This article in the Art & Astrology series looks at the watercolor painting Deer Skull and explores its symbolism related to the astrological sign Leo as well as the Sun (Leo's ruler) and the mysteries of life's cycles of birth, death, and renewal.

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Art & Astrology: Leo, Deer Skull, and the Cycles of Life

Art provides a powerful way to connect with our inner selves because it communicates through symbols, which constitute the language of the soul. This symbolic language speaks to us through art's physical qualities of color, form, composition, and medium; it also communicates through an artwork's content. In this way, form and content combine to express spiritual or mystical meaning, giving art a sense of mystery and inviting us to return again and again for contemplation. Over time, art can reward us with new insights and touch our souls through beauty of form and meaning.


Deer Skull, watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper by Anne Nordhaus-Bike


The Sun with its brilliant light and sometimes intense heat has offered humanity a potent symbol since ancient times. Many cultures have associated the Sun with divinity, and while some saw it as feminine, many more saw the Sun as masculine and associated its active energies with a divine male parent as well as authority, the life essence, and unity. In contrast to the cool and receptive Moon that rules the night, the hot, energetic Sun rules the day and the world of actions and objects appearing out in the open, in plain sight under clear light.

In astrology, the Sun rules Leo, a fire sign renowned for its dramatic passion, regal bearing, and warm heart. Astrology sees Leo as a masculine, active sign because of its fiery nature; all fire and air signs rank as masculine, while water and earth signs make up the feminine or receptive signs. Every month, as the Sun makes its way around the zodiac, it alternates between masculine and feminine signs; just as day follows night in each 24-hour period, this monthly oscillation enables us to shift energies regularly and maintain balance in our lives between feminine and masculine, receptive and active.

The Sun's bright light indicates the astrological Lion's need to shine in some way. At their best, Leos express solar characteristics via a sunny personality, generosity, and loyalty; with maturity and spiritual evolution, they radiate an inner beauty suffused with spiritual light. Like the Sun, which occupies the center or heart of our solar system, Leo is associated with life's center through its rulership of the heart, both physical and spiritual; as a result, Leos tend to interact in a personal, heartfelt manner and to give and receive love freely.

Deer Skull evokes Leo and solar themes

This painting, Deer Skull, dates to a period in which my art focused on skulls, bones, X rays, and other somewhat macabre subject matter. It evokes both the astrological sign Leo and solar themes through its colors, form, materials, and subject.


Deer Skull (detail 1), watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper by Anne Nordhaus-Bike


Deer Skull was created using watercolor, gouache (an opaque, water-soluble paint), and ink on brilliant white watercolor paper. This mix of media creates a blend of opposites: sharp inked lines and soft watercolor washes, white paper with dark pools of paint, and a fiery background with earthy foreground shades. For example, lines of black ink applied with a fine-tipped pen highlight details throughout the skull, such as the horns' edges and their bases, yet in the teeth at the skull's bottom center and in parts of the horns' edges, the ink ran into wet patches of paint and blended with the color to create a fuzzy look. Washy strokes of white paint in a few areas also add softness; along with the white paper, they convey the feeling of bleached bone. The orange wash across the background warms up the entire painting while complementing the skull's earthy tones of yellow ochre, raw and burnt sienna, and raw and burnt umber.


Deer Skull (detail 2), watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper by Anne Nordhaus-Bike


The orange background also brings a feeling of summer's heat and intense solar power; Leo's astrological month comes during summer (in the northern hemisphere). Combined with the stark white paper and the skull, these aspects point to Leo's ruler, the Sun: a source of life-giving light and warmth, a potent purifier, and in excess a destroyer (as in a desert climate).

As for the painting's subject, the skull carries associations with the head, mind, and intelligence that suggest a link with the Sun, whose symbolism includes the rational or logical aspect of intelligence (in contrast to the intuitive or super rational faculties). The head or mind focuses thought and permits insight, just as the Sun's rays symbolize the light of truth, understanding, and knowledge.


Deer Skull (detail 3), watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper by Anne Nordhaus-Bike


In addition, the deer carries strong symbolic affinities with the Sun, a star that shines its light freely on all creation. Like the Sun, the deer symbolizes abundance, benevolence, regeneration, and generosity because it has given many cultures a source of meat as well as tools (through its bones) and clothing (through its hide). The deer and Sun also symbolize intuition or "inner knowing," for just as the deer survives by being alert and aware, so does the Sun promote knowledge by shining its light to expose truth and increase our awareness.

The Sun, the Deer, and the Cycles of Life

Through this multi-layered symbolism, Deer Skull suggests the mysterious cycles of life, death, and regeneration. In the presence of the Sun and life, represented by the lively orange background, we still face decay and death, represented by the skull.

The Sun, in fact, gives us the age old symbol of a sole divinity with three "faces" or phases: creator, sustainer, and destroyer. After sparking a seed to sprout, sunlight sustains the developing plant until it yields its gifts of flowers or fruits or seeds, yet ultimately the Sun destroys it when its life cycle has concluded. Then, from decay and death, the Sun brings forth new life according to an ancient and dependable rhythm, an endlessly repeating cycle.

Contemplating a painting such as Deer Skull can remind us of nature's cycles and our place within creation. It also can assist our spiritual lives by suggesting the process of inner evolution. Just as the Sun reveals truth by shining light on our physical existence, so our consciousness expands by opening to inner sight and spiritual light. Like the Sun, which purifies through heat and light, we can refine ourselves by bringing light to our inner darkness and using the heat of spiritual desire to purify our thoughts and burn off our imperfections. These actions destroy our old selves, just as the Sun destroys old and outworn forms, yet on the ashes of such destruction rises new life of the New Self.


Deer Skull, watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper by Anne Nordhaus-Bike


In a larger spiritual sense, we continually die in order to be reborn. At the close of a lifetime, the physical body perishes, but the essence, the soul, the "inner Sun" continues and returns.

May Deer Skull inspire you with the beauty of all life's phases, and may it assist your inner reflections and spiritual seeking.

Authors Website: https://artistanne.com/

Authors Bio:

Award-winning artist Anne Nordhaus-Bike paints colorful, calming watercolors inspired by nature.

Anne's art has appeared in numerous solo and group shows as well as many arts programs, presentations, and performances. Her work has been published in periodicals and books; covered in numerous print publications; and featured in broadcast media, both on television and feature films.

She received a degree in art history, with honors, from the University of Chicago and went on to launch a fine arts column that ran for two decades in the Gazette Chicago newspaper, where she has served in various capacities since the newspaper's founding in 1983. She joined Gazette Chicago's board of directors in 2004. She founded her multimedia arts firm, ANB Communications, in 1993.

A member of the prestigious Woman Made Gallery in Chicago since 1998, she launched her book, Follow The Sun, with a book signing at Woman Made in 2012; the book includes more than a dozen of her original watercolors. Among her many awards and honors, she was named to the National Women's Hall of Fame's Wall of Fame.

Anne lives with her husband Bill and cat Sterling in Chicago, where she makes art and enjoys cooking, tai chi, and time in nature.