Aries was painted in 1974 before I went to college at St. Mary's. I never really liked the way the goat's left eye looked but after looking at it again many years later, it's not too bad.
I just found an old piece of plywood in our basement and decided to paint something. I'm sure the goat was from a National Geographic magazine or something. I know it wasn't from scratch.
The grain of the plywood really helped make the painting better, it's like mysterious ripples in the fabric of the universe- something any nitwit can easily understand. Sorry I think just I spilled some sarcasm on my computer keypad. I'll clean it up.
Several years later I titled the painting Aries. I had big plans to start a series of astrological signs and back then it was cool to say, "What's your sign?" Fortunately like the word, groovy, it's all past now.
I did delve into the unseen forces of the planets for a time. Being a Scorpio I have a certain astrological advantage, it's part of my nature, I suppose like farting silently and looking innocently at the person sitting next to me. We all have our faults and I was determined to understand the things that God had created.
For all those naysayers and religious fanatics that believe astrology is the work of the devil- think about it. God created the world in six days and I have to admit His days were probably a lot longer back then but at least He got Sunday off. God also created the heavens and stars. And certainly the moon, which has agravitational pull on the earth and that gravitational pull changes the tides. Since the tides are essentially salt water and we're made up mostly of salt water it might even have some effect on us- small as that may be.
God also created the seasons and the cycles of life. There are daily cycles (light and dark) monthly cycles (just ask my wife about that one) and if you didn't notice, it's a little bit different in the summer and the winter. Well, people are like that too. So someone born a certain time of the year may be different than someone else born at a different time. God created these unseen forces, face it there are things we don't really understand. If you try to understand are you evil? Not in my line of thinking.
Attributing characteristics to the cycle of life doesn't seem too far out to me. Understanding people and trying to relate to them doesn't seem too far out to me. Saying that on Feb. 17 you're going to have a bad day and maybe you should just roll over, pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep seems a little bit too far out to me.
Life is complicated. If you think people born a certain day will doing, saying, experiencing the same thing well... my hat's off to you (yeah I don't wear a hat). But if you think that people born a certain time of year have general characteristics and tend to behave in similar ways given the circumstances well... I can grant you that.
After all God is in control but not of the things on this lowly plane (not talking about US Air now). If there's any wisdom I can impart after the years I've suffered this world it can be summed up by the immortal philosopher Jimi Hendrix: "Meet me in the next world and don't be late."