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Orenda Green

@orendagreenartist

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A visual journal exploring perception.
Evolving themes of memory, spirit & identity.
Painting | Poems | Black & White imagery
Esoterica | Occultism

POSTS STORIES REELS

Every face has a history. Every gaze holds a secret.

A new portrait series dedicated to women whose lives, unique aesthetics, and/or stories deserve to be remembered. Each painting a window into a completely different world and a different soul.

SHE LIVES.

#SheLives #ArtSeries by @orendagreenartist

Grandmother of modern herbalism - Juliette de Bairacli Levy.
The layers are building and I can see the final image coming together beautifully.

#gouacheportrait #herbalist #shelives by @orendagreenartist

This painting, Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare (1781), might induce fear in some, but for me, it perfectly demonstrates something I once experienced.

It all started when I cut down an old apple tree in our back garden. I was trying to clear a corner of the yard where a dilapidated small tool shed was overgrown with climbing weeds and decaying leaf litter. The tree had not produced fruit in years and looked completely dead, so I went to work cutting it down. When I finished, only a stump remained, and I felt the yard was finally beginning to breathe again.

That night, I was awakened by our two Jack Russells going crazy in the yard. I went to the back door to find out what all the fuss was about. Upon opening it, I felt a sudden gush of wind, as though someone had run straight through me and into the house. I told the dogs to go to their beds, and then I made my way back to mine.

A day or two later, the psychological attacks began. Thoughts of dread kept popping into my mind, and I started seeing a short black haze darting quickly about the room. Then came what felt like physical attacks. I could sense a presence, followed by the feeling of being strangled.

This thing was trying to harm me, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Waking up to find it sitting on my chest was intense, and it happened on multiple occasions. I believe the entity was an imp, similar to what is depicted crouching on the sleeping woman in Fuseli’s painting.

The encounters only stopped after we moved house some time later. I sincerely believe I disturbed this imp’s home by cutting down that tree. The experience forced me to acknowledge the unseen in a way I had not previously at that time, and I eventually wrote a letter of apology which I buried in the earth.

I tried researching similar experiences sometime later but turned up nothing. However, a few years ago I discovered a documented account from somewhere in the UK that closely resembled my own experience. It also involved an imp severely haunting a home after an old tree standing on the grounds of a property was cut down.

How does Fuseli’s painting make you feel?

#darkart #unexplained #supernatural by @orendagreenartist

My portrait of Juliette de Baïracli Levy is starting to take shape. After doing an extensive online search for a reference image, I decided to use multiple images as inspiration to create my own version to honour her.

I will share Juliette’s story once the painting is completed.🌿

#gouacheportrait #julietteoftheherbs #herbalist by @orendagreenartist

Portrait 3 for the ‘She lives’ series is on the way.🌿💚🪴

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Every face has a history. Every gaze holds a secret.

A new portrait series dedicated to women whose lives, unique aesthetics, and/or stories deserve to be remembered. Each painting a window into a completely different world and a different soul.

SHE LIVES.

#gouacheportrait #womensstories by @orendagreenartist

Within the earth realm measure of time, this is the best time of year 🖤 by @orendagreenartist

Circa 1880/90 photograph vs. the final painting in monochrome.

Titled, Little Pearl.
See previous post for more.

Gouache on Arches hot pressed cotton.

#gouaché by @orendagreenartist

Portrait No. 2 for the ‘She Lives’ Series.

When I first viewed the single surviving photograph of Grietje, taken sometime around 1880–1890, my eyes shifted from her face to her hands, and then to the embellishments of her dress. Each aspect told a different story.

Looking at the overall picture, I sensed a grounded, hard-working woman with a strong personality. Upon researching Grietje through numerous genealogy websites and documented records found in the Netherlands, I discovered she was someone who navigated a long life throughout the 19th century and built something of herself, for herself, and for her family.

In addition to my research, I also found some uncanny similarities between my great-great-great-grandmother and me:

🌷 We were born in the same month and, given the time zone difference, essentially on the same day.
🌷 We are both Taureans with Chiron in Aries. IYKYK ♉️
🌷 Our mothers were both 33 years old when we were born.
🌷 We both had older fathers who were the same age on the day we were born.
🌷 Grietje had six siblings. I also have six siblings.
🌷 Grietje and I both gave birth to our first child at the same age.

For those compelling reasons, together with Grietje’s own story and the aesthetic of her traditional clothing, I decided to create this painting, titled Little Pearl.

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‘SHE LIVES’ is my portrait series dedicated to women whose lives, unique aesthetics, and/or stories deserve to be remembered. Each painting is a window into a completely different world and a different soul.

#gouachepainting🎨 #gouacheportrait by @orendagreenartist

Perception. Identity. Authenticity.

Most of us go through life masking who we really are because our thoughts wander to how others might perceive us. We live with a relentless internal monologue dictating our every move: “No, don’t do that, they will think…” or “I look too fat,” “too thin,” “too old,” “too ugly,” “too scared,” “too weird,” “too this,” “too that.” We conform to those around us instead of just being who we naturally are.

It’s such a waste of vitality, of energy, of life.
As someone who is over half a century old, who spent much of that time worried about what others thought, too scared to be me, and living with soul-crushing self-talk for so long, I feel qualified to say this:

In every moment of every day, change is happening, and you’re changing in every one of those moments. The only person you should appeal to or aim to impress is yourself.

Social constructs and expectations have the capacity to shatter self-worth. They will deny you the life you want if you give them your attention.

You can overcome setbacks, adversity, and anything heavy, to step into a space where you live authentically.

Finding your identity matters. Your identity showcases who you are to the world, and there is nothing better than being unapologetically aligned with your true self.

When you begin living authentically, you will attract the people who will celebrate you. They can’t find you behind a mask.

Life has its seasons. Enjoy the one you’re in and express who you are within that season.

Yes, it’s true. You don’t look the same. You’ve changed. You’re supposed to. And there’s magic, beauty, and wonder in that transformation. There’s so much fun to be had in this exact moment.

You’re going to look back one day and regret it if you weren’t being you sooner. Don’t delay.❤️

#perception #identity #authenticity by @orendagreenartist

Time is an illusion of the physical senses. All personalities who have ever lived, or will ever live, exist simultaneously in the vast network of the universal mind.

The Seth Material- Jane Roberts

As I paint Grietje, a little at a time, I am appreciating the beauty of an aging body, the hanging skin, the arthritic knuckles, the strength of years passed, and the life contained within. 🌷❤️

#gouacheportrait by @orendagreenartist

The halfway point has been reached and the energy just shifted.

#gouacheportrait #paintwithme #portraitart by @orendagreenartist

My life is its own definition.
So is yours.
Let us leave the priests
to their hells and heavens,
and confine
the scientists
to their dying universe,
with its
accidentally created stars.
Let us each dare
to open our dream’s door,
and explore
the unofficial thresholds,
where we begin.

A psychic manifesto - Part of a poem by Jane Roberts.

All my own photos. by @orendagreenartist