Queen of the Night
First painting of 2026 – born from the winter solstice darkness.
As much as I love creating on sunny days, in December 2025 I quietly fell in love with the winter’s darkness — savoring it, merging with it, dancing with its grey sky and feeling a bit nostalgic, especially during evenings which arrive so early. The deep shadow was there to be explored, and I could no longer resist it. As the year tilted towards the Solstice, the dark grew denser, and its veil felt thicker — a velvet curtain drawn across the sky.
The darkness began to stir something profound inside of me, that hidden place of Divine creativity where my Muse has found her secret hiding place, curling comfortably, not seen but deeply felt. The winter darkness felt like a thick warm blanket, and I repeatedly crawled under it every day and night.
Intuitively, I knew that in the warm darkness there were countless diamonds of the soul, raw and unlit, scattered around like seeds buried in rich earth. Back in December, they were not ready to sparkle yet — they needed a long immersion into darkness, so that they could ripen in secret. There’s good timing for everything to be revealed to the hungry eyes of the world that thrives on quick consumption of entertaining content, but at that time, I knew I had to wait. Until the Solstice night arrived in its quiet glory.
And after that — when the wheel of the seasons turned, and the first faint thread of returning light slipped under the shadowy blanket, the diamonds began to rise from their hiding place, carrying the memory of the dark inside of them, while at the same time embodying the Light in its full expression. Right after the winter solstice, the minutes of daylight slowly began to stretch. I continued my work a little more each day as those minutes of light gradually added up.
The Queen of the Night was beginning to come from her hiding nest and into the light. That same quiet journey lives inside this painting: a small seed planted in the dark womb of creation, patiently stirring and unfolding until it emerges into the bright awakening of a new year.
Queen of the Night was born from darkness, yet it reaches outward as a bridge toward the returning light — a celebration of emergence, renewal, and the tender strength that grows in the deepest silence.
Queen of the Night, acrylic on canvas, 80x80 cm (31x31 inch)
