Fuji Friday...Eye in the Sky Fuji

I painted this Fuji in a kitchen in Los Angeles. Police helicopters, referred to by the locals as "The Eye in the Sky" are a common sight in the city...which is enormous. Los Angeles sprawls over an area of nearly 500 square miles ...more than the combined areas of Boston, Cleveland, Manhattan, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Francisco.

A dispassionate, hovering and disembodied eye is also symbolic of the presence of another, higher authority...for some it is God, for some it is one's conscience. The "All Seeing Eye " has been represented throughout the ages by a myriad of cultures and organizations and with varying degrees of decorative flourish.

There is one thing in these images that is constant ...there is always that steady gaze. Meister Eckhart once said "The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me..." I find that statement unnerving and comforting in equal parts.

I do know that I can't hide, for any extended period of time, from myself or my actions. This knowledge has kept me walking a relatively "straight and narrow" path for a number of years. This in turn makes for a good night's sleep ...which is only occasionally interrupted by the din of whirlybirds when visiting my favorite town on the West Coast.

Fuji and the Eye in the Sky
Oil on canvas 4 x 5"