Self in 4 Directions: MC

The final self-portrait from this workshop (Embodied Astrology, Self in 4 Directions, taught by Gabz404) is about the Midheaven point, or MC, in astrology. It marks the brightest/highest point in the sky, and traditionally represents a person's contribution to the world, like passions, life work, or your career. It can also represent the way people might see you in public or professional spaces, like your public persona.

My MC is in Capricorn in the 9th house, conjunct Saturn which I think shows up in my life as a focus on teaching, philosophy, and science. Aspects (connections) to my 5th house (creativity) and 7th house (relationships) further add meaning to the work I do. Teaching has been a prominent part of my career since I was a teenager, whether that's teaching art in schools/museums, working as a staff member in afterschool, or teaching watercolor workshops. Philosophical or scientific topics have also played prominent roles in my career. In my early art I explored topics like psychology, philosophy and politics (for example, this piece I made during my degree at FAU, called Just Mist) and my focus on native plants and animals is also an exploration of my love of science and learning. Relationships with others is brought in through my collaborations on trail signs, guides, coloring books, and advocacy.

I decided to make this portrait using my most recent bird art, and ended up with two versions! The first one is at the top of this post, and the second is below.

On the left is my portrait, and on the right is an illustration from Charles Santore's The Little Mermaid, one of my favorite childhood books that it reminds me of, which I think it adds to the symbolism.

The plants at the bottom connect this portrait to my IC portrait (which you can read about in this blog post), and the thoughts about the picture book further connect this piece to my childhood. The IC represents early private childhood experiences which influence the expression of the MC and your public adult career.

I loved the illustrations in that book and would repeatedly check it out from the library just so that I could look at the pictures, and it was an early clue about my eventual love of watercolor. I didn't like the story very much because it was sad, but there is an interesting parallel between the mermaid loosing her voice, and with my IC placement and feeling "unheard" and being a very quite child in general. The symbol for Capricorn is also half-goat half-fish that leaves the ocean to climb a mountain, which is to say, leaves the ocean to struggle on dry land, which is exactly with the Little Mermaid did in the story.

The birds are from a mural called Birds at Play, which will be installed at the Mandel Library in West Palm Beach soon! Check out the blog about that here

The plants at the bottom are from a series called Plant Portraits completed last year, in collaboration with the Miami nonprofit Bound by Beauty!

Check out the other angle portraits from this series:

IC portrait

ASC and DSC portrait