Yesterday was the 70th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. And what has that to do with this little watercolor sketch? This image is froth with the answers. First, the nail in the wall is not just a utilitarian metal but it’s also the kabbalah meaning of “zain/zion” which has the mystical association with the sword or nail. The hebrew letter is formed which is almost a pictograph of a flat head with a long point. The nail in the wall is in an IDF soldier’s barrack. It was an iron nail.
My clan name is ‘zahav’ which means ‘gold’. My favorite of all colors is yellow ochre. It is an earth color. Early cave paintings used yellow ochre [FeO(OH)·nH2O], which is an iron oxide compound. It has the richest golden hues of all the usual suspects of colors. Israel in the summer is full of this color in their fields. The hay has been harvested and the hay bracken is what is left until the rains come. To some it may mean it’s too hot out. Holy heat! That’s true. But those fields are rich in soil which produce the mineral rich flavors in their fruits and vegetables.
Iron is in the land and iron is in our blood. Iron is the most abundant mineral on Earth. The children of Abraham were promised to be as abundant. The gates of Auschwitz are wrought iron. Wrought iron has the lowest carbon content. In a comparative metaphysical thought-jump, there was little carbon inside those heinous gates. (Carbon is the mineral that living beings of plant and animal are based on.)
The celebration of the liberation of Auschwitz reminded me why I paint. I paint to feel the earth’s colors. I paint to mystically and meditatively connect with the G-d of creation. I paint so much and so often that I give away my sketches. Giving this field of gold to the Israeli soldier nailed my prayer that humanity must not destroy the earth and its inhabitants. I nailed this to his wall.