An Artist's Life: Deborah Jane Milton, PhD

In November 2014, I begin an online class called Painting Gaia with Australian artist, Jassy Watson, and her colleague, Glenys Livingstone, author of PaGaian Cosmology. Suddenly, all the threads of my devotion to life on earth weave into one fabric. Like a beloved shawl wrapped around my shoulders, I am embraced by the infinite possibilities of envisioning Gaia with a human face to make Gaia REAL for us humans.

To make Gaia REAL so that we will want to stop destroying and begin nourishing that force/source that has carried the universe from the Big Bang to Here Now, so that we will begin honoring the complexity, the beauty, the mystery and the balance of creation and destruction on which our lives and the universe depends.

To make Gaia REAL so that we will be moved to bless our wounded psyches, our wounded earth by Making Artful Prayers wherever we are and whenever we are called. Thus, Painting the Many Faces of Gaia is me living my prayers with paint.

Each painting I paint connects me to reverence, sometimes even awe, as the dynamic I’m portraying becomes more clear. Jassy teaches that the first layer is  the prayer, the words of blessing or statement of process that need to come forth. Then I paint a portal, that threshold over which I must step, leaving old notions behind and following the lead of my new prayers.

The portal calls for engagement with the cosmos and thus galaxies, black holes, constellations and comets are born.

The cosmos calls for his  or her Gaian face to be born and so the next Gaian image begins. I wish I had thought to snap a photo of the face outlined in chalk before blocking in but here at least is an image taken right after that step. You can see bits of the cosmos peeking through which is also part of the finished image…always human and cosmos intertwined to illustrate the truth of our existence!

This is my first Gaia. Called Willow Wombman – S/he Who Cycles the Seasons. Acrylic on canvas – 30″ x 40″ $ 2975.

Salmon Woman, pictured above is Gaia #2. SOLD So many people adore this image that I now have reproductions available.

Gaia #3 is S/he Who Knows the Light and the Dark. Acrylic on canvas – 22 x 28 – SOLD

#4: For S/he So Loves the World – 20 x 20 – SOLD

Gaia #5: S/he Who Bears the Burdens of Spring Acrylic on repurposed board. SOLD

#6: S/he Who Gives Voice to their Stories – acrylic on canvas board – 18 x 24 – $2250

Gaia # 7: S/he Who Watches Now  – 20″ x 20″ – acrylic on canvas – SOLD

Gaia # 8 : Constancy – S/he Who Cares for the Forest – acrylic on Crescent board – SOLD

Gaia # 9: Incandescence – S/he Who Keeps the Fire – 12″ x 12″ acrylic on canvas – $425

Gaia # 10 : S/he Who Orchestrates the Weather – acrylic on Claybord – 16 x 16 – SOLD

Gaia # 15: S/he Who Radiates Benevolence – 5′ x 5″ acrylic on canvas board – Sold

The following two images are Guardians. Gaia #11 is Guardian # 1. S/He Who Maintains the Natural Cycles of Living and Dying.

Gaia #12 is Guardian #2: S/he Who Maintains the Cycles of Coming and Going. Each is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ board with 2″ sides and cost $425.

Gaia # 46: S/He Who Hears the Whales’ Cry, 36″ x 36″, acrylic on canvas, 40″ x 40″ gold float frame, $3750.
This particular image has been in two juried art shows and featured in a third.

Gaia #47 – S/He Who Brings the Sun, acrylic on canvas 16″ x 20″, golden wood frame 21′ x 25″, $895

Gaia # 48 – S/He Who Soars into New Possibilities, 18′ x 24″, framed in gold float frame 20″ x 26″, $1795

Gaia “27: S/He Who Holds the Center in Every Storm 5′ x 5”, acrylic on board, $225

Gaia# 49: S/He Who Bears with Me, 20″ x 30″,  24″ x 34″ silver float frame, $1995.

Gaia# 85: Benediction – S/He Who Considers All of IT Sacred. 23″ x 35″, acrylic on canvas, $2250

Gaia# 84: Black Madonna – S/He Who Glories in Interbeing. 16″ x 20″, acrylic on canvas, $695

Gaia # 81: First Family – They Who Carry our Ancestors Forward, 9″ x 12″, acrylic on board, $355.

Gaia#80: S/He Who Sees Cosmos in Chaos, 9″ x 16″, acrylic on board,  $495