieus’ fable, Eros and Psyche, with the world-shaping attributes of the Orphic Eros, the oldest of the Gods, who arose out of Chaos to create a living world. Aphrodite’s son incarnates the young face of this ancient Power, which breathes desire into
- [Epiphany](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/epiphany/) - Epiphany (2000) I imagine this image as the climactic moment of a sacred dance, the moment in which the dancer has become the Dance, an instrument of Offering. In this “epiphany” or realization, a harmony of inner and outer realities appears: the radiant lines and arabesques around the celebrant’s enrapt face, the currents of astral
- [Dionysus](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/dionysus/) - Dionysus (1997) Above all, for me, he is the God of Ecstasy-- of the wild surmounting of one’s small self in the fierce dance of Godly energies. He is one of the few Gods in the Greek pantheon whom a worshipper could actually become in trance, thus he signifies a human link with the divine.
- [Dian-Y-Glas](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/dian-y-glas/) - Dian-Y-Glas (2006) The God of Dreams, Imagination, Sensuality, Youth, Passion, Spring-- He is the First Born child of the Great Mother and is fully invested with feminine as well as masculine potency. He is one of the Divine Twins of the Feri tradition and is of the same neter/nature as Melek Ta’us, the Peacock Angel.
- [Amrita](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/amrita/) - Amrita (1994) The spiritual force of kundalini awakens the Cosmic Dance within the body; the self-continuous circuit of this pose here signifies a rare event of the body’s spiritual intelligence: the emergence of amrita, the “fluid of immortality.” This is a siddhi (magical power), which may be acquired through meditation and the accumulation of tapas (merit/energy).
- [Yemaya](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/yemaya/) - Yemaya (1998) The Mother of the Orishas, the Queen of the Seas. She is the natural protector of all children as well as the secrets of the oceans. In this image Yemaya (also spelled Yemaja and Yemanja) is enthroned and welcoming, with waters flowing at her feet, which are placed on the continent of Africa.
- [The Sybil](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/the-sybil/) - The Sybil (2007) A reader of omens, of secrets in the fire. Her eyes demand to know if you are ready-- truly ready-- to know what she may say. Like the loose but ornate brushstrokes in this image, like layers of hieroglyphic energy, which lead always to the Sybil’s penetrating stare, all interpretations of oracles
- [The Spring Maiden](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/the-spring-maiden/) - The Spring Maiden (1999) The association of a beautiful young girl with the Spring is very ancient; she represents the primordial Goddess in her Maiden aspect, at the time of year when animals re-emerge and plant life renews itself after winter. The ever-young Maiden was known by such names as Flora, Hebe, Iduna, and in
- [The Empress](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/the-empress/) - The Empress (1995) This image, a version of the Tarot trump, was done at a time when I wanted to bring her qualities into my life: abundance, fertility, generosity. The rose at her bosom mirrors the golden rose in her undergown, to signify in my mind the bringing forth of beautiful treasures. At her throat
- [Shakti](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/shakti/) - Shakti (1994) Her name is the feminine form of “Power” or “Energy” in Sanskrit. (FYI: “Vahni” is the much-lesser-known male equivalent; and “Tejas” represents Primal Force without gender.) She is the essential quality of the Universal Goddess, the Feminine present in all things, even the male Gods. The woman who posed for this was
- [The Dream Crone](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/the-dream-crone/) - The Dream Crone (2000) This image incubated many years ago to answer a personal need for a positive Crone Goddess image. Wise, knowing, and far-sighted, she stands in a landscape of dream at sunset, a plane in-between, at a time neither day nor night. Holding between her hands a glowing ball of pure life
- [Persephone with Orchid](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/persephone-with-orchid/) - Persephone with Orchid (2017) Persephone, daughter of the Earth Goddess Demeter, called also Kore (“Maiden”), reaches to touch a wondrous flower created by Hades, God of the Underworld, to entice her. Tradition has it that the flower in question was an orchid, which is also associated with male sexuality. The story of Persephone can be
- [Pachamama](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/pachamama/) - Pachamama (2005) Another painting begun (and left raw compared to other works of mine) by a meditation on a pose. I was experimenting with ways of depicting energy through rougher textures. This painting was named Pachamama by Rivette Marchand, who incorporated her as the patron Goddess of Pachamama's, a (very popular) coffeehouse based in Nassau
- [Oshun](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/oshun/) - Oshun (1996) A Yoruba Orisha (Deity), Oshun is one of the Seven African Powers of the Afro-Caribbean traditions. Her sphere includes dance, song, the arts, abundance and luxury, beauty and grace, rivers and all flowing waters. Her colors are gold and yellow, her fruit the peach, among her birds the parrot. Oshun is the joy
- [Kali](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/kali/) - Kali (1997) The name Kali means “Time”-- this primal Goddess encompasses all acts of energy-- birth, growth, death, and so on-- that can occur in the span of Time. The more familiar “Bhairavi” (“Terrible”) aspect of Kali the Destroyer, Inevitable Death, with her lolling, blood-gorged tongue, her necklace of skulls and belt of severed hands,
- [Mother Night and the Sun Child](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/mother-night-and-the-sun-child/) - Mother Night and the Sun Child (2015) Mother Night holds the infant Sun in her arms, the morning after the Longest Night of the year, at Winter Solstice. As the Wheel of the Year spins, radiance returns. The birth of the golden Child of Wonder is also the birth of hope in the time of
- [Erzulie Momento Mori](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/erzulie-momento-mori/) - Erzulie Momento Mori (2007) Erzulie is the loa (Spirit, Goddess) of love, dreams, romance, beauty, yearning, and sensuality in the Vodoun spiritual tradition. In her passion, she embodies a cosmic Innocence: “she is Goddess of the Heart, not of the body; the loa of things as they could be, not as they are, or even
- [Brigid](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/brigid/) - Brigid (1991) “Bríd is come, Bríd is welcome.... (Welcome, Bríd!) Oh, Bríd is come, Bríd is welcome.....” How beautiful is Brigid (Bríd) , who came to us singing, many years ago, in the first and most moving Drawing Down of the Goddess I have yet seen. She sang of Goddess-Fire in the void of
- [Al-Lat](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/al-lat/) - Al-Lat (1999) This image is a fantasia done in colored inks and acrylics, combining poses of female models. When the image had evolved to a certain point, it somehow called to mind Al-Lat, a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess whose name is cognate with a root meaning (among other things) "to moisten." "She is mentioned in the
- [Traditional Paintings](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/) - I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream. Vincent van Gogh Most of these works have been done in acrylic or other water-based media, and have been arranged by theme rather than chronologically. Click on a theme to view more images. Faeries and Angels 1 Photos Fantasia 1 Photos Goddesses 1 Photos Gods 1 Photos The Visionary
- [Camera Paintings](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/) - The Body is an Infinite Landscape painted by the Soul. Charles Baudelaire (My "Camera Paintings” are composed with real life models, body painted and costumed by me and photographed in various environments; I tweak the resulting images further with digital programs to enhance the otherworldly mood.) 2002-2003 1 Photos Brenda June 2004 1 Photos Henry July 2004
- [In Black and White](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/in-black-and-white/) - Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression. A species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality. Edgar Degas Pencil, pen-and-ink and monochromatic water-based works (some are mixed media). Female 1 Photos Illos 1 Photos Male 1 Photos Scenes 1 Photos The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ In Black and White✪
- [Ritual and Theatre](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/) - Only mystery enables us to live, only mystery. Federico García-Lorca Although I have been involved in Pagan ritual/theatre events since the early 1990s, it wasn’t until 2009 that I started keeping an archive of images of public ritual work. These are from rituals where I wrote and directed, or co-produced with someone else, or did
- [Personas](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/) - Find out who you are and do it like mad. Quentin Crisp Anat and Mavet 1993 1 Photos March 2004 1 Photos June 2004 1 Photos Autumn 2004 1 Photos Self Portrait 2006 1 Photos Blue Man 2006 1 Photos Blue Man 2007 1 Photos Beltane 2009-Green God 1 Photos Blue Man 2009 1 Photos The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Personas✪
- [Print on Demand (POD)](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/print-on-demand-pod/) - Links to my POD (Print on Demand) shops, with some of my images uploaded to provide printing options otherwise unavailable through me. The number of shops below, and/or the items formatted on them, will be updated intermittently on an ongoing basis. (If you would like to see a particular image on a product available through
- [What's New](https://paulruckerart.com/whats-new/) - On Being a Painter “The Creative Fire” Catalog New Works Created in 2022 At Last, My New Website! The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ What’s New✪
- [SHOP](https://paulruckerart.com/shop/) - Below are all the items for which I have reproductions for sale. On this site I sell prints in various sizes (8 ½” x 11″, 11 x 14″ and 8″ x 16″, with one image available in 18″ x 24″ (“Dionysus”*). I also have A7 (5" x 7" greeting cards (sold online in sets of
- [Galleries](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/) - Traditional Paintings 1 Photos In Black and White 1 Photos Camera Paintings 1 Photos Collages 1 Photos Ritual and Theatre 1 Photos Constructions 1 Photos Personas 1 Photos The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪
- [Testimonials and Stories](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/testimonials-and-stories/) - A work of art is like a mirror which reflects what people bring to it as they engage with it. Capable of offering many levels of interpretation and engagement; art is a vocabulary for expressing the subjective self and enabling interior conversations on that level. As a visionary artist working with emotionally charged and spiritual
- [FAQ](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/faq/) - Below are are answers to some of the more common questions I have been asked about my art and process. How did you begin making this kind of art? As a small child I shared my visions by making pictures. That act of magic still sustains me. When still very young I dreamed of a
- [How My Image of Melek Ta'us Came to Be](https://paulruckerart.com/about-me/how-my-image-of-melek-taus-came-to-be/) - (The Official Story, Part One) Of all the images I have yet created, the most unexpected life has sprung from my interpretation of Melek Ta’us, the Peacock Angel, a tutelary divinity of primary importance for the Yezidi of Syria, and for the Feri culture/current of witchcraft. No icon of Him imagined in His fullness previously
- [Reflections](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/reflections/) - Reflections (2000) I dream night silence like rich perfume: the voice of the moon, a velvet thrumming like noiseless bees. Rock, let me rest beside this water, let me look into this liquid eye-- wherein night becomes day; the moon is the sun In this once-smooth waste, now leaf with flowers and birdsong
- [Pandora](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/pandora/) - Pandora (2000) This painting began as a juxtaposition of figures without conscious connotation, but after I had worked on it for some time, it began to call forth the idea of Pandora for me. What if Pandora knew for what purpose she was being made even as it happened? The blue figure may well be
- [Out of the Heavens](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/out-of-the-heavens/) - Out of the Heavens, Surrounding Me (Hierodule at Sunset) (2000) A hierodule is a priestess or a votary-- the word means “temple servant”. Here I have imagined a private moment between this priestess and the God of her devotion, who is reaching out to embrace her, from the starry sky itself. ◀︎ Previous | Next
- [Offering](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/offering/) - Offering (2004) This image begun through frottage, by teasing an image out of swirls of paint laid down without forethought. Out of this evolved an Afro-Caribbean youth wearing a cowrie necklace and a turban, holding a glowing herb and smudgestick, while an ancient face of indeterminate gender (an ancestor?) holds a crescent moon in the
- [Menhir at Dawn](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/menhir-at-dawn/) - Menhir at Dawn (2015) Standing stones or megaliths, dating to Neolithic and Bronze Age eras, can be found all over Europe and in India, South America and the Near and Middle East. Many ancient menhirs (from maen hir, or "long stone") were engraved with designs and symbols alluding to their various (as yet not entirely
- [Living Water](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/living-water/) - Living Water (2003) Another Dia de los Muertos meditation, begun as a frottage. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Back to FANTASIA Gallery Find in Shop The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Fantasia✪ Living Water✪
- [Holy Fire](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/holy-fire/) - Holy Fire: The Guide Appears (2019) My image portrays an encounter with a psychopomp ("guide of souls") in a dark plenum bedewed with points of spirit light, a bardo . (In Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the spiritual plane between life and death is called a “bardo”, an “intermediate state.”) The Otherworld’s spirit guide appears in an
- [Headdress](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/headdress/) - Headdress (2019) This painting was created to partner with this elaborate retablo frame, which I found in a antique market in Sedona, AZ, where I lived for 5 months in 2008. The frame is so elaborate, and so small, that I felt only a strong simple composition would work. The frame reminded me of stylized
- [Gremlin Fugue](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/gremlin-fugue/) - Gremlin Fugue (2001) This image began as a frottage, a coaxing of a presence from random smears of color on canvas. His face came first, then his hands, wrapped in streams and currents and forks of flowing earth-shaping. To me he looks like a musician enrapt, an earth elemental transmitting forces interlayered like music-- jazzed,
- [Green Sister](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/green-sister/) - Green Sister (2003) Evolve, my Sister, from voiceless nothing Verdigris flesh, copper rotted: break full into blossom! You are the strength that renews even death Your dazzled eyes skry omens.... Voiceless, I taunt the God who made me: drape our skins in mist and rain, Crown me with fire, o lightning-born! Rouse, Sister, from the
- [The Golden Serpent](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/the-golden-serpent/) - The Golden Serpent (2019) “Why did I behave as if that serpent were my soul? Only, it seems, because my soul was a serpent… I wanted my serpent soul to communicate her wisdom to me.” (C. G. Jung) One of my original inspirations for this image came from author Philip Pullman’s re-imagining of daimones or
- [Drawing Down the Moon](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/drawing-down-the-moon/) - Drawing Down the Moon (1998) According to Gerald Gardner, one of the main proponents of the Witchcraft revival in the 20th century, “drawing down the Moon” is an activity dating to ancient Scythia, and refers to the ritual act of invoking the Goddess to temporarily inhabit the body of a priestess-- a sacred activity comparable
- [Demon Idyll](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/demon-idyll/) - Demon Idyll (2006) A dark meditation that began with a life model's pose…. ◀︎ Previous | Next ▶︎ Back to FANTASIA Gallery The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Fantasia✪ Demon Idyll✪
- [Dark-Sister-Dreaming (Details)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/dark-sister-dreaming/dark-sister-dreaming-details/) - ◀︎ Back to "Dark-Sister-Dreaming" Back to FANTASIA Gallery The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Fantasia✪ Dark-Sister-Dreaming✪ Dark-Sister-Dreaming (Details)✪
- [Dark-Sister-Dreaming](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/dark-sister-dreaming/) - Dark-Sister-Dreaming (2002) This was the last painting I completed while I was still living in New Orleans, in a year fraught with strange dreams and weird encounters. Within a “dark house” looking out onto a bright desert, one sees quasi-angelic figures hovering over the horizon, which is tinged green beneath them, like sunlight reflecting on
- [Anointing the Guardian](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/anointing-the-guardian/) - Anointing the Guardian (2001) Fire and cold and starless dark: my strange ordeal, my soul’s Dark Night, oh, terrible, terrible! Yet I endure. And I survive, and on me, naked, scars ride serpent on my skin A night flower blossoms like a star of courage..... Raise me up, o power of Earth; foment green anarchy
- [Androgyne](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/androgyne/) - Androgyne (1995) The Androgyne represents a union of opposites within a single, perfected being. S/he manifests balance and beauty on all planes, here evoked by a rainbow background. Curves and bolts of feminine and masculine force tattoo hir body, and the male and female symbols of torch and chalice strike another note of balance on
- [Alegria Amorosa](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/alegria-amorosa/) - Alegría Amorosa (2000/2013) This is one of my favorite painted skulls so far…. The festive spirit of Dia de los Muertos is translated within this image into an American Pagan idiom, resonating with an essential paradox: as death dwells in the midst of life, so does life spring from the heart of death. Beltane, the
- [Ace of Wands](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/ace-of-wands/) - Ace of Wands (2002) An experiment in frottage, evoking an image from abstract swirls of paint. The image evolved a flowering wand, alive in a swirling matrix of fecund energies. Next ▶︎ Back to FANTASIA Gallery Find in Shop The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Fantasia✪ Ace of Wands✪
- [Melek Ta'us](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/melek-taus/) - Melek Ta'us (1995) Melek Ta'us, the "Peacock Angel", is the patron of the Yezidis (Yazidi) of Syria and Northern Iraq. For them, Tawusi Melek was created by God to assist in the making of the universe; he is now the tutelary spirit of the world as well as their special protector. He takes the form
- [Fae Lines and Faery Hands](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/faeries-and-angels/fae-lines-and-faery-hands/) - Fae Lines and Faery Hands (2007) This painting is the end result of one of my longest journeys in the dreamtime where visions waiting to be born as art are found: it began five years ago in New Orleans and has transformed over and over again as I have waited to hear it speak to
- [Balder](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/balder/) - Balder (1996) The most beloved of the Gods in the Norse pantheon, Balder is usually portrayed as the embodiment of light and virtue. In this image, which was definitely an imaginal journey, I have focused on the “Mystery Tradition” aspect of Balder-- the Balder who has died and is emerging from Niflheim, the realm of
- [Anat and Mavet 1993](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/anat-and-mavet-1993/) - This is an original collage created in 1993 by Helga Hedgewalker (from source photos by Russell Lane), depicting Anat, the Ugaritic/Canaanite warrior goddess (or "Tomboy of the Gods" as she is also called in this modern revision) confronting Mavet, or Mot, the God of Death in his realm. Author and scholar Steven Posch created (in
- [Scenes](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/in-black-and-white/scenes/) - All of these were created for their own sake (even though some wound up being used for publication). The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ In Black and White✪ Scenes✪
- [Illos](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/in-black-and-white/illos/) - These are images that were created or used for publishing purposes: illustrations. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ In Black and White✪ Illos✪
- [Male](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/in-black-and-white/male/) - The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ In Black and White✪ Male✪
- [Miscellany](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/miscellany/) - These images are one-offs, from miscellaneous shoots, where I decided to take the shot and turn it into something a bit more. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Camera Paintings✪ Miscellany✪
- [Stephen 2015](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/stephen-2015/) - The Horned God/Man who is to be found in multiple forms of trans-European Pagan imagery is depicted as if in a dream, where his features cannot be seen. Stephen’s face was painted black, feathering down onto his shoulders, with netting to obscure his hairline, and a headdress of strange black horns. There is no other
- [Bashir 2013](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/bashir-2013/) - A fantasy novel in which “goblins” pass between shadows for magical travel and are stained blue by this passage gave me the idea to interpret this image with a live model. I envisioned Bashir as a walker between shadows and edges at the borders of man's world, on a walkabout for purposes of his own,
- [Gede 2012](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/gede-2012/) - Australian author Gede Parma was touring the United States in 2012 to promote a new book, and had written me ahead of time to offer himself as a model, since his publisher and editor are based in the Twin Cities area (Paganistan). We portrayed him as Dionysus or Dionysos, the God of theatre and the
- [James 2007](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/james-2007/) - Visiting Faerieworlds in my own male faerie character inspired me to explore other ways to depict men in the spiritual landscape of Faerie. I enlisted my friend James as one of my first models for photographic explorations in this vein. James has a very strong Green Man quality, so I painted him on three separate
- [Rivette 2006](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/rivette-2006/) - Rivette is like a sister to me; we met when we lived in the same building complex in New Orleans back in the 1990s. Years later, when she became pregnant with her second child, we collaborated on this body-painting project, which was shot in Houston. I wanted to do something different than painting an image
- [James 2005-2006](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/james-2005-2006/) - James is a close friend in Portland, OR; these images, which were among the last I had taken with a film camera, are from one of our first sessions. As I transitioned from film to digital photography, I explored the possibilities of "found art" through multiple exposures on film, of natural environments, textures, textiles, etc,
- [Henry July 2004](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/henry-july-2004/) - I had invited Henry to come be painted up in order to do a recreation of the Minoan image of “The Lily Prince”— that particular composition did not turn out as well, in my opinion, as several other shots of Henry taken as part of the same session. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪
- [Brenda July 2004](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/brenda-july-2004/) - To date, this has been (by far) the most elaborate makeup I have yet done on a live model. It took me and fellow artist Riawa Smith over 6 hours to paint Brenda from head to toe, first all over with black foundation, and then painting acrylic swirls and patterns over it; a daring extension
- [Brenda June 2004](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/brenda-june-2004/) - The genesis of these images began when Brenda asked me to paint her for a special solo dance ritual that marked a powerful healing transition in her life. We were so pressed for time on the day of the event, that instead of carefully patting on the base alabaster and lavender makeup, I wound up
- [2002-2003](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/camera-paintings/2002-2003/) - My experiments with photos as art originated as model photography, with the intent to create references for paintings. A typical session would produce many interesting poses whether or not they had been intended ahead of time, leading me to consider certain shots as a scaffold for a artwork in themselves. I also started experimenting with
- [The Painted Angel (March 2004)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/march-2004-the-painted-angel/) - “Rucker's art could be described as colorful bursts of insight into the mind of a creative genius that has connections to forces outside of the physical world. “ Michelle Peterson, writing in Vida Y Sabor (Life and Flavor): “Paul Rucker: Angeles Eróticos”, March 30, 2004) The “Painted Angel” persona was created for the opening night
- [The Blue Man (2009)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/the-blue-man-2009/) - I came back to Oregon from Minneapolis one more time (to date) to present my Blue Man character again. By this time, Faerieworlds had moved to the Eugene, OR area and was being held in August. The temperatures were breaking through the mid-100s, so I only did the character for one day. After the three
- [The Blue Man (2006)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/the-blue-man-2006/) - I visited the Faerieworlds Festival in Oregon for the first time in 2005 as just a day-trip, and came away determined to create my own male faerie persona for this event next year. (Coming in character is one of the signature features of this event.) In my efforts to create a wholly original fae persona,
- [The Blue Man (2007)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/the-blue-man-2007/) - For the presentation of this character in Faerieworlds in 2007 (my last year living in Oregon), I added a lace parasol which I had painted by hand and a peacock feather fan, as well as iridescent black pantaloons and more feathers in my hat! The more I inhabited this character, the more I enjoyed the
- [Green God (Beltane 2009)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/beltane-2009-green-god/) - I was asked to play a Dionysus-like “Green God” figure for a Paganistan coven’s “Rite of Spring” (Beltane). I am wearing a coat that I painted myself. The wreath is of tender greens plucked and woven that same day. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Personas✪ Green God (Beltane 2009)✪
- [Self-Portrait (2006)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/self-portrait-2006/) - Although I sometimes use myself as a subject in experimental photography, and have once or twice been asked to put myself into a commissioned painting, I have not done very many deliberate self-portraits. This is one that was done the “very traditional” way— by studying myself in a mirror and rendering what I saw. It’s
- [Experiments (Autumn 2004)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/autumn-2004-experiments/) - Examples of contrived/accidental multiple exposures with a Ricoh snapshot camera, using myself as experimental subject. These were done the last year before I switched to digital photography; at the time I was fascinated with the layering effects achieved by double, triple and even quadruple-exposing the film shots. (Perhaps not coincidentally, this was the last year
- [The Painted Angel (June 2004)](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/personas/june-2004-the-painted-angel/) - Photographer Matthew Scherfenberg, who was one of the artists featured in "Erotic Angels," was so taken by this look that he instigated a session in his studio. For this incarnation, the wings came off and the makeup became more elaborate; I also added hand-painted talons which enhanced that sense of elegant menace. (They were painfully
- [Oimelc 2011](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/oimelc-2011/) - The “Rite of Three Bredes” that was staged for a public celebration of Oimelc (Imbolc or Candlemas) in Paganistan (the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area) in 2010 was so popular, it was restaged in 2011 by a new ritual director who added new elements to the ritual, such as an “offering to the sacred fire” of the Goddesses: of birch boughs that
- [Samhain 2011](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/samhain-2011/) - These images archive a public celebration of Samhain (Hallowe'en) in Paganistan (the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area). This particular holiday represents the ending of the year as we head into the darkness of Winter Solstice, and is traditionally thought of as a time when the "veil" between the worlds of the living and the dead grows
- [Samhain 2010](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/samhain-2010/) - These images archive a public celebration of Samhain (Hallowe'en) in Paganistan (the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area). This particular holiday represents the ending of the year as we head into the darkness of Winter Solstice, and is traditionally thought of as a time when the "veil" between the worlds of the living and the dead grows
- [Sabbat 2013](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/sabbat-2013/) - Preparation for a midwestern Witches' Sabbat: I was asked to create the ritual designs on the body of the priest representing the Horned God at this event. The headdress he is wearing, called an "ooser" (pronounced "osser") is part of the regalia of this office. Indoors he ­­seemed to be a manifestation of caverns like
- [Lamasu 2011](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/lamasu-2011/) - This ritual drama of Lamasu (Lammas), traditionally August 1, the festival of "first harvest" in the Celtic agricultural year, was directed by the priestess Veronica Cummer, author of Sorgitzak and other books. The primary ritual characters are The Dark Lady, the Green Lady, the White (Bone) Lady as aspects of the Goddess, and the "chosen
- [Beltane 2011](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/beltane-2011/) - Beltane, or May Day, although thought of a rite of Spring, actually signifies the beginning of summer in the Celtic agricultural year. In 2011 it was staged by a local community member, Jack Green, who wanted to express his interest in the connection of astronomy and evolution in the form of a symbolic drama that
- [Beltane 2010](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/beltane-2010/) - I painted the ritual makeup of this young man, whose name is Rowan. For Beltane, he personified the Red God of the Animals, the youth of Spring in animal form. Of course, he also looks quite a bit like a faun, hence the title. The green heart on his chest symbolizes love for the Green
- [Beltane 2009](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/ritual-and-theatre/beltane-2009/) - The Goddess at Beltane (May 1) is the May Queen; here she is shown paired with s similarly young Green Man. Both celebrants were teens of Paganistan, youths enacting the personified youth of the year. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Ritual and Theatre✪ Beltane 2009✪
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- [Constructions](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/constructions/) - Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci This category of work encompasses 3D of various sorts: sculpture, assemblage, and painted 3D objects. The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Constructions✪
- [Collages](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/collages/) - I make collages. I join the shattered world creating a new harmony. Louise Nevelson I have been doing collage art in my personal journals for years, re-combining reproductions from other artists’ works and imagery from diverse sources with my own writings and artistic “connective tissue”. These are intended for display only (i.e. I am not
- [Fantasia](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/fantasia/) - Vision is the art of seeing things invisible to others. Jonathan Swift The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Fantasia✪
- [Gods](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/gods/) - Gods should be iridescent, like the rainbow in the storm. Man creates a God in his own image, and the gods grow old along with the men that made them. But storms sway in heaven, and the god-stuff sways high and angry over our heads. Gods die with men who have conceived them. But the
- [Goddesses](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/traditional-paintings/goddesses/) - I have seen the underside of beauty. I have gazed long in Hathor’s mirror and seen the hidden faces of Goddesses. Normandi Ellis, trans. (Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead) The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ Traditional Paintings✪ Goddesses✪
- [Female](https://paulruckerart.com/galleries/in-black-and-white/female/) - The Visionary Art of Paul B. Rucker✪ Galleries✪ In Black and White✪ Female✪
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