The Rewards of Life

pigment, color pencil, acrylic on arches paper, 22x30in

This series began as a meditation on Hildegard von Bingen’s visionary works on virtue and vice. By creating a luminous circular interior set against a darker, more turbulent periphery, the work presents the virtues as radiant presences and the vices as distortions that encroach upon the harmony of life. These interpretations of Hildegard's visionary descriptions of the virtues and vices become integrated with herbal and natural remedies from her writings in Physica and Causae et Curae, which she prescribed for cleansing, restoration, and healing. Hildegard understood the human body as a microcosm of the cosmos, part of a divinely ordered system in which true health depends upon balance with oneself, with others, and with creation. Inspired by this holistic philosophy, the work also engages with contemporary environmental concerns, suggesting that the degradation of the natural world may mirror the spiritual and ethical imbalances that shape human life. Ultimately, this series seeks to illuminate the profound interconnectedness of moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being and to encourage reflection on personal truth, the restoration of balance, and humanity's responsibility to the natural world. Through this visual dialogue, viewers are encouraged to consider these connections more deeply, discover the works of Hildegard von Bingen, and consider how her mystical insights resonate today.