The Custodian (Eclipse Collection) 🔴 SOLD

Acrylic and gold leaf on cradled wooden birch panel, 20x20x3cm with fluorescent paint that glows by blacklight (see additional photos).
There are those who witness the world’s mysteries, and there are those entrusted to protect them. The Custodian stands at the threshold of an eclipse, where light and shadow exist in perfect balance. Across cultures, the stag has long symbolised nobility, regeneration and the quiet wisdom that comes with enduring the changing seasons. Here, it becomes the keeper of what would otherwise be forgotten.
An arrow rests within its flank, a symbol of sacrifice. True guardians are rarely untouched by the things they protect. The wound speaks of resilience; of carrying pain without surrendering purpose.
Suspended from its antlers are relics gathered through countless lifetimes. Each represents a fragment of the world’s hidden language. The key symbolises the unlocking of unseen truths and the doors that appear only when we are ready to pass through them. The star reminds us that even in darkness there are constant guides, fixed points by which we find our way. The feather speaks of spirit, intuition and the unseen currents that connect heaven and earth. The delicate bell represents awakening, a quiet wake up call to those willing to listen beyond the noise of everyday life. The bird’s skull acknowledges that death is not the opposite of life, but part of its sacred rhythm; transformation rather than ending. Finally, the solar talisman reflects the eternal cycle of light returning after darkness, echoing the eclipse itself.
Behind the stag burns a total solar eclipse, one of nature’s rarest moments of alignment. Across history, eclipses have been seen as portals, omens and moments when the veil between worlds grows thin. Here it represents the liminal space where endings become beginnings, certainty gives way to mystery, and transformation quietly unfolds.
Around it, the night sky stretches into infinity, reminding us of our place within something immeasurably larger, while the gathering clouds embody the unknown—the uncertainty every soul must walk through before reaching clarity.
Encircled by an ethereal pink aura, the stag appears suspended between the earthly and the divine, existing in that fleeting place where myth and reality briefly overlap.