The Black Dog Series - Despair

The Black Dog - Despair.

The subject and reality of depression is not an easy one, I  stated this in my first blog regarding the Black Dog but I feel, deep within my heart and soul that this state of affairs need to be redressed & the reality of depression should be to be bought out into the open, discussed and accepted as a part of life rather than making it all taboo. 

Right now I am going to go through the stages that most people experience at one time or another.  These may or may not be in the specific order that I am painting them and truth to be told, each experience of walking the Black Dog is unique to the circumstances surrounding it and different stages may come at different times.

The Black Dog - Despair

The next stage that I have painted is called Despair. I some ways this is self-explanatory because when someone really starts to suffer from depression this is how they might feel. Yet someone also might feel very confused & hurt because generally at the time the root of the problem is unknown.  At this stage, it is hard to look into the cause and effect of the condition because the pain becomes very intense & all someone wants to do is either cry, or scream or both.  

The Black Dog in this painting is bigger than in the first painting, this is because the illness is starting to become more dominant & sometimes more difficult to control.  The Black Dog has bitten this person but the viewer will see that although the bite itself is not deep, it is firm enough to have a strong hold on this woman.  This is the first bite that is supposed to alert us that something is wrong and needs addressing.  Yet the Black Dog is not viscous, it is quite calmly sitting there, sharp teeth biting into the dress of fire, some of which is trying to escape, & it appears to wait.  It is waiting for the person involved in this painting to acknowledge that something is wrong, but the woman can feel nothing but despair & as the fire hanging from the Dog's mouth indicates, is already trying to escape the Black Dog's hold.

The fiery dress this time leads upwards to a woman caught in a whirlwind.  This is painted in black and white because it consists of her own hair & in the centre at the top, her face is caught, spinning around & around, it is screaming and crying in pain.  

Because the distressed woman's eyes are shut, metaphorically as well as in reality, she is missing things that surround her.  The skies may be still grey but the wild-woman of her own soul is flying with her, trying to draw attention to the fact that there is life outside of this pain she feels.  The wild-woman is also drawing attention that from this whirlwind created by such pain, that a tree has been birthed with a phoenix that flies underneath it.  It will be some-time before the woman acknowledges that the Black Dog brings freedom if it is treated right.  I do not mean medically treated, Black Dogs are our constant companions in life, they draw attention that something is wrong but once faced something beautiful is birthed.  The beauty of this woman's truth is birthing but it is at an early stage & as yet she does not see it for what it is.  Change is never easy, self-change is harder because as this woman demonstrates, she really does not know what needs changing as yet but as her tree with its strong roots and branches & her flying phoenix shows she is on the way to becoming.

There is one thing I wanted to add to this, when I was painting Despair, my 9-year-old-daughter took one of my brush cleaning rags & got green glitter over it without my knowledge.  Some of this glitter transferred to the Black Dog itself & I have left it there because, as it was pointed out to me, this is a lovely message not to forget that little bit of sparkle that is there in your own life (e.g. family and friends); & that the Black Dog itself sometimes can bring these glimmers of hope that more sparkly times will return again.

 My work can also be viewed at:

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Trac Davies - Artist © 

The Black Dog - Recognition.

An individual approach to the battle with depression.

Life isn't always easy, even the most upbeat and positive person can have an off-day but when this continues, when the days get greyer & finally turn into the blackest of hells, that is when the question of depression comes up.

Depression is a touchy subject, for so many years it was taboo & never discussed because nobody likes to think that they are struggling with it.  After all, are we not all human? Are we not all strong? Everyone else can cope so why not me?  It is never a question of inner strength because most often, the most positive of people that have had to be strong for a very long time suffer from depression at some stage in their lives.   

If we were all honest, we would all accept that some time in our life we have been bitten by the black dog, I feel we all have suffered from it from a greater or lesser degree.  As it is such a difficult subject, I have decided to paint a series and I am going to introduce the series via this blog so these will continue as there might be 7 paintings or more.  I do not want judgements on this series, this is not a generalised version of what occurs with depression.  Everybody's journey is different, some take longer to go through the processes and usually, we all miss what it is trying to tell us.  This is because when depression starts, it could be that we have missed something hidden in our psyche.  Even the most clued-up people miss things & if they are not dealt with, these can come back and bite us hard.  

The name the Black Dog has been attributed to Winston Churchill1 but it is a much older expression & was first used by Horace, a Roman Satirist & Poet in 65 - 68 BC.2.   The Black Dog has been used in literature and mythology in various times throughout history to depict depressive illnesses & has been our constant companion throughout the years2.  Sometimes it is caused by an event or events in life that can tear a person apart but genetics and other medical factors do need to be considered.  Causes of depression, such as stress or trauma have a debilitating effect on any one individual3.  However,  it has been underlined that chemical imbalance alone cannot be just the cause of depression, it is a multiple-faceted disease which cannot be contributed to chemicals in the brain alone4. The complexity of the disease is such that brain and nervous system, along with genetics, medical conditions and outside factors have to be assessed & each individual responds to treatment different because of all of the above factors4. I have included the links here because I will now be leaving the art of psychotherapy and science & going onto the first painting. 

The Black Dog - Recognition

Sometimes art speaks for itself, sometimes it is not apparent.  This painting does have clear meaning but I feel the need to describe it because it may not be so obvious to all.  The Black dog here is not like a real dog, it is a shadow-form but has real depth.  However, it does not show the attributes of a true dog.  This dog is MY Black Dog, everyone's Dog is different but this one is mine.

People that experience depression experience it differently, but this is my exprience.  Here the Black Dog is quite small but it is also quiet, it does not attack, it just sits opposite a woman that is attired in a dress of fire.  Her dress is indicative of how she feels, uncomfortable & in pain, as if she is wearing her nervous system on the outside of her body so everything hurts her and sets her alight from the inside-out and the outside-in.  The fire has also reached the floor & flames encircle her so therefore she feels there is no escape.  

Her black and white hair is indicative that at this present time her head is feeling the stark contrast between of her reflection of how she feels she ought to be & how how she feels she is.  She is not feeling the shades of grey or colour that usually make up her world.  She also feels stark contrasts between her and other people that she admires & puts herself in the black whereas others are perfect and all  pristine white.  I have written "feels" rather than "sees" because one branch of thinking believe that hair is like an antenna on many species, including humans5 & as this lady has her head in her hands, she is not really seeing anything, she is feeling it.  

Her head is in her hands for she has just seen and recognised the Black Dog, she has also shut her eyes.  When we first become depressed, this is what most of us do, we refuse to acknowledge it, thus shutting our eyes and hiding our face from the truth.  Yet, the Black Dog is HERSELF, for its tongue is attached to her & makes her fiery dress & thus they are connected.  The Black Dog's eyes are also fiery, they contain a painful truth that, with courage must be faced or the pain will become unbearable but for now, the woman refuses to look upon HERSELF for that is what the Black Dog is, part of you.  

The Black Dog is an inner reflection to point out that something is wrong and it is there to help you sort it out too, this is why I have painted The Crone pouring from the mouth of the Dog.  Again, this can be likened to our inner Baba Yaga, the aged-crone & eternal inner Wild Woman, who's lessons are harsh but once learnt, you never have to go through them in such depth again.  Here she is facing the woman who willfully hides and it will only be once the woman looks into her inner Crones heart that she will be free - that said, there will always be a scar but it will no longer fester and poison the mind and life of any one individual.  

The grey clouds that surround this individual are indicative of how she feels, grey, lifeless and heavy & people that are in her circle are indistinct as everything to her is foggy.  The waves crashing over her are only gentle because at this time she is only JUST beginning to recognise the Black Dog for what it is & that this is not a case of the ordinary blues so at present, the waves of emotion are small but there is a tired face in those waves and this depicts how we feel when we battle with ourselves, tired. 

1. http://www.bipolar-lives.com/winston-churchill-and-manic-depression.html

2.  http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Michael.pdf

3.  http://www.allaboutdepression.com/cau_04.html

4. http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-causes-depression

5.  https://www.quantumbalancing.com/spiritualhair.htm

My work can also be viewed at:

http://www.artfinder.com/trac-davies
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracDaviesArtist
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tracdavies
http://tracdavies.deviantart.com/   
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/tracdaviesartist 
https://www.facebook.com/TracDaviesArtist
https://twitter.com/tracdavies
https://www.tsu.co/TracDaviesArtist

Trac Davies - Artist ©