Someone commissioned Door Number 10 from me, and I finished it about a week and a half ago. The photos are posted on Facebook, but I’ve had some requests for a more complete write-up here. Ask and you shall receive. 🙂
Door Number 10 by Laura Bruno
Back of Door Number 10 by Laura Bruno
I really enjoyed painting this door! As my first commissioned door, it gave me a chance to code and design a portal to someone else’s intentions and dreams. This part of the process was as fun and rewarding as I anticipated. Once we decided on a theme — The Sun tarot card— I started asking her questions about quotes, mantras and important symbols in her life. By spending time in her home, I got a feel for her decorating style, and I also noticed that she happened to have a sun tattooed on her upper back. I decided to incorporate her tattoo into the door design, but at her request added some extra rays to make it look more like an alchemical sun from old texts.
The other symbols are also near and dear to her heart: replicas of some Hopi jewelry she showed me, a Hopi Kachina, and the Jewel in the Lotus Mantra on the inside of the door. Not only does she love this mantra, but it’s one she actually says, so the door resonates very closely with her interior life, just as the Jewel in the Lotus now graces the interior of her bedroom. Some synchronicities led to the inclusion of the four aspects of the Om Mani Padme Hum path, which are placed around the four edges of the inner door. (More explanation of that later.)
Overall, she wanted something bright and cheerful, but not overwhelmingly so. The door needed to fit within her surroundings. I got the idea to paint it quite vibrant and then “brown down” the colors, giving the suggestion of a faded deck of cards or a rare book. I used mountain colors because she feels a particular draw to the Pagosa Springs region of Colorado. Each of the colors suggests something naturally found in this area so special to her and her family.
Door number 10 also marks my first “functional” door, in that it leads in and out of the master bedroom. When she crosses this threshold, she actually moves through the energies of the door. We decided to work with the molding, too, creating even more of a 3D “portal” effect by using a contrasting color around the door itself.
As you may remember, doors 1-9 are standalone, discarded panel doors. By contrast, the tenth door offered a blank canvas, with no predetermined layers or frames. I initially found this challenging, because I enjoy the inherent guidelines forced upon me by panels. As corny as it sounds, I spent about a day tuning in to this panel-less door, so that I could learn its character. I walked through the threshold, lay down in front of it, stared at it from down the hallway, until I had a real sense of what the door itself wanted to express. Once I felt that, I combined all of the patron’s intentions and requests with the door’s energy and the surrounding colors and a clear image came to mind. The colors divided the door instead of panels.
That’s a bit of the background. I find it difficult to explain my entire process, since it mostly comes from a right-brain, intuitive and spiritually channeled, synchronous place. Music plays an important role as well. This door is most infused with two albums: U2’s The Unforgettable Fire and Krishna Das’ Heart as Wide and the World. Although I listened to other music, those albums wanted to repeat themselves most often, and I probably listened to each of them at least 6 times.
I’ll show some close-up shots below, with a little more explanation. Because this is a commissioned piece, I am grateful for the opportunity to share any photos and explanation here. Some of the intentions are quite private, and they are encoded in Runes as texture and words. I am only describing those elements she has given me permission to share publicly. The door is actually much more complex and layered than I’m letting on here, but out of respect for her privacy and gratitude for her willingness to share, I’m only focusing on the more universal elements.
Although the doors look like artwork, the use of Runes, Sanskrit, Sacred Geometry and ancient symbols directly speaks to the subconscious mind. In this way, the doors do act as portals, because they intentionally program the subconscious mind to accept and embrace desired experiences or states of being. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am using ALL of my education and all of my brain — melding right with left, major nerdy book learning with intuitive flashes, and language with art. Many thanks to my anonymous patron for allowing me to share so much with you!
Doorway Number 10 by Laura Bruno
The woman’s teenage sons were so cute, too. They said the squiggly lines around the sun were “male” and thus represented them being added to their mom’s tattoo. They were really excited to find themselves in the painting.
Closeup of Kokopelli and the Hopi Starblower
Close-up of the Doorway Number 10, Kokopelli, Starblower, Crow Mother Kachina and many, many Runes! As a side note, one reason the water seems to move is that I coded its texture with a Rune that subconsciously corresponds to “flow.”
Buddha Door Quote and Crow Mother Kachini
Out of focus BlackBerry shot of the bottom of Doorway Number 10. It shows the bottom of a Hopi “Starblower” along with a Crow Mother Kachina. The background texture is coded with Runes specific to the owner’s intentions with this portal. The quote says, “There are two mistakes one can make on the road to truth … not going all the way and not starting.”–Buddha
Threshold Coding
Threshold of Doorway Number 10, showing part of the Runic coding, which runs from top to bottom. It spells out the Hopi elder saying, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” The photo is a bit misleading as the inner room is white and the threshold is cinchilla blue.
Jewel in the Lotus by Laura Bruno
The back side of Doorway Number 10, which is in the master bedroom. It features the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra, which the owner says on a regular basis. The Sanskrit on the sides (and on top and bottom not shown in this photo) lists the four aspects of this path: karuna (compassion), maitri (loving kindness), upaika (equanimity) and mudika (joy).
Thanks for sharing the journey with us! I’ve had some other tentative requests for doors, too — some of them with the possibility of painting Dutch doors. (Those are the ones that split in half and swing separately.) Door number 11 is also a blank canvas (no panels) already planned and set to start painting later next week. Each door reminds me that portals are so unique. They involve not just one element, but so many possible functions, energies, intentions, love and desires. I truly feel blessed to have stumbled upon such a powerful and unusual means of expression.
Many Blessings and if you’d like your own portal door, please contact me privately for details. Cost varies according to travel, complexity, size and style of each door. I would love to create something for you or teach you how to create your own.
Namaste.
Jean, I am not a fan of Ken’s style, particularly of his oftentimes sexist “jokes,” and I disagree with him regarding the effectiveness of magic. He lampoons the cabal’s use of magic, whereas, imho, more people ought to educate themselves on energy, symbolism, the power of ritual and the subconscious and how those work so as to direct the energies instead of following someone else’s carefully manipulated energy streams. There’s resisting manipulation, and there’s taking the reins yourself to summon tremendous fuel and energy to your own creation — two different levels of engagement. I radically disagree with him on anything Goddess related. There are gaping holes in his understanding of how energy works, and he often gets stuck in polarized thinking, despite warning people against it.
That said, his research is very good, and he does offer suggestions for solutions — go local, grow your own food, get as self-reliant and local community sufficient as possible, know your neighbors, stop salivating over external Saviors, and find your own direct connection to Spirit/Divinity.
These are wise suggestions. They may not appeal to everyone who wants to just sit in their living room and meditate, but his suggestions are actually quite useful. I’m a big fan of imagination, meditation and reality creation; I also know hope can be a powerful bridge to a carefully crafted alternative reality. I think he’s just warning people against the hopium that got Obama elected. For the record, I saw through Obama when no one else I knew did, except one friend. How people can’t see the things Ken shows is beyond me, but I realize most people don’t until hindsight. In addition to Ken’s suggestions for solutions, I would add to get much more in touch with the land, sea and sky — with the wisdom of Nature and with everything associated with the suppressed Feminine, something with which he seems quite uncomfortable; however, for the most part, his take on international affairs checks with my own read.
I have always said and continue to assert that Putin’s a wild card. Those who claim to know his heart based on speeches or photos would be wise to step back and observe more. He’s a master martial artist; every move, every word, every gesture is calculated, but despite this, there are things he’s hiding even from himself. Those are the wild cards. I don’t even think he knows what he’s going to do. We can hope he ends up stepping away from the script, but right now, in my professional intuitive opinion, he’s right on script. Just because Edgar Cayce — who did not [always] discriminate whom and what he channeled — said Russia held great hope for humanity doesn’t make Putin the answer. Plenty of Russian defectors have given the play by play we’re currently living in, right on schedule. RT News is Russian propaganda. Controlled opposition always includes a large amount of truth or few people would swallow it at all.
I’m not arguing for anyone to have a firm opinion on BRICS. I personally think it’s a bunch of the same old, same old, but used by someone savvy, even the same old, same old could provide incredible opportunities for new things. The only thing I argue for is that people take personal responsibility for their own basic needs and that they educate themselves on basic hypnosis and NLP principles so they recognize them being used. Studying actual ancient traditions instead of watered down Wicca-lite, shaman-in-a-weekend, New Age platitudes would also help make global machinations much less important. If we become wise as serpents, harmless as doves, then we can have our new world, but it will be MUCH more of our making!
Hugs,
Laura