https://www.arransart.org/essays daily 0.75 2023-11-17 https://www.arransart.org/essays/saints-amp-successorsone-or-many monthly 0.5 2025-03-20 https://www.arransart.org/essays/santos-y-sucesores-uno-o-muchos monthly 0.5 2025-03-20 https://www.arransart.org/work daily 0.75 2025-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761687929143-Q4SETSP16R32RXPAR6FZ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present #9 in the Goldstream Series Oil on masonite, 2016-2025. 24” x 28” My dear Mum was a true lover of nature and all things beautiful, including the chirping of a robin in the sun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761687929143-Q4SETSP16R32RXPAR6FZ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present #9 in the Goldstream Series Oil on masonite, 2016-2025. 24” x 28” My dear Mum was a true lover of nature and all things beautiful, including the chirping of a robin in the sun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761688968430-LOCQIIGAJC8R740KS09B/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Famly Tree, Looking Back California, 1983. Oil on canvas, 2025. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652074639365-LAV3M1N8I7QKA92OMRTK/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Madonna of Sunflowers—For Ukraine This painting helped raise $108,000 for Doctors Without Borders, saving civilian lives in Ukraine, due to the invasion by Russia. 36” x 36” oil on canvas She represents Peace and love in a time of a terribly unjust and criminal war of aggression by Russia on the people and towns of democratic, sovereign Ukraine. The sunflowers represent hope and regeneration. I/we stand with the people of Ukraine. (the caption at the top of painting spells “Ukraine” in Cyrillic script) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761688995105-OJBJ3FNP28OT0074CGSP/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present Oil on canvas, 2025 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761689024343-W8W7TV9SLLLF22RXIMYE/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Gurdeep's Big, Floppy Hat Oil on canvas, 2025 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1753906030026-UNRW0LUK8PH93XHF0M71/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Final Goodbye Oil on canvas. July 2025. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1753905912750-0VG3HR4NXGE0NZFOZTG2/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Aryana & Spirit Raven Oil on canvas. July 2025. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1753905757707-N4BOPZKZ4SER7Z3CFW9Y/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Great Blue Heron at Kitsilano Beach Oil on canvas. July 2025. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1746657784364-MVNYSUV6QGBIXLAE6MTT/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Conference of the Birds 2023–2025 Based on the Persian classic poem, Conference of the Birds, by Farid ud-Din Attar, 12th Century. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1747107705107-1UP436Y11OOD3LPNTZY9/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Isha in the Sun's Golden Rays, Goldstream Canyon #8 in the Goldstream Series 2020-2025. Oil on canvas, size 24” x 30” Isha is #4 of 6 granddaughters, a lovely, intelligent and questioning soul. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699158151298-9Q41QNNBL8WIS86YTGHO/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Camel and the Rider 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699041868511-P9XXUSLKK5UGSCOG6N57/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Conference of the Birds, A Study 2020-2023 Based on the Persian classic poem, Conference of the Birds, by Farid ud-Din Attar, 12th Century. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042294160-BJRC80YHU717R789NBNQ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Isha in Goldstream Canyon 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1733972100892-3RYSY04858VSRR0OY1FT/The-Arising-II---Jul-4%2C-2023.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Arising II 2016 to July 2023. Oil Painting on canvas. 36” x 60” Revisiting the theme he originally painted in his 1964 work “Arising”, Arran has added new symbolism to the background and a fresher portrait of our collective humanity. Below are the masses, preoccupied with the human frailties of lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. A rare few rise above to seek the Light at the foundation of existence. Looking up into the sky, the seeker sees an amazing mystical vision of Light and the Cosmos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699467601523-AVAG47GIHMF98NHV3N1D/The+Arising+II+%28face+in+light+detail%29+copy.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Arising II (detail, face in Light) 2016 to July 2023. Detail of the face of divinity, revealed in the centre of the cosmos in “Arising II.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698988702246-9EW4S9S0BESDK5E2N61B/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Selfie With Sunflower & Hawaiian Shirt 2022-2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698987390810-OO9WGCYQNHNQ8KJE4BXK/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - An Illumination of Sorts 1965-2023. Oil on linen. In the fall of 1964, following a successful solo exhibition at the Batman Gallery in San Francisco, I went up to Mendocino County for a couple of days. While walking across the beautiful rolling hills studded with giant blue oaks, I paused under one and became filled with awe at a nameless spiritual presence. It filled the air and simultaneously, within my sight and consciousness. A brilliant white Light permeated everything. This experience corroborated my growing sense of destiny that I was on a spiritual quest for truth and nothing could stop it going forward. I began this painting back in 1965 and have continued working on it over the years, and even recently in the summer of 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042616683-JWZKKQ7WCX8JRHU40GGH/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Rattan Mala, 1968 2022-2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699041993652-SL68PCCDQSDX6JL7BNGQ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Five Dogs Guarding the Door to the Heavens 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1675139715084-UVGJ4WU8U0DWKW8SQOO8/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Master Kirpal Singh & Lion Cub 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698980973504-CPJUY59UE39UFGQ4EJKM/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Madonna of Sunflowers 2022. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698987118793-LQ4X47GOMQ9GKACW6YG5/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Goldstream Canyon - An Eternity of Now Oil on canvas, 36’ x 72’ 2017-2022 #1 in the Goldstream Series My favorite spot in the Goldstream River Canyon. It was here as kids in summers, we would jump off the cliff walls into the cold, crystal clear, swirling waters. We called it Nude Pool. So many happy memories of this place. Every year I revisit this several times to enjoy the sacred peace that permeates the air here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652599726307-7LJGGY37LIK45D5MWS5R/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Goldstream Waterfall, Pool, Kingfisher & Stag in Dappled Light #2 in the Goldstream Series. Oil on Linen, 55” x 72” 2018-2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652077352634-CRXF49CO575HZNGTBG11/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Waterfalls and Rapids Goldstream II detail of falls & rapids https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652076705791-EUDIE072CVEY1DJLS6IQ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Belted Kingfisher Detail from Goldstream II painting. “The belted kingfisher is often first noticed by its wild rattling call as it flies over rivers or lakes.” —Audubon Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652075280796-IPTC2JXLWB4RIPB9KFGO/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Stag in Light...Detail from Goldstream II painting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042344110-A8X448EDSMVZJPJI95QZ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Iyla Climbing Japanese Maple, Shalimar Gardens 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1647739820090-AL7UH4UIR99TR7TC8LOF/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Darshan, the Poet Saint 2022. Oil on canvas, 24”x36” Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989) was highly recognized as a great poet and living Saint in his time. Beneath the turban he wore, according to the Sikh tradition in which he was raised, he had a very rarely seen beautiful mane of voluminous, dark, wavy uncut hair. On rare occasions he might be seen, walking about the Ashram allowing his hair to dry in the morning sun, towel on his shoulders, smiling and greeting everyone respectfully. He was a gentle and kind Lion, but one whose eyes were capable of awakening those spiritually asleep. “Travellers who come after me shall have no cause to complain that they found neither footsteps nor Light on the path of Love.” —Darshan Singh https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698985081215-7XSW25GFGAYELZA24RZV/Little+Niagara+Falls+final.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Mystery Falls #5 in the Goldstream Series 2019-2022. Oil on Canvas, size 40” x 60” From a visit to Little Niagara Falls in Goldstream Park on Vancouver Island with granddaughter Bianca and her dad, Markus. I could have painted this scene realistically, but I’m not a camera. The muse guided me to add hues of purple, violet and emerald green to capture some sense of the mystery of the towering granite cliffs and the delicate tracery of the waterfall descending from hundreds of feet above to plunge into a little crystal clear pond, while maidenhair ferns waft in the wind of the fall’s momentum. This stream disappears into a rocky bed not far from here, to re-emerge and join the Goldstream River about half a mile away. I first visited this magical place as a boy… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1653716184835-K269P40PKH5ICXXYQMEA/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth III Oil on canvas, 48”x 72” December 2020 Third in the Night Awakening Series, this large (48” x 60” oil on canvas painting) attempts to evoke the spirit of night awakening slumbering earth energies in the form of an indigenous woman, pre-European contact, surrounded with the Four Sisters: squash, beans, corn and sunflowers. Deer represents her protector while various creatures look upon their Earth-Mother reverently. Moon reflects on clouds and clouds transform to whimsical images, beyond normal time and space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1652895063747-OKBUUZHH8PR6BD0B24KI/Queen+of+Skunkcabbages.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Queen of Swamp Lanterns #9 in the Goldstream Series Oil on masonite, 2016-2022. 24” x 28” My dear Mum loved the big bright yellow Swamp Lanterns, also known as Skunk Cabbage (due to their strong smell), that would be found in Goldstream, wherever there were swamps and bogs. She was a true lover of nature and all things beautiful, including the chirping of a robin in the sun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698986777683-XNLDD97TVDJ0PUSYYF36/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Aryana, the Tree-Climber Oil on canvas, size 36” X 48”” February 1, 2022 - December 2022. She’s a brave and thoughtful girl who loves to climb trees and survey her wide domain. She’s got a very tender, compassionate heart. My duty as an artist is to reflect some of the beauty and light of the creation. There’s a lot of darkness and ugliness in the world. It’s better to light a candle and spread some joy wherever we can. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643871791484-HPXAKWT9TYKFPKJNOLHD/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Revelations in the Sky Oil on canvas, size 36 x 48” December 12, 2021 What began as an abstract cloudscape continually evolved as the paintbrush wandered where it willed. First, a nine-month fetus appeared in the billowing air, then its Mother, a shining umbilicus from her outstretched hand, luminous shapes swirling, eddying, flowing. See what you can find in it. After a few weeks of painting, from the billowing surf of spirit and Logos, Sages began to appear, pleased in the Creation’s birthing. A work of imagination, or is it more? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643871973973-HIPS3AMIOR971QXCEJDY/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948 Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948 Oil on canvas, size: 30”x48” December 2021 (commenced August 21, 2021). This painting is an attempt to portray the great Adept, Sant Kirpal Singh emerging from Samadhi (super-consciousness). In 1948, after the passing of his Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948) , Kirpal Singh went on a five month retreat in Upper Rishikesh in the Himalayas spending 16-18 hours a day in deep meditation. (for a full account, go to arransart.org/writings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643872241422-2DHE9R9EZ7R8LGO9LR0K/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Ascended Master (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh 1858-1948) The Ascended Master (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh 1858-1948) Detail from the larger painting, Master Kirpal Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042716621-QXOA6E280LKJDWMK03ZU/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Sant Darshan Singh reciting a poem to Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Nov 1944 2021-2023. On the occasion of the wedding of His grandson, Charan Singh Ji https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042168491-9HX1FYEGBTPNTS3RG3V0/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Hazur, Darshan, & Kirpal Satsang, Circa 1939 2021-2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042073146-SX0NW3QIZEAPN9IF9SQV/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Funeral Procession of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Leading the Way 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1761689064759-V834VUYAYM51Y5Q236W4/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Diwali Dancers Oil on canvas, 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643870894735-K7D03W0MQUQ90MXXT19O/Raven-in-the-Light---Dec-2021.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Raven in the Light 2021. Oil on canvas, size 24”x36” Inspired by a walk through Big Timber Trail, Whistler Mountain, BC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643870349787-6TZWBPWN58OLZZKA6KYN/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Gaia—the Descent & Ascent of Spirit Oil painting on wood panel, size 24: x 36”. completed December 2021 Gaia, the Earth-mother, holds the world in her womb. The Creator-Father of Light descends to the practitioner like a white dove and ascends, lifting the spirit into a higher realm of consciousness that is filled with light and joy. The painting is but a metaphor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628108803662-HMX7UXWXG5PCMPOAYVQ6/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Bluebird on a Golden Sky, for Diya on her 20th birthday acrylic on canvas 24” x 24” 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698986445400-XA3OYFVZ3SVL8XGUDK6Y/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Rogersii in Setting Sun, Shalimar Oil on canvas. 16” x 20”. June, 2021 - August 2022. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042425918-CE2LRU8DW1CEVEYNREQN/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Iyla in Winter 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628107844066-B4D0KR8KQ1P1F9ZC48U6/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Aryana Noor, granddaughter Oil on Canvas, 12’ x 16’ June 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042542231-85ZW8GAN5KFCRLOUEK8V/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Master Sawan & the Perfect Disciple, Kirpal 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698986321764-YJDY7Y5WZUEUNK4OE48J/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth III Oil on canvas, 48”x 72” December 2020 - December 2022. Third in the Night Awakening Series, this large (48” x 60” oil on canvas painting) attempts to evoke the spirit of night awakening slumbering earth energies in the form of a woman, surrounded by squash, beans, corn and sunflowers. Deer represents her protector while various creatures look upon their Earth-Mother reverently. Moon reflects on clouds and clouds transform to whimsical images, beyond normal time and space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628102750802-VJ34C3WN8RZJGQ4Q0W7W/Pueo%2C+the+Owl+%28detail+from+Night+Awakening%29.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth III - Detail Detail 1: Pueo owl navigating the night skies Pueo the Owl is the symbol of the staff of life, and his/her legacy reaches deep into the spirit world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628103394044-LS9GZGZ50UATVEOF49ND/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth III detail 3 Detail 3: The Deer protector, hand and beans, corn, squash. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628104135892-FLOSHYFKS2MMY56L21V3/Night-Awakening-Earth-iii---Dec-27%2C-2020---Detail-4.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth III Detail 4: Sunflowers and creatures bowing before the feet of Earth-Mother. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628106614955-7T0YH90DOIBUOZL3C75Y/Night-Awakening-Earth-iii---Dec-27%2C-2020---Detail-5.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night awakening Earth III Hand, bean-jewels, maize, squash & turtle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1614481480554-ZACRD38J5QOJDI5WOLNT/Old-Man-Comtemplating-by-Shalimar-Pond---Shalimar-Gardens---Feb-2021.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Old Man Contemplating by Shalimar Pond 2021. Oil on canvas. 48” x 36" Old Man Contemplating by Shalimar Pond https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643872942901-0CS8SNGEKJEC5K6ATOLY/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - in the Studio, working on "Old Man Sitting by Shalimar Pond https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1610353287037-VIPB2T8BEDZGU3DOMCBK/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Kirpal—Lion of Compassion The Mystics Series Oil on canvas, size 16”h x 20”w, November 2020 Kirpal translates as Compassion; Singh, as Lion. My spiritual guide, Sant Kirpal Singh (1894-1974) . This careful painting is based on the very first B&W photo I saw of him when I was living and painting in New York City, in November, 1964. I was struck by the beautiful compassionate eyes which had a wonderful lustre and glow, as if he were shouldering the burden of the world. Little did I know that two years hence, I would be sitting at his feet. I spent over 17 months with him, living and travelling around India, learning and absorbing as much as I could contain—a truly transformative experience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1610352993278-PTOLXXR6ALNK6CXBUA96/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Siara, Iyla, Aryana & the Giant Tomato of 2020 October 2020. Oil on canvas, size 36” x 48”. Siara, Iyla & Aryana & the Giant 5 lb. tomato of 2020 (organically grown in my greenhouse), Shalimar Gardens. Iyla’s wearing grampy's garden shoes & Aryana in Bua Jyoti's sandals. Amongst the salvia blossoms, hummingbirds flit and feed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1647739118957-6JC4B8B670J0F4JQKYOD/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - DARSHAN - the Poet-Saint Darshan, the Poet Saint Painting, oil on canvas, 24”x36” Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989) was highly recognized as a great poet and living Saint in his time. Beneath the turban he wore, according to the Sikh tradition in which he was raised, he had a very rarely seen beautiful mane of voluminous, dark, wavy uncut hair. On rare occasions he might be seen, walking about the Ashram allowing his hair to dry in the morning sun, towel on his shoulders, smiling and greeting everyone respectfully. He was a gentle and kind Lion, but one whose eyes were capable of awakening those who were asleep spiritually. His deep-set eyes beneath bushy brows glistened with love divine, tender and primal. Much poetry has been written, especially in ancient Sufi traditions, about the “tresses of the Beloved”, which spread out and entangle the lovers. This sometimes is understood to be a worldly love, but the mystics say it is another kind of love, a love divine between the soul and its Maker. In Sant Darshan’s wondrous mane, there were just a few streaks of grey, whereas his beard was mostly white. When I looked deep into those eyes of Sant Darshan Singh Ji in 1978, four and a half years after the passing of my Satguru, Sant Kirpal Singh (1894-1974), I was astonished to see my beloved Master looking back at me, and with so much love. He shared his verses, reflections of universal love, the pain of separation, the ecstasy of union, the power of God-realization. Yet, he was the humblest of the humble. He wrote countless verses in Urdu, the language of Indian and Pakistani poets and received four Urdu Academy Awards for his several published volumes. He would often share his and other mystics' poems past midnight and into the wee hours of the morn. He rarely slept and kept himself in the service of seekers who came to him at all hours of the day and night, without any consideration of his health or rest. Once I said to him that he would live into his eighties, he corrected me and said his life would be short, and a few years later added in a verse, on the very evening that he consciously exited from this world in great peace, “Travellers who come after me shall have no cause to complain that they found neither footsteps nor Light on the path of Love.” I know that this portrait is not 100% accurate and contains imperfections, but it’s the best I could do at this time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1602485766595-4TXRV9XFJ7MZQIVHTADD/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Hummingbird 1, detail from Grandkids in Shalimar 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1602486376539-02I8B19Q10P402YY50X3/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Hummingbirds 2, Detail from Grandkids, Shalimar 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1605687470826-3EY8UVCYAITF5JMNNR74/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Redwoods of Shalimar 40” x 60” oil on canvas, Nov 2020 Four mighty redwoods (sequoia) stand tall on the edge of the garden, surrounded by huge gunnera and solomon’s seal. A hidden music wafts through the trees, the sound of silence and wind, the ringing of everything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698984750307-UAOTK9NOSWPZP2NUX9Z0/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Darshan Beneath Mughal Archway, 1980 Oil on linen, size 24: x 36” November 2020 In the summer of 1980, the poet-saint, Darshan Singh (1921-1989)—spiritual successor to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, took us on a wonderful guided tour of the Taj Mahal—the dream in marble, while explaining its history and secrets. My two young daughters Shanti and Gurdeep were amongst the relatively small retinue. Here, beneath tall Mughal arches—to the left of the main masjid entrance, we paused while circling the magnificent Taj. I requested the Master if I could take the photo upon which this painting is based. He graciously agreed! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698984640906-CQ865E6GEZNAWW6CQ2QI/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - And Even The Clouds Paid Homage 2020-2023. Oil on wood panel, size 24: x 36” Mystic poet, Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989) took us on a tour of the magnificent Taj Mahal in 1980. It was a magically charged time, about which I wrote in detail in my book, Moth & the Flame (arransart.org/writings ). Daughter Shanti was complaining over and over: “Daddy please ask Master Darshan to turn down the heat. I can’t take the heat!” It was probably around 110f. Then something rather wonderful happened. A stiff wind arose and dark clouds suddenly filled the skies. Soon, big raindrops started falling all around us, but didn’t land on anyone. The temperature must have dropped more than 10f degrees. And little Shanti was happy. A miracle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1603745837558-OT3KBWMJZORQGEWCBWPJ/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Brothers & the Observer—Hazur oil on canvas, size 24” x 36” A moment in time when my brother Godfrey and I and entire family were in India to celebrate the epic wedding of son Arjan to Rimjhim on March 5, 2010. Our family stayed at the Maidens Oberoi in Delhi and Godfrey and I had just completed a swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool. I decided to add another dimension to the painting, with the advent of the great Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948) emerging from the archway. Hazur was renowned for his grace, beauty and humility, as old photos reveal. While living in NYC in 1964, Hazur, in the company of Sant Kirpal Singh, stepped into my dreams, beyond time and space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599930048292-GL0ZCJPJ49T3LWLAXCC6/Andrew+Petter+-+August+2020.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Andrew & Maureen, Jodhpur Fort Oil on linen, Size 30 x 40” August 2020 In January 2020, Ratana and I spent some quality time with friends Andrew Petter and Maureen Malony at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Ratana and I then travelled Jodhpur and toured the magnificent ancient sandstone Fort. After returning, I painted this portrait of Andrew and Maureen framed by the time worn Jharoka window. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599930076906-FEMRPQSFSV5GK6J2GKPJ/Bengal+Tigress+%26+Her+Four+Cubs+-+August+2020.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Rattan Rani Tigress and Cubs in the Sunderbans 2020. Oil on canvas, 30” x 40” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599930124634-ABQJUB203XCQUK95T1FB/Santa+Ono+in+the+Redwoods+of+Shalimar+with+his+beloved+cello+-+September+2020.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Santa Ono in the redwoods of Shalimar with his beloved cello 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698985691026-50RWJM97VFRPW8YBAKG6/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Tremezzo Cathedral Steps, Lago de Como 36” x 72”. Oil on canvas. 2019-2022. From a trip to Lago de Como, Italia. Jyoti sitting on steps of the old cathedral… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698985858669-4LFY85JZP76M2JZYNXA5/Goldstream+Symphony.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Goldstream - Symphony of Light, Sky, Trees & Stream Oil on canvas, size 30” x 60” #6 in the Goldstream Series. Completed May, 2020 “For me, this painting is a kind of flowing evolution, respecting the harmonies of Pacific West Coast Nature as they flow freely through form and color. I don’t care much for being pigeonholed in one category or another. I loosely painted this from a photograph I took in Goldstream Park last year, near where I grew up as a boy, although I let the brush and colors wander where they might, totally departing from the photograph and having painted over several attempts to capture the essence of where it now is. I acknowledge many inspiring influences, but primarily from Nature Herself.” —Arran https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1591731892063-1NZJFBNHE84WRLYX3BSK/An+Illumination+of+Sorts+back.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - An Illumination of Sorts. (Reverse) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1591732107327-R4U8GLW5IW2BBW98ZO87/Family+Tree.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Family Tree The Family Tree of ‘83 Oil on linen, size 36” x 48”. 2020 The Family Tree of ‘83. Based on a 1983 trip to California. Upper branch left to right: Gurdeep, age ten, Shanti, age 13, below: Jyoti, age six, Arjan, age 2, doing the bhangra dance, Mum and dad. In the distance, the One Who awaits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699043195285-TOP05CW2N87Q7U0Q5RRP/The+Saint+%26+Villagers%2C+Rajasthan+1967+LR.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Saint & Villagers, 1967 Rajasthan Tour June 20, 2020 - January 2021. Oil on Canvas. size: 30” x 60” It was my good fortune in 1967-8 to travel with the great mystic and humanitarian, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) through dusty farm villages, cities, deserts, oases, old castles and tortuous roads of India and old Rajasthan. The way was often stark and hot, offset by colorful villagers, their dark skin, bright eyes and teeth and vivid clothes. As in the many stops along the journey, thousands were drawn like moths to the flame—the presence of the Saint. For me, this was the journey of many lifetimes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698985154822-XD5VV26K5PF7FG4WUU7T/image5.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Spirit of Big Falls, Goldstream, Vancouver Island #6 in the Goldstream Series 2020-2023. Oil paint on canvas, 40” x 50”. This is such a sacred place far up Goldstream and is the largest waterfall on the river, not too far from the reservoir and watershed. As kids we would climb up the slippery rock cliff and leap off to plunge into the frigid, crystal clear pool, yelling “Geronimo!” The last time I jumped off the cliff was in my 72nd year. Felt like a kid again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699042472361-FNUSFY6GZVZJJZ1INW3E/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - King of the Gir - India's Very Endagered Asiatic Lion 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1597597747611-58RBOAVZPW66V5OHPLCF/Meditation+in+Banyan+Grove+painting.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Meditation in Banyan Grove, Shivaji's Mountain, Satara, India Oil on Canvas, size 36” x 60”, 2020 After a powerful early morning two-hour meditation in the presence of the Master, Bruce, Misha and I (the only Westerners there) decided to explore the nearby mountain where the hero-warrior Shivaji had built his fortress to hold back Mughal armies. The mountain redoubt was surrounded by dense jungle, and in it we discovered a cool, shady circle of huge banyan trees, with massive trunks and dangling roots. I accepted its invitation and sat down in that peaceful glade with closed eyes. Soon, the outer world disappeared and there was only light. The Light never dies. Hail, hail to the primordial Light and Song of creation! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1708668805853-ZZD6FHM0HFKRJHEBOJ38/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1591731704319-DCY0PWLFE8GVP1E3E4AD/Goldstream+River.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Goldstream in Winter Flood, Vancouver Island 2019-2020. Oil on canvas, size: 30”x60” #5 in the Goldstream Series January 15, 2020. Finally finished and signed off on this painting after many painstaking hours. Relieved, although it was a labor of love. In actuality, there is a bridge that spans the River here, but I painted it out, to reimagine how this place must have looked before the Europeans arrived, and how it might look, one thousand years hence, considering how civilizations rise and fall, and how Nature ultimately has her way. As the old Woodie Guthrie song goes, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through; my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; my Master beckons me and now I onward go...” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566321611169-ILG8ZYM7T9GVKOACOIDC/Night+Awakening+Earth+II.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth II 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 48” x 72” Second in the Night Awakening series. The Queen of Night entangles a moonlit sky with tresses; glowing clouds scud across in silent awe, Her delicate touch awakens sleeping Earth-Mother, corn woven in her hair, squash under right hand and bean-jewels spilling from her left. She offers the gifts of Three Sisters (corn, beans & squash) to her First Nations children (humans); pu’eu Owl plies the skies with great whooshing wings, Empress Moth pollinates dusk flowers; frog and dragonfly consider one another; moon energies weave fractal quilted patterns to the skies; aliums in purple bloom stand sentinel; hosta lilies and ferns festoon the hill below. On and on the story is told, how Night awakens Earth. Creative myth mingles with reality to create a paean to Dame Nature. (This version II was painted for Arran’s daughter Shanti and Markus’s new vegan restaurant, Manna Kitchen in Lisle, Illinois in 2019. The first Night Awakening Earth I, finished in year 2000, was a gift to daughter Gurdeep) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566783261681-D4U63FV168FXQJSMPNAQ/Deepa+in+the+Camas+2019.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Deepa In The Camas 12 1/4” x 16” 2019, oil on heavy art paper Daughter Gurdeep, dear child, lyric soprano, author and activist (blog, the Deeper Side), caught in a pensive moment, surrounded by her beloved camas with its bluish-purple flowers. Camas, a perennial wild bulb is indigenous to Vancouver Island, and it’s millions of bulbs formed an important part of the diet of First Nations peoples, pre-European contact. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565315727337-QN9LVI8LP9A9XW97EFI8/Splendor+in+the+Hay%2C+III.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Splendor in the Hay III 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 24” x 36” The third tribute to his mother, returning to the light of early evening. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565315858762-7P8GJ1U1K84Q766HUR29/Splendor+in+the+Hay+II+2019.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Splendor in the Hay II 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 30: x 40” A second tribute to my mother from an old faded photo from her youth. This time she is depicted as a slightly older woman. She sometimes would go into rapture in nature. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565372590127-YPIECB8IZBOLZIEOQCD5/Splendor+in+the+Hay+2016+I.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Splendor in Hay, version I 2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 30” x 40” The first portrait of his Mother as a Young Woman with hay on her lap. Arran has painted this image in several versions, with this portrait offering a personal restatement of an American Gothic theme. The name is a play on Walt Whitman’s epic poem, Splendor in the Grass. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565316059106-R5R4WMNDWN1K9BO0NCHB/Rekha+1+2019+crop.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Rekha 2019. Oil Painting on art paper. Portrait of a family friend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698984948685-4PFJXDX8MT1GQQ3O5PP1/Brothers+Running+Through+a+Wheatfield%E2%80%94a+childhood+memory+2019+oil+on+canvas.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Brothers Running Through a Wheatfield—A Goldstream Memory 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 24” x 30” #4 in the Goldstream Series. This painting takes us back to Goldstream when Arran and older brother Godfrey ran wildly through Turner’s golden wheat field, the late August sun on their bare backs. Today, this pastoral scene is no more; it’s all covered with row houses, trailers and asphalt. Like Joanie Mitchell sings, “…they took paradise and covered it with a parking lot…” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565316758266-6226BIWMER1695C8QFCJ/All+That+60%27s+Jazz+2019+version.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - All That 60’s Jazz 2019. Original Oil Painting, repainted on masonite. The Beat Movement came of age in the coffee houses and galleries of late 1950’s and early 1960’s in New York, Venice and San Francisco. It brought together artists, poets, philosophers and musicians, dramatically changing the intellectual landscape of the time. Arran came of age in this scene as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628107058857-1P8SBND7AMUKW8O37MVF/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Raven, Big Rock, Big Timber Trail, Whistler, BC oil on canvas, size 24” x 36” July 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565316179771-6Z6FPAI56QRMERLJCTFR/Christof+%26+Tofu+2019.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Christof & Tofu 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 36” x 48” A 20th birthday gift to grandson Christof, full of strong light and long shadows. It places Christof in the artist’s garden in Vancouver, overlooking the Gulf Islands and a majestic sunset above the snow-dusted peaks. Tofu, the grandchildren’s dog, squirms to get the ball. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1570659149331-VKAQVE5B7IQUU0MLUILH/Iyla+%26+Autumn+Leaves+Painting.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Iyla & Autumn Leaves 2018. oil on canvas, size 24” X 36'“ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566672195389-GV7DUCDTEJKB9O6M754Z/Kirpal+and+rose+3.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Kirpal & the Rose 24” x 36” oil on canvas OIl on Canvas, 24” x 36” …the Master extracted a rose, pricking his finger in the process. He winced. We all winced. He looked at it awhile and then looked at me, commenting, ’No roses without thorns.’ and lovingly handed it to me. If you look closely, you can see a drop of blood on the Master’s thumb. Love has a price. “Pain passes, but the beauty endures.” —Renoir https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1653715870830-9S1PB66L053M5ANULUS5/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Kirpal Sarovar The Dream of the Sage in the Mansarovar 24” x 36” Oil on Canvas 2017-2022 Based on a vivid dream while traveling with Sant Kirpal Singh to Bombay in 1973. Our small entourage of two cars stopped for the night at a disciple’s home in Ajmeer, Rajasthan, and I had a most unforgettable dream of my Satguru, his image floating in the Mansarovar, with a vague golden spired pavillion behind. Although his beard was immersed in the water, it was not wet. I cannot forget His deep penetrating eyes as they peered into my soul. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566783281462-7AR8QOZGUGKZPAM8HF0B/Ratana+Maui+Sunset%2C+2018.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Ratana, Maui Sunset 2018, oil on heavy art paper, 12 1/4” x 16” The awe of the beauty of Maui sunsets behind Koho’olawe Island is something to behold. This was the first of the Hawaiian Islands discovered by ancient Polynesians over a thousand years ago. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565318069078-81QMQZS46WGURSGZ04YH/Grandaugher+Bianca+with+cork+tree+roma+2106.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Grandaughter Bianca With Cork Tree. Roma Grandaughter Bianca With Cork Tree. Roma 2016. Oil painting on canvas. 24” x 36” An incredibly lifelike portrait of oldest granddaughter, Bianca, resting in the V of an ancient cork tree on the outskirts of Rome, Italy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565317769255-IMEBGY30E59CATDM738I/In+the+Garden+of+Kirpal+2017.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - In the Garden of Kirpal 2017. Oil Painting on canvas. 32” x 42” Master Kirpal in the garden of Ajmeer, Rajasthan, always present to show kindness and respect to a child and to all living things. In the wall behind, is a soft image of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, the beloved teacher of Kirpal. This was painted from a photograph the artist took in Ajmeer, Rajasthan in 1967. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643871487968-SVZZK31KJNY02827I5DG/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Siara in the Cabbage Patch 2018. Oil Painting on canvas. 18” x 24”Granddaughter number six wandering in wonder through t a marvellous cabbage patch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698987684242-M9PJLZTMMQX5RZMN3MBI/Bride+in+a+Meadow+b.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Bride in a Meadow 2016. Oil on canvas. 9” X 12” The first summer of our marriage, on our way up to the Okanagan, we stopped in this meadow by a stream near Hope, BC. Our first child, Shanti was born on April 4, 1970. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565317949378-ZFRFLDQBYFM01XXW0ZKR/Brothers+2017.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Brothers 2017. Oil Painting on canvas. 24” x 30” Brothers are connected by both blood and soul. Arran’s older brother Godfrey is a well-respected Canadian sculptor, whose large wooden installations can be found in public display around British Columbia and in homes and museums around the globe where he restlessly traveled. Arran considers his brother the real artist, because that’s how he’s lived his entire life, whereas Arran took a forty year hiatus from painting, to build a business and a family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565318409502-J7UT18BQ7QWRP5RQB1PU/Bianca+painting+2016.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Bianca 2016. Oil Painting. Arran illustrates Granddaughter Bianca’s strength and determination in this portrait. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374116580-7VYW1VSR3PGZKDNS68S7/Diya+%26+Isha.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Diya & Isha 2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 36” X 48” Turning again towards his family, Arran pays honor to the spirit of his daughter Gurdeep’s two daughters, caught in a moment of quiet contemplation by a small pond. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698989827824-RVKBXKSDZ6XJHG0DPAES/Ratana+%26+Baby+Gurdeep+1973.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Ratana & Baby Gurdeep Ratana & Baby Gurdeep 2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 16” x 20” Madonna and Child, enshrined in a halo of light and love. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374223032-VBD165GC7S48X230M51H/Aryana+Star+Dreaming+2016.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Aryana Star Dreaming 2016. Graphite on paper. 12” x 16” Graphite study for the oil painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374164667-0BX6BANH9TTHGXT8W75X/Baby+Iyla.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Baby Lyla 2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 20” x 30” The glowing presence of the daughter of Arran’s daughter, Jyoti. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374816689-KY5HDXWHAKD8NR4DYWPB/Arraboy+%40+4yrs+crop.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Arraboy at Four Years 2016. Oil Painting. 12” x 16” What can we learn by looking deep into the eyes of the boy we once were? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374772314-S1X846JJBBE9ZANSXNS5/Aryana+Stardreaming.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Aryana Star Dreaming 2016. Oil Painting. 24” x 30” Bathing in the far galaxies of a star-filled night, the Starchild is sung to sleep with the music of the cosmos. This is a portrait of the first daughter of Arran’s son Arjan: Aryana Noor Stephens. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1675144398771-6RVU1ILVIQ05TWDG4K20/The+Sower.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Sower 2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 52” x 60” This painting was inspired by Jean-Francois Millet’s “The Sower”, with the sower going in the opposite direction of Millet’s work. It’s a large canvas, donated to Vancouver General Hospital, now hanging in the 2nd floor of the Jim Pattison Pavilion, by the Burn/High Acuity Unit entrance. https://www.wikiart.org/en/jean-francois-millet/the-sower-1850 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698988078726-GE7CXZUNW9AUG8K2A7QD/A+%26+R+WEDDING+PAINTING.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Arranged Marriage, 1969 Arranged Marriage between the artist and his life-companion Ratana, March 4, 1969, Sawan Ashram. 2010. Oil Painting on canvas. 24” x 36” One soul in two bodies. For a full account, go to arransart.org/writings Moth & the Flame, chapter: Arranged Marriage https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566532369749-HT02V86EPSBK5YJFTXY0/Arran%27s%2BSculpture%2Bidea%2Bcopy.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Sculpture concept pen & ink drawing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374927168-VJEEGHDYPCRSKBSEYI62/Natures_path_2015+V2+copy+copy.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Nature’s Path 2015. Oil Painting. 36” x 52” Inspired by the illustration inside the logo of his company, Arran gives vision to the path he has walked for over thirty years. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698988314741-LGM8B0JIYBS8UMWA1JAK/Ratna+and+Arran+anniversary+2019+crop.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Ratana and Arran 45th Anniversary Ratana and Arran 45th Anniversary 2014. Oil Painting on canvas, 24” x 36”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565374837122-JT19RLGB9ZDHYU9GKGA2/Nature%27s+Path+orig+sketch.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Nature’s Path 2015. Watercolour on toned paper. Original sketch for the Nature’s Path painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566343942098-15J3WJ23W1VPE4R9Y8UG/Luminous+Cover+.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Journey to the Luminous book cover Cover illustration from Arran’s now long out of print book: “Journey to the Luminous—Adventures With Spiritual Adepts of our Times.” He republished an expanded version of the book on line for free at (www.arranstephens.com/books) with a new title, “Moth & the Flame.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565376298378-1FYAF3FOOJWTZ4EJE0UI/TUNNEL%26figure+copy.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Tunnel and Figure 2002. Digital art. Illustration from Arran’s book: “Journey to the Luminous” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565375338658-YDH7FMO78A2KLA9IV805/From+Darkness+to+Light+2014.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - From Darkness to Light 2014. Digital painting. Walking into the blinding light of the divine, the barefoot farmer holds the wolves of darkness at bay, using only the flowers of kindness and love. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565376297326-GXPYIM1TASRT3M51JJQE/%231+Moth+BIG.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Moth and the Flame 2002. Digital art. Cover illustration from Arran’s digital book: “The Moth and the Flame—Adventures With Spiritual Adepts of our Times.” (www.arranstephens.com/books). The book is an autobiographical account of Arran’s search for life’s meaning and purpose. It tells of meeting the great Indian sage and mystic adept, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj in India as well as a number of other highly developed individuals. It contains an honest analysis of the ancient spiritual teachings of the Surat Shabd Yoga, its ancient origins, relevancy for today’s world, as well as personal conversations, questions and answers, meditations and travels with his Mentors across the Indian subcontinent, America and beyond. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565376267080-C55PH7L33EK33PG61RUT/Moth+%26+Flame+nebula+carpet.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Nebula Carpet 2002. Digital art. Illustration from Arran’s book: “The Moth and the Flame.” The moth and nebula imagery are overlaid over a facsimile of Shah Jahan’s magnificent Persian carpet, currently residing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566617376874-3STGKS7D6D8670QHJU49/Night+Awakening+Earth+V+1%2C+1964-2000.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth I 1964 -2000. Oil Painting on linen. 48” x 60” Night, the queen, reaches down to touch and awaken mother earth. This is the first large painting in the Night Awakening series that was given to daughter Gurdeep. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566783274765-MDEH5RF4RWOJ536PO03C/Gurdeep+watercolor+1987.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Gurdeep, King Edward Avenue house, 1987 Watercolor on heavy art paper. 8” x 12” Daughter Gurdeep was 14 when dad picked up his brushes for the first time in 22 years and sketched out this little portrait. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566911647174-050HEAKYI9MDFW1MQT9M/Cowichan+River+Through+Trees+1966.JPG Artwork, 1965 - Present - Cowichan River Through Trees (early spring) 1966. Oil Painting on Paper. 12” x 16” Like the primeval forests of Vancouver Island revealed by Emily Carr, Arran’s forest rises like a mythic beast floating above the mythic Cowichan, its branches harboring the faces of ancient memories. He painted this in the beginning of spring, while staying in a little cabin on the Flowerfields farm built by grandfather CH Hopkins and wife Dorothea. Here he meditated and painted before departing for Southern California where he would paint portraits of his spiritual mentors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565390924650-3X9XAVKV3HDRIJRFE7MB/Self+Portrait+oil+on+paper+1966.JPG Artwork, 1965 - Present - Self Portrait 1966. Oil painting on Paper. 12” x 16” Young man on adventurous seas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565390879988-DCPGODJT66Z4RTMAR4MV/Christ+Head+-+Arran%27s+painting+1966.JPG Artwork, 1965 - Present - Christ Head With Thorns 1966. Ink and Watercolor on heavy paper. 12” x 16” After Christ suffered a painful death and rose up again renewed, lives changed forever. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698989334743-3ATNNLALAU8UON7F2P8Q/Radiant+Form+in+the+Forest%2C+Acrylic+1966+crop.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Radiant Form in the Forest 1966. Acrylic on Paper. 7” x 14” Painted in a little cabin on his grandfather'‘s farm, Flowerfields in Duncan where Arran was born. Botanists have recently identified forests as collections of intimately-connected individuals. Here is their spirit mentor, visualized by the artist fifty-four years ago. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698989478389-QDSGIDBQK8U9GJENM9SJ/Walking+the+Fields+1966.JPG Artwork, 1965 - Present - Walking the Fields 1966. Oil Painting on Paper. 6” x 18” Painted this while on my late grandfather’s little farm in Duncan, called Flowerfields. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698989599895-X8R3NOVKW3GI8W0OXMUM/St.+Anthony%27s+1964+large.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Temptations of St. Anthony 1964 -1965. Oil Painting on canvas. 32” x 42” Within a luminous and richly-detailed background, Arran reinterprets the story of St. Anthony’s pilgrimage in the Egyptian desert. Here he is tempted by demons, with influences from Hieronymus Bosch and other early Christian painters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565389969546-4RU8DDREN2U95KP0WUOO/St.+Anthony%27sCropped+2.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Temptations of St. Anthony (detail) 1964 -1965. Oil Painting. A detail from “Temptations of St. Anthony”. Anthony the Great of Egypt is considered to be the first Christian monk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643871106453-PY660PN4B9FS5XCW1T5V/Iyla-in-Winter-2021---Feb-2021.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Iyla In Winter Oil on oil paper 12” x 16” Feb. 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565389408268-S5VDGUAYHR1PEEJO13MT/Swan+sitting+on+her+eggs+pen+drawing+arran+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Swan Sitting on her eggs 1965. Ink with wash. 12” x 16” Naturalist studies continue to play a role throughout Arran’s artistic development. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566339626062-HGXCERBPNN6SVFTHENLJ/Cat+%26+mouse+by+Arran+1965.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Cat & Mouse 1965 India ink brushed on paper. 11 1’2” x 17” Deft strokes reveal the specific tension between a cat and its prey. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1605687180438-EWCY2ZTAPS7CQHOZ3E1U/King+of+the+Gir+-+India%27s+Very+Endagered+Asiatic+Lion+-+Nov+3%2C+2020.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Kind of the Gir Forest The endangered Asiatic Lion, in its last preserve in the Gir Forest, Gujarat, India. Only several hundred of this species remains. The Asiatic or Indian Lion is smaller than the African Lion. I first beheld one in Gujarat, India in 1967. What attracted me were it’s beautiful golden eyes and mysterious presence. Nov 2020, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1602485516598-51MENF8JEEM4DVGX6C5S/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Grandkids Holding the Giant Tomato of 2020, Shalimar Gardens Grandkids Holding The Giant Tomato of 2020, Shalimar Gardens. October 2020, Oil on canvas, size 36” x 48”. L to R: Siara, Iyla (in grampy's garden shoes) & Aryana in Bua Jyoti's sandals. We can see some of the details of the garden: hummingbirds feeding on the Salvia blossoms, rhododendrons, begonias, boxwood, slate tiles, Indian Lotus planter, Japanese Maple, columnar Yew, cedar & hemlock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1592123107192-W4I8QC07DUNWHQYXOED2/Art+Studio+06+2002.JPG Artwork, 1965 - Present - The Studio Here’s a pano shot of my current studio (June 12, 2020) with eight unfinished works https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/5d3a1b1b9ca4910001675967/5f36de748b01cf0c4202baab/1753905990444/Meditation+in+Banyan+Grove.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/5d3a1b1b9ca4910001675967/5f5cfe866ac3802906e5ccfe/1753905990446/ Artwork, 1965 - Present https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1603735692743-RD9T2KL923JY64BIFPSN/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Brothers & the Observer—Hazur Oil on Canvas, size 24” x 36” After working on this painting, “Brothers & the Observer—Hazur” since 2017, I think I can say that it’s finally finished. It depicts a moment in time when my older brother Godfrey, my entire family and friends were at the Maidens Oberoi for our son’s epic wedding to Rimjhim Duggal, the daughter of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji. Godfrey and I had just gone for a refreshing swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool and we had one of those gleeful moments of true brotherly love. I recently decided to offer a spiritual dimension to the levity by introducing an image of the great departed Saint, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948) emerging from a darkened archway, a kind of silent witness, or Observer of the unfolding Lila, or play. All who witnessed Hazur, were possessed by his beauty, humility and grace. Whenever I look at photos of him from the 1930’s and ‘40’s, I’m still awestruck. In 1964, I was blessed with a vision of Hazur and Master Kirpal, and I’ve felt their presence every day since. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1568505252769-ILFY3CA8FE6PXISQ15FX/Little+Niagara+Falls+final.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566260052582-FAPRJE0BI3DTMT3NMRKT/Night+Awakening+Earth+II.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Night Awakening Earth II 2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 48” x 72” The queen of night entangles the moonlit sky with tresses, her delicate touch awakens sleeping earth-mother. With corn in her hair, squash under right hand and bean-jewels spilling from her left, she offers the gifts of Three Sisters to the First Nations; pu’eu Owl, plies the skies, Empress Moth (accurate likeness) pollinates the dusk flowers, frog and dragonfly consider each other, moon energies weave a quilt of colourful patterns that ascend to the skies. To the side stand five alliums in purple bloom, while below, huge-leaved hostas and ferns festoon the hill; on and on the story is told, how night awakens the earth while basking in moon energy. An artistic fantasy and myth combined with reality, and a paean to nature. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1597436163679-MWCP5VX53LFJ8M9SKF4D/Meditation+in+Banyan+Grove.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Meditation in Banyan Grove, Shivaji's Mountain Fortress, Satara, India Oil on canvas, size 40” x 60” August 2020 Based on my experiences while on tour of Maharashtra, India with Sant Kirpal Singh, 1968. For a full narrative, please refer to chapter 39 “Devlali Poona & Satara” from my book, “Moth & the Flame.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1564095435018-2JIRXQX29V2HWTXS90MC/Art-Studio-NYC-1964.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present - Sable Fusce odio velit, rutrum vitae velit vitae, dignissim varius neque. Donec nec justo sed mi ultrices suscipit. Phasellus at arcu arcu. In non vestibulum magna. Morbi eu tempor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d9b7181d07c0cd16df5f11/1457109554453-5VGSRQEZNP9W2LTP1E25/82.65.179_PS2.jpg Artwork, 1965 - Present https://www.arransart.org/artwork-1953-1954 daily 0.75 2025-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498343295-ZSJ888SCY4Z50EZ5RRER/section+titles-2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566179640448-QT3IAKWDVOWEW80BWQ6M/section+titles-2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498343295-ZSJ888SCY4Z50EZ5RRER/section+titles-2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566254386108-15EJ5OYN5YKCJL9VTODW/1953+Indian+Prince+by+arran.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Indian Prince 1953. Graphite on Paper. 8.5” x11” Displaying an early ability to portray strong character in a portrait, Arran made this drawing when he was nine years old. Perhaps it shows a premonition of an earlier life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565300351020-PM51YFCDOM0MMBEBXDCT/1956+Log+cabin+homestead+arran.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Log Cabin Homestead 1956. Graphite on Paper. 9” x 12” The themes of nature and wilderness showed up early in his life, growing up on Goldstream Berry Paradise Farm on Vancouver Island, Canada. When he and his older brother Godfrey used to play Cowboys and Indians, Arran always wanted to be the untamed Indian (First Nations). Godfrey studied carving under the famed Kwakwak’wa Chief, Mungo Martin. At 13, the farm was sold with considerable regret and the entire family moved to Los Angeles (Venice and Hollywood), California where his dad pursued his next career at age 60 to seek fame and fortune as a full-time songwriter, with the hopes that one day he would return to Goldstream and buy back the farm for his kids. That dream, however, was not fulfilled https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565300371418-Y5HGVXVW3BCI867L5909/1959+Arran+%26+Blue+Forest++first+oil+painting.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Blue Forest 1959. Oil Painting 12'“ x 16” Arran’s first oil painting at 15 done in Hollywood, CA, displayed a unique invitation to enter into the blue forest’s depths. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566254299240-SP5NGAS8S62LC4H2LIAM/The+Prophet+by+Arran+1960.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Prophet 1959. Oil on masonite. 16” x 36” In his second-only oil painting, created in his cheap studio above Hollywood’s Music Box live theatre, Arran imagines a prophet-like being as he experiments with this painting medium. Other than his father, Rupert, the first actual wise man that he met and befriended was in 1961: Eden Ahbez, vegetarian, activist and author of the beautiful song, Nature Boy, made famous by Nat King Cole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498402522-B6PXXP4OENQHFN2T5TFM/section+titles-3.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566865641132-4049M8QFUSG0I2LP1TEM/%22+Venice+1960.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - On The Road 1960. Oil on masonite. 14” x 18” His third oil painting. The road forward proved to be both a difficult but enlightening journey for the young artist, now living in Venice, CA. This poor photo is the only copy of this primitive painting. Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s book, “On the Road.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566865651051-H2MOME8H654Z1HJ6OCZ0/%22+Venice+1960.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Last Man 1960. Oil on masonite. 18” x 24” Angst and uncertainly in Venice. It was a time of possible anihliation by global nuclear war as the US and Russia were going at it hammer and tong; a troubling time for a deeply troubled teenager in search of the meaning of life. This overexposed photo is the only thing left of Arran’s third oil painting that depicts the last man on Earth in the aftermath of nuclear armaggedon. Arran begins to slip into a murky world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566866260675-M4F22OXQDQX40W8F3R91/Arran+%26+Paintings+at+Gashouse%2C+Venice+1960.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Arran and Paintings at the Gashouse, Venice, CA 1960. Oil Paintings. At sixteen years in heart of the Beat Generation’s milieu, Arran sometimes slept in a cardboard box on Venice beach, sometimes foraged for food in a dumpster; it was a time of angst, exploration and depression. Considering the lives of great artists and poets, he thought perhaps the way to greatness was through suffering. Only much later would he discover that suffering and happiness do not come from without, but from within https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566908291787-KL5KK9HAJQBDHUS7LL36/Arran+BOHEMIAN_2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The artist in Venice Beach, CA circa 1961 A very existential look, searching for life’s meaning at seventeen—certainly reflecting troubled times. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565381171452-J7P8CMO3XZYRFYY5NX4Y/Venice+1960+1.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Venice 1960. Oil Painting on masonite. 24” x 32” An early portrait of prayer and longing—a theme that continues to develop over the years. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565381121998-OJH3MKYFQ770ATXS4Z1R/ASPaintingReaching%2760colorSM.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Reaching 1960. Oil Painting on masonite. 36” x 48” There was something inside, yearning to be let out and set free. A tornado of inquiry rose up from the depths of emotional seas. Arran went through a period of deep depression over the dissolution of his family, succumbed to substance abuse and entertained suicide. Interestingly, this painting was bought by an eminent Los Angeles psychiatrist for the princely sum of $100, which paid Arran’s rent and bought him some paint supplies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565381310175-SR3JBHAV9JSMPENUPEIT/Venice+Beach+B%26W+ph+1961.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Venice Beach Studio 1961. Photograph. The artist at work on his “Venice Pier” painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565383090442-LPZOW5Y5CQKUC2YBTTMM/Arran%27s+Venice+painting+%2763+2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Venice Pier 1961. Oil Painting on masonite. 20” x 28” Another emotional blossoming of expressionism, full of lively brushstrokes, pallet knife and graphic composition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565381200180-7GH81RX0EGX0X8T05MP0/RODIE+MARCH+PORTRAIT+BY+AS+1961.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Portrait of Rodie 1961. Oil Painting. 24” x 36” Arran’s portraiture of his good friend and sculptor, “Rodie” Roland March takes a dramatic turn with this expressionistic burst of emotional strength and exploratory color. According to the artist, this was his first significant portrait. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565381528756-AN5F810FOZCJ8SFJYDHF/Arran%27s+drawing+b%26w.JPG Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Mother and Child 1961. Graphite on Paper. 16” x 20” Expressionistic study of Harriet March and child Megan, graphic in composition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565383051545-3YITIUF4J4Y4ATMOBTL5/Gamin+1962%2C+Veince+CA2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Gamin 1961. Oil Painting. Arran painted this in his Venice, CA studio. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498427123-3K6I8V042IQ8XWC2A4ZR/section+titles-4.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566255187827-96YOJ2YQOELFMZZM95N2/The+Span+-+ink+on+paper+Arran+1961.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Span 1961. India ink on Paper. 10” x 14” Here Arran experiments with interjecting the energy of western expressionism into the traditions of austere, Zen-like Japanese design. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643873239368-13KKPBYXMJLCQ5MMVN4J/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Self-Portrait, 1962 Oil on canvas, 1962, Vancouver. This was painted in Vancouver, winter of 1962 at age 18. My unheated 4th floor studio apartment was in a rickety old wooden tenement building on Drake Street, so cold that the water froze in the sink and the toilet didn’t work. The painting reflects the times, it’s dark and moody. This was a difficult period of self discovery. From Vancouver, I hitchhiked down to San Francisco’s North Beach, had many unusual adventures, and landed in the thriving Beat/Art Scene where I lived and painted for the next two years, with a few more months in the wild Venice Beach Beat scene. During this time, I met Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, Allen Ginsberg, Eden Ahbez of Nature Boy fame, and many other unique poets, jazz musicians and artists. It’s a wonder I survived! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565382939251-S82R4FHZQR15JUVJUTFG/Woman%27s+Head+1962+crop.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Woman’s Head 1962. Dry Media & Watercolor. 12” x 16” More explorations into modernism, during a year’s stay in Vancouver. The dark frame of the hair draws the eye down through the colored washes layering the under-drawing of the face. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1574296172380-XI10Y5L1IBM0UM8DMQL4/Odalisque.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Odalisque (it looks like 1961) Black paint on paper https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498431529-5JD68VNRFY12BSTH1XCX/section+titles-5.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566861833287-U2VS90YZ2R1C0YFWM6VM/Mother+%26+Baby+1963+Venice.png Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Mother & Child 1963, Venice, CA 1963. Oil painting. 36” x 48” The seed of life in human form. The mother and embryo are as though carved from granite. Only in later years when the artist established his own family did his works reflect more light, life, warmth and color. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566864887001-OUNKQ65UBI9957TXV2I0/Arrans+beggar+sf+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Beggar, North Beach, San Francisco 1963. Pen & India Ink. 10” x 14” While sitting in a cafe in North Beach, watching passersby, the artist sketched this sensitive portrayal of a brother on the street, thinking, “There, but by the grace of God go I.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565384372882-OT7F3I641ACK7QEOC8DC/Arran%27s+Rabbai+san+Francisco+1963+b%26w.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Rabbi 1963. Ink on Paper. 10” x 14” Sketch for the painting of The Heirophant, displayed at San Francisco’s iconic Batman Gallery later that year. Inspired by the dramatic sight of an old Hasidic Rabbi walking along the Venice Beach boardwalk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565384680078-WRAG4ZCXZK3JXDNZZION/Doodle+1963.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Doodle 1963. Ink on Paper. 12” x 14” Doodle drawing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565384680884-G4I9K08CO7D6X310WCYW/Drawing+1963+SF+b%26w.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Untitled 1963. Ink on paper. 12” x 14” An exploration of a portrait form. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385485359-6ZCQAHRCXR9FCI9WR8SX/Embryo.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Embryo 1963. Lino Print. Expressionistic imagery of our primal human condition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566257816351-SFXDG8Y150ATQ9FKW0TY/Heirophant+painting+1963.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Hierophant 1963. Oil Painting on linen. 48” x 60” Arran first saw an old Rabbi walking down the Venice Boardwalk in 1961, and the image stayed with him, and he decided that in his mind’s eye, the Rabbi represented the Hierophant and decided to paint him in 1963 from memory. In the vocabulary of the Tarot, the Hierophant stands for tradition, convention and counsellor who will help in the education of the seeker. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565384806597-D4O7TOH24A3MR8O8IFOE/Batman+Gallery+Poster+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Batman Gallery Art Opening 1963. Poster. Art opening announcement for Arran’s one-man show at the influential Batman Gallery in San Francisco. Featuring Arran’s painting: “Hierophant.” The exhibition was reviewed in Artforum magazine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565384982952-TPDXCXR9U6UL9O23C4E3/Arran+art+construction+1963.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Untitled 1963. Art Construction. 24” x 48” Arran’s experimentation with the collage/construction form using found-pieces, first developed by Georges Braque in the early 20thCentury. From an assemblage of different forms, an innovative new work emerged. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566338498841-NHN6CZBIAXFWT6BDPPEX/Girl+with+Doll+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Little Girl with Doll 1963 Oil on Canvas 18” x 24” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566178487683-CQTS0K3HNHU8C3V7RN39/section+titles-2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1594834641418-U6YWV2MMGD9TDKLHMY4A/Chinese+Lady+pen+%26+ink+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - A Very Morning Chinese Lady India Ink on paper sketch, 1962 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1567035765727-TFIGIMTS2Z6DW9IO9TI2/Arran+SF+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - San Francisco Mudflats Photo of the artist at the SF mudflats, around the time of his first major exhibition at the Batman Gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566498435022-HGJY06BWWVPT1T1C2GZN/section+titles-6.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385583709-CYUY4XCVUXZFWDSUXHPP/unnamed.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Evokation 1964. Oil Painting on canvas. 48” x 60” Within the psychedelic filled background, we can see the influence of Hieronimus Bosch at play. The vision is complex and rich with symbolism, with a masterful exploration of worlds being born with life, color and mystery. The Anubis hounds of hell snap at the wayfarer’s heels, but the street he walks upon seems to be peeling away towards the depths. Is he poised to lift off the wheel and into the gold-blue sky? Who knows? Sadly, the artist destroyed this large canvas as it evoked too many memories of the darkest period in his life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385805132-6REVM3W4O10CD3TUHDD9/The+Wayfarer+reduced+NYC+1964.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Wayfarer 1964. Oil Painting. Detail from Evokation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565387808469-TT20PFWL75LOFWLBRPY9/unnamed-2.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Miraculous 1964. Painting on canvas. Arran’s vison of cosmology begins to develop, partly based on his explorations into meditation and consciousness. One can see influences from both Tibetan, First Nations as well as Jewish mysticism.. in the background is the world turle (Turtle Island), how the First People’s myth of the world we live on. Hints of the Kabbalistic sephiroth and star of David are seen inside the mandala; the third eye opening in the center of the forehead, and the flowering of the light about the face indicate some awareness of the numinous essence of reality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565387956927-V8I5B6K99S8336FS79I3/NYC+Exhibition+May+1-21+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - NYC Thompson Gallery Exhibition 1964. LR from Brochure. Inside image of Arran’s painting: “Evokation.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565388285147-ZI2JY7MRRSYCGFL965HK/Write+up+for+NY+Exhibit+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - NYC Thompson Gallery Exhibition introduction 1964. Brochure Introduction. “Mystery magic, spirit born alive cloaked in shimmering garments of paint.” Introduction to Arran’s debut New York exhibition by poet, Bud Olderman. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565388277820-B5PY69KY5DPB4OLJBXTP/NYC+Exhibiton+May+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - NYC Thompson Gallery Exhibition 1964. Brochure Cover. Cover image with Arran’s painting: “The Miraculous.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565387777523-U4XHYYAJU3HS9IFFK7O8/Evokation+Poem+1+NYC+May+64.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Evokation 1964. Handwritten poem, page 1. Arran’s poetry accompanying the exhibition of this important new work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565387761941-SMGXHXXG05LVT0CP2KGF/Evokation+Poem+2+NYC+May+64.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Evokation 1964. Handwritten poem, page 2. Page two of his handwritten poem. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385525387-MA6I30BF4ORC7PMR9LYI/The+Arising+Arran+%2764+SM.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Arising 1964. Oil on Wooden Panel. 30” x 48” A breakthrough painting for Arran, showing a newly developed interpretation of personal cosmology. His skill as a painter is evolving and this theme will grow in importance over his career. The painting depicts the general run of humanity, mostly concerned with self and power, greed, attachment, lust and anger. One man is different from the herd, and as he looks up, he beholds an amazing vision in the sky: an amalgamation of a Christ/or Buddha figure in the light within successive spheres of light ascending. Two guardians protect the Light. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385523149-RU5W9HHBEB438N47G02T/Angel+of+Light+late+NYC+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Angel of Light 1964. Graphite on Paper. 14” x 16” After his move to New York City, Arran showed a developing concern with the worlds of inner life, bridging his poetical writings into his painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385030068-MIJ4618395UDRT6EZW3T/Thelonius+Monk+at+piono+1963.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Thelonious Monk at Piano 1964. Oil Painting. 36” x 48” Arran’s tribute to the legendary bebop-based jazz pianist. In the early 1960’s—New York’s art, poetry and jazz scene fused into the Beat Movement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385549929-T35Q5MIZFTRY171TNXAR/Arran+self-portrait+1964.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Self Portrait 1964. Watercolor and Dry Media. 12” x 16” Self-portraits are excellent tools for developing new ideas in the privacy of your own studio. This naturalist image diverts from the more expressionistic work of the previous year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565389388049-YV6YC1KN4BRL1T452010/StudyofaMan+Arran+ptg+1964+%21.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Study of a Man 1964. Painting. 12” x 16” This portrait explores a deep, expressionism. The background colors are quite luminous. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565385573308-B4XHGK4SF6W0NPBT1NNP/Dark+Portrait+early+64+NYC.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Dark Portrait 1964. Ink & wash on Paper. 12” x 16” Exploring portraiture within a Renaissance form. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565388667596-I6TFV99H4LHD588WEW2B/sketch+spirit+NYC+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Spirit 1964. Graphite on Paper. 12” x 16” Arran’s pencil sketch exploring mystical iconography early in his career. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1565389355193-9PDC4E0TA8J1FB9WWSTR/Art+Studio+NYC+1964.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Works in progress 1964. Photo. Photograph of Arran’s studio in New York, showing his paintings: “Trinity” and “Evokation.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566363373864-TIWBSUPUNNWG8L02QQTC/Trinity.JPG Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Trinity 1964. Oil on Medical Stretcher. 36” x 72” Pushing the edges of painting, this interpretation of traditional Middle Eastern carpet motifs adds Arran’s personal mystical iconography onto a new painting platform. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566615026093-JGRZVNRIXVQYO7VCOQKY/Mandala+painting+1964.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Mandala Painting, NYC 1964 Oil on canvas 24” x 36” Here, the artist explores madala with optic illusion https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566908440024-83Y8L03O17X60MHPBA0J/Arran+%26+Godfrey%2C+NYC+1964.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Arran and older brother, Godfrey, Summer of 1964, NYC Godfrey Stephens is a well-known sculptor and painter, and he came to NYC to see his younger brother after having traveled around the world for several years, carving and painting. This photo marks the end of a troubled era for Arran and the turning point for a new life. In New York, Arran had been attending Gurdjieff and Ouspensky meetings, under the mentorship of Willem Nyland. Dissatisfied with mere intellectual philosophy, his search then led to Ramakrishna, Aurobindo, Rumi and Sant Kirpal Singh—a genuine living mystic. Out the window went his cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, non-veg food and everything else that stood between him and the Divine. It was the time of change, and his art began to reflect his aspirations. Life would be his canvas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599241556242-WHR9KM47RGJD7SK1QGNC/Gamin%2C+painting.jpg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Gamin oil on masonite, 1962 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643962286658-7SQLG9EIEUYR2VM758CO/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Study of a Man oil on paper, NYC, 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643962618772-K3WWWT5U0YYJE7PXTD2T/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Photo: Lower East Side Studio, NYC https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643962873694-JLSQZRKCD8NFF6A8SFLC/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - The Miraculous OIl on Canvas, NYC, 1964 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643962734585-BYNZLYGLJAEMNEOWCCC3/image-asset.jpeg Artwork, 1953 - 1964 - Spirit Pencil sketch on paper. NYC, 1964 https://www.arransart.org/new-gallery-1 daily 0.75 2023-11-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1675139715084-UVGJ4WU8U0DWKW8SQOO8/Kirpal-Singh-%26-Lion-Cub---Sep-12%2C-2022.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Master Kirpal Singh & Lion Cub 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1675139715084-UVGJ4WU8U0DWKW8SQOO8/Kirpal-Singh-%26-Lion-Cub---Sep-12%2C-2022.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Master Kirpal Singh & Lion Cub 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1647740140144-EWO3P0Y8I9UFB3392HWH/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Darshan - the Poet-Saint Painting, oil on canvas, 24”x36” Darshan, the Poet Saint Oil on canvas, 24”x36”Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989) was highly recognized as a great poet and living Saint in his time. Beneath the turban he wore, according to the Sikh tradition in which he was raised, he had a very rarely seen beautiful mane of voluminous, dark, wavy uncut hair. On rare occasions he might be seen, walking about the Ashram allowing his hair to dry in the morning sun, towel on his shoulders, smiling and greeting everyone respectfully. He was a gentle and kind Lion, but one whose eyes were capable of awakening those spiritually asleep. “Travellers who come after me shall have no cause to complain that they found neither footsteps nor Light on the path of Love.” —Darshan Singh https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643960769376-9H0955L14LRINXWPTPJR/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Master Kirpal Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948 Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948 Oil on canvas, size: 40”x60” December 2021 (commenced August 21, 2021). This painting is an attempt to portray the great Adept, Sant Kirpal Singh emerging from Samadhi (super-consciousness). In 1948, after the passing of his Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948) , Kirpal Singh went on a five month retreat in Upper Rishikesh in the Himalayas spending 16-18 hours a day in deep meditation. (for a full account, go to arransart.org/writings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643960919842-7L7L4VIJ5X1TZDF33A9O/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Ascended Master Sawan Oil on canvas. Detail from larger painting, Master Kirpal Emerging From Samadhi) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643961130360-K4L1C4YPXW34OD68QRT8/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Revelations in the Sky Oil on canvas, size 40 x 60” December 12, 2021 Oil on canvas, size 40 x 60” December 12, 2021 What began as an abstract cloudscape continually evolved as the paintbrush wandered where it willed. First, a nine-month fetus appeared in the billowing air, then its Mother, a shining umbilicus from her outstretched hand, luminous shapes swirling, eddying, flowing. See what you can find in it. After a few weeks of painting, from the billowing surf of spirit and Logos, Sages began to appear, pleased in the Creation’s birthing. A work of imagination, or is it more? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1643961623597-068QEFKHZ3Q0DXVS1ZI4/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Revelations in the Sky (detail) detail from larger painting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628148990526-G3H6OIDYOCNDBMDVO7ZK/image-asset.png The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - “The Great Master and the Great Disciple, Hazur / Kirpal”, circa 1930’s. First in the Sawan Kirpal Series of paintings, attempting to capture in paint and colour as accurately as possible, images from some rare old black & white photos of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh and Param Sant Kirpal Singh together taken in the 1930’s & ‘40’s—the one whom he chose in his lifetime to carry on the work of initiation. These photos were taken in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. While painting this I was struck by the elegant beauty of Baba Sawan and the utter obedience and simplicity of his true disciple. Hazur with the slender graceful frame contrasted by the powerful physique of Kirpal. The lady on the right was Bibi Lajo who looked after Hazur’s meals and clothing. She wrote a wonderful book in Hindi, entitled Sakhian about her experiences with Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948). Oil on paperboard, 12”x16” 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1653512217632-WZLAZHBUOGAGDBAJS41I/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Hazur & Kirpal Conducting Satsang at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh circa 1939 2nd in the Sawan Kirpal Series of paintings, documenting the historic alliance between the great Master Sawan Singh (1858-1948) and his great Disciple, Kirpal Singh (1894-1974), based on rare black and white photos from that era. Here, Sat Guru Kirpal Singh was invited by his Master to give the monthly spiritual discourse at his Dera by the Beas River in around 1939. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji revealed that it was in 1927, three years after his initiation by the Great Master, that he reached the fifth spiritual realm known as Sach Khand, or the True Home. His life was filled with miracles, compassion and grace. People of all religions and faiths come to the Masters to learn how to realize the Self and the Overself (#2 of the Sawan Kirpal Series, size 24” x 36, Oil on Canvas. 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628109665507-VQXRWYVPNBEXQKTIOP7R/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Darshan Singh Ji recites his mystic poem to Baba Sawan Singh Singh, 1939 4th in the Sawan Kirpal Series Sant Darshan Singh reciting one of his poems to his spiritual Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, November, 1944, on the occasion of the wedding of Maharaj Charan Singh and his bride (sitting in front of the orange cloth), while Hazur sits serenely on the dais, flanked by his two pathis (chanters of hymns). Behind the pathis stands the father of the bride, the raja of Pisawah. Hazur is casting his glance of grace (known as Darshan, or Didar) to his beloved disciple, and spiritual successor, Sant Kirpal Singh, sitting just to our left of the pole. August 2021, oil painting on canvas, 24” x 36”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628110489534-I37TE620M9R7GSD5MWVX/image-asset.png The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - “The Great Master and the Great Disciple, Hazur / Kirpal”, circa 1930’s. First in the Sawan Kirpal Series of paintings: I’m attempting to capture in paint and colour as accurately as possible, images from some rare old black & white photos (many of which are not in the best condition) of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh and Param Sant Kirpal Singh together—the one whom he chose in his lifetime to carry on the work of Naam-initiation, connecting countless seekers into the path of inner Light and Sound-current. These photos were taken in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, including one of Sant Kirpal Singh delivering a discourse side by side his Master, and concluding with a six-month meditation retreat in Rishikesh, where he spent 16-18 hours a day in samadhi after the passing of his Master on April 2, 1948. This was in preparation for the great spiritual Mission before him. While painting this I’ve been constantly struck by the elegant beauty of Baba Sawan and the utter devotion, obedience and simplicity of his truest disciple. Hazur with the slender graceful frame contrasted by the powerful (and graceful also) physique of Kirpal. The lady on the right was Bibi Lajo who looked after Hazur’s meals and clothing. She wrote a wonderful book in Hindi, entitled Sakhian about her experiences with him, and recorded many historical events that manifested in the presence of “the Great Master”, as Baba Sawan Singh was known (1858-1948). Oil on paperboard, 12”x16” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628148426738-JZ8ASAWQD1TGDCA2B2HA/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Funeral Procession of Hazur, Kirpal Leading the Way, April 2, 1948 #4 in the Sawan Kirpal Series Herein, the artist has attempted to capture something of the pathos, the multitude, the dust and the heat of that day when the sun of spirituality set below the horizon of Dera Baba Jaimal Singh. The sun sets yet on the other side, it rises. The light can never be put out. 

#4 Sawan Kirpal Series, based on historic b&w photos from the 1930’s & 40’s. Oil on canvas, size 24” x 36” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628109090600-SQ28UY4GL2G7N5A52FR8/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal, Lion of Compassion This painting is of the very first black & white photograph I had ever seen of the great Master, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) back in New York City in 1964. Holding that photograph in my hands and gazing upon his compassionate eyes, I had a beautiful timeless experience of rising above body-consciousness and beholding brilliant Light emitting from the photo and from inside and everywhere. I distinctly heard a Voice speaking inside that clarified the way forward. I wrote in some detail about it in my memoirs: Moth & the Flame. Oil on canvas 22” x 24” 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628152126812-ZJ0HLGCXTKO3W8C3FZ5O/Kirpal-Sarovar---2017-to-Jan-2021.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal Sarovar Kirpal Sarovar “In my father’s house, there are many mansions” This painting is based on a ‘dream’ while travelling with the Master’s two-car caravan from Delhi to Bombay in December, 1973. We had stopped en route for the night in Ajmeer. After meditating, I went to sleep. I went to a place that was very deep and mysterious. Although the lower portion of the Master’s beard was immersed in the sacred tank (Sarovar) I saw that it was not wet. While my gaze was fixed in his eyes, I was vaguely aware of a golden temple behind the Master, with steps leading into the Sarovar. That happened forty seven years ago and the memory is still there. Neither paint nor words can capture such an experience. Oil on canvas, size 24’ X 32”, completed in 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628151912348-0GMY5XXQ9AWKMXSTPUCO/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - And Even the Clouds Paid Homage And Even The Clouds Paid Homage...Darshan Before the Taj Mahal, 1980 New Year, 2021, just finished this painting of the great poet Sant Darshan Singh (1921-1989)—spiritual successor to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974), when I accompanied him to the Taj Mahal in 1980 along with our young daughters Shanti and Gurdeep plus a relatively small retinue of foreigners and Indians. It was a magical spiritually charged time, about which I wrote in detail in my book, Moth & the Flame—Adventures With Spiritual Adepts of our Time. To gain this perspective, I jumped down into the reflecting pond which gratefully had been drained the day before. Daughter Shanti was complaining over and over again to me, “Daddy please ask Master Darshan to turn down the heat. I can’t take the heat!” It was probably around 110f. I told her I couldn’t do that. But then something rather wonderful happened. A stiff wind arose and dark clouds suddenly filled the skies. Soon, big raindrops started falling all around us, but didn’t land on anyone. The temperature must have dropped more than 10f degrees. And little Shanti was happy. These clouds are not realistic but I loved painting the swirls! Oil on wood panel, size 24: x 36” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628151693682-XO5BRGPZYIQ45RSDFP9H/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Darshan Ji Under Mughal Arches From the amazing 1980 Tour of Agra & Taj Mahal with Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj, spiritual successor to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). There’s an interesting description of the full tour in my memoirs, Moth & the Flame—Adventures with Adepts of our Time Oil on canvas, 24” x 36”, 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1592229981559-E57WBO42RJEY31FHPBWV/The+Saint+%26+Villagers%2C+Rajasthan+1967+LR.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - The Saint & Villagers, 1967 Rajasthan Tour June 20, 2020 Oil on Canvas size: 30” x 60” It was my good fortune in 1967-8 to travel with the great mystic and humanitarian, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) through dusty farm villages, cities, deserts, oases, old castles and tortuous roads of India and old Rajasthan. The way was often stark and hot, offset by colorful villagers, their dark skin, bright eyes and teeth and vivid clothes. As in the many stops along the journey, thousands were drawn like moths to the flame—the presence of the Saint. For me, this was the journey of many lifetimes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1592120909195-9ZVRNEOEBCO4DZZ5Q8ZC/Rajinder+In+Shalimar.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - In the Gardens of Shalimar In 2003, the renowned living meditation Master, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj visited our home in Vancouver, known as Shalimar Gardens. This is a composite memory of his memorable visit with family and friends. More than 400 people gathered on the spacious lawns beneath the Redwoods the night before. Where he sat to give his illuminating discourse the night before, later on, I dug out the large 40’ x 20’ oval pool, 4’ deep, which now appears in front of the Teacher. This painting has been donated to the new Science of Spirituality Meditation Center in Glendale, Los Angeles. Completed May, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 30” x 60” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628182391624-06SF617R45ET2GYSLF37/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Brothers & the Observer Not just a painting of the artist and his well-known sculptor and dear older brother Godfrey in India in 2010 for Arjan and Rimjhim’s spectacular wedding, but also of the Observer, in this case, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (1858-1948), whose spiritual presence is often felt by the artist and who is seen here stepping forth from under a scalloped Mughal archway. if you look carefully, you might see the artist’s signature under the foot of Baba Sawan. Oil on canvas, size 24” x 36” 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628183092514-MA25YB5H1EECPARZNBWQ/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Hazur, the Observer Detail from The Brothers painting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1628184135211-3EOWL0B1TF8O0GU5ZD5Q/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Meditation in Banyan Grove, Shivaji's Mountain, Satara, India Although not a painting of any Master, it has some overtones… I began this painting from a photo and a memory of the time I was on tour with my beloved Guru Kirpal in Maharashtra in 1968. After morning meditation and Darshan, Bruce, Misha and I (the only Westerners there) decided to go and explore the flat-topped mountain nearby where the hero-warrior Shivaji had built his fortress to hold back the Mughal armies. There was a beautiful dense jungle beyond the mountain redoubt and in it we discovered a cool, shady circle of huge banyan trees, with massive trunks and dangling roots and the chittering of birds. It felt very sacred and inviting. I accepted the invitation and sat down in that lovely peaceful glade with closed eyes, sinking into the peaceful depths. Soon, the outer world disappeared and there was only light. Unbeknownst to me, Bruce took a photo. This year, 52 years later, I decided to attempt this large painting. Grateful for the experience and opportunity to relive it. The Light never dies. Hail, hail to the primordial Light and Song of creation! Oil on Canvas, size 40” x 60”, August 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566715504245-2LH79RINZX7Z699UCE5K/Arran+meditating+Banyan+68.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Photo of the artist meditating inside a banyan grove We’ve included this photo from Arran’s second trip to India in 1968 where he spent six months with his Teacher. Unaware of the photographer, he had plunged into deep meditation under the shade of this banyan grove—a beautiful spot on top of Shivaji’s Mountain in the south-central part of India, south of Pune above the town called Satara. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566535516839-61510KKEJJVXJ7NSCR4D/In+the+Garden+of+Kirpal+2017.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - In the Garden of Kirpal 2017 oil on linen 36” x 48” In 1967, the Master undertook a tour by car to give discourses and initiation to various towns and villages in Rajasthan, India. While staying in the garden of Kartar Chand and family in the ancient city of Ajmeer, Arran took a photograph of the Master handing a flower to a little girl, Puneet Kochhar. Arran painted this stunning piece fifty years later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566713788380-5XGR9E77IVRTKNSKYHPO/Kirpal+%26+the+Rose.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal & the Rose 24” x 36” oil on canvas OIl on Canvas, 24” x 36” …the Master extracted a rose, pricking his finger in the process. He winced. We all winced. He looked at it awhile and then looked at me, commenting, ’No roses without thorns.’ and lovingly handed it to me. If you look closely, you can see a drop of blood on the Master’s thumb. Love has a price. “Pain passes, but the beauty endures.” —Renoir https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566535629849-2310JHYYCD03RHIE3Y1K/Soul+of+the+Rose.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Soul of the Rose detail from the larger painting, Kirpal & the Rose. You can see a ruby drop of blood on the Master’s thumb. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566347548848-8U7YIAVNPX2J1ZNTWTIO/Sawan+Painting+by+Arran+2.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Digital version from the original painting in the previous image. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566790930574-YJ64VDXG10QWFOOTOV7A/Hazur+Baba+Sawan+Singh+orig+painting+1966.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Hazur Baba Sawan Singh The original oil painting on linen (not digitized). 24” x 30” This, and a companion painting of Baba Sawan Singh’s great disciple and the next living Master in this ancient lineage, were painted in Anaheim, California the Sanctuary of the Living Master—that served as a headquarters for Ruhani Satsang in the West until the Master’s passing in 1974. In Arran’s free on-line book, Moth & the Flame (www.arranstephens.com/books) he describes the unusual appearance of the two linen canvases in chapter 5. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566336951983-QDUCS7NUTRGDJN0KXDV8/Kirpal+in+Surrey%2C+BC+1972+tour+painting+2.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal in Surrey, British Columbia on the '72 Tour Arran, who helped organize Sant Kirpal Singh’s November 1972 Vancouver tour program, painted this in 2019 on his visit to a potential Ashram site in Surrey. The Master had also visited Vancouver on his second world tour in January 1964. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566714866903-RXNCT2TV9UCIDPTPH7N5/M.+Kirpal+painting+by+Arran+1965.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - First portrait of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj by Arran 1965 Oil on masonite. In that year, not long after his initiation into the Mysteries of the Beyond by his beloved Satguru, Arran was living and painting in a small shed in the backyard of his parents, in Victoria, BC. One day, while his mother, father and brother were looking at this portrait of his Teacher sitting on their mantlepiece and discussing it, Arran’s mother said that she noticed that the eyes became alive and were talking to her. Then she witnessed a thousand lines of brightest light coming from the face, which struck her in the middle of her forehead. She was flabbergasted and temporarily couldn’t see the external environment. She came out to the garden shed and called to her son, “Arran, what happened to me?” She was crying. She thought she might be going crazy. She asked if Kirpal Singh could see her. He told her, “Yes He can see you.” Some spiritual experiences are beyond our ability to adequately describe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566337267907-3J7I2V0MD0INBC2LCH7Q/Arran%27s+painting+of+Kirpal+1970%3F+3.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal with light golden background 1966 oil sketch on paper Arran’s second painting of his Guru https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566535344054-I16X8BJOBUOHYYXU0NDG/Master+Kirpal+1966+original.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) 1966, oil on linen, 24” x 36”. The original oil painting on linen (not digitized). 24” x 30” This, and a companion painting of Baba Sawan Singh—the Master’s Master, were painted in Anaheim, California in 1966 for the Sanctuary of the Living Master—that served as a headquarters for Ruhani Satsang in the West until the Master’s passing in 1974. In Arran’s free on-line book, Moth & the Flame (www.arranstephens.com/books) he describes the unusual appearance of the two linen canvases in chapter 5. The unusual thing about this portrait that practically everyone notices, is that no matter where in the room you walk, the eyes of Kirpal Singh follow you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566715903326-GLNSSBXGDAOY1IZYP4ZJ/Kirpal+PaintingbyArran.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) This is a digitally enhanced version of the original painting (preceding image). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566336936669-WDMHK38J7V987WX181NA/Gurudev+Kirpal+LG.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Gurudev Kirpal Oil on board. Another very interesting story behind this painting…how it was lost for 40 years and then returned. But that’s another story for another day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566336878605-Z0IQ33129IL0OMEJW9VH/Eye+in+hand+Vision+2.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Eye in Hand Vision Arran described having a vivid dream of his Master’s hand with a brilliant eye in the middle, all-seeing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566336939433-6JPISOYC2VLO47T3SMY3/Kirpal+%2748+Rishikesh.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal 1948 Rishikesh Digital painting from an old black & white photograph, when the new Master retreated for six months into the mountains surrounding Rishikesh, and would spend 16-18 hours a day in meditation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566535550802-YBLMKUALCDEIGTWVCZM5/Kirpal+Pahalgam+67.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal in Kashmir Meadow Digital painting In April, 1967 Arran traveled by bus over treacherous mountain roads through high mountins to be with his Guru. This was a magical moment when the Master walked up through the beautiful meadow, sat down on a blanket and removed his turban as the devotees sat below in silent awe of nature and the power of the Saint. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1605686636563-PNR73SN9CLWRKDY46Z6H/image-asset.jpeg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - The Lion of Compassion This canvas was inspired by the first photo of Sant Kirpal Singh that I ever saw, back in NYC in 1964. It was a black and white photo and what attracted me was the Eyes. His eyes seemed to glow with an inner Light and a compassion that embraced the burden of the world. It was beautiful, and from that moment I was transported to a world of Light. Kirpal means Compassion. Singh means Lion. The portrait isn’t quite finished, but it’s finished enough to reveal. I’ll update it when finished. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566337325526-SOJREDECT03P2C42SQ2S/Kirpal+Pahalgam+67+signed.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Kirpal in Kashmir Meadow (close up) Digital painting In April, 1967 Arran traveled by bus over treacherous mountain roads through high mountins to be with his Guru. This was a magical moment when the Master walked up through the beautiful meadow, sat down on a blanket and removed his turban as the devotees sat below in silent awe of nature and the power of the Saint. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566535517372-L1MW4XALC8AUUEVPUWO0/Inner+Planes+chart.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Inner Planes of Creation This chart was created in 2000 by the artist in an effort to describe the inner planes of creation, according to the writings of Nanak, Kabir, Soami Ji, Sant Kirpal Singh and Sant Darshan Singh. The chart is populated with artist renderings of these various stages of the spiritual journey. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566347559795-06NE499XFRGG7Q0R0G78/Schulbaum+Painting+of+Master+%26+Arran+SM.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Master Kirpal with Arran Arran & Ratana commissioned Michael Schulbaum to paint this using a photo of Arran with his Guru in India in 1968 (next image) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566715485254-YOANQ1HTNJ52CSVYC5A2/Kirpal+%26+A+Indore+68+b.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Photo of Arran with his spiritual Mentor Indore, India, 1968. This is the photo (taken by Bruce King on Arran’s second trip to India) that inspired artist Michael Schulbaum’s beautiful painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566791591499-2VAFIDNQAA389JSNZJ10/Luminous+Cover+.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Journey To The Luminous book cover Journey to the Lumious, Arran’s acclaimed memoirs up to the date of publishing made its advent in 1999, and the printing of 5,000 copies quickly sold out, with all proceeds donated to charity. He decided to publish an online version for free so that people in less fortunate circumstances could easily download it and not worry about expensive freight, etc. The online version is called “Moth & the Flame”. It has since been translated into French, German and Spanish. The Spanish version is on its third printing. In addition, Arran co-authored The Compassionate Diet—How What We Eat can with Eliot Rosen, published by Rodale Press, and it also is now out of print. A Kindle reprint is in the works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566792112437-L2LYQ4VA3GUIA9Z0ODH7/TUNNEL%26figure.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Illustration for Journey to the Luminous Here, the soul traveler crosses the divide between the material and the Divine, to seek it’s assumption in the Light and Love of the Creator. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566864567547-2ORCJ7UFP6XGB9HTSYTG/Cover.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Moth & the Flame — Adventures With Spiritual Adepts of our Times book cover This is the book cover for Moth & the Flame, the on-line, edited and expanded version with full-color images. Currently available at www.arranstephens.com/books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566791641017-65AYMPWLMS2ZY3KMO244/%231+Moth+Medium.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Moth & the Flame Digital Painting for Moth & the Flame bookcover https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566791604718-J5WHNO8SYR3S62CZRGYT/ChakraMan.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Illustration for Journey to the Luminous and the Inner Planes chart The luminous body, showing the chakras or ganglionic centers within the body. Not in or of the body, but parallel and concurrent with it. It is at the third eye that lies behind and between the two eyebrows that the soul exits the body at the time of death, or, consciously in meditation in life. “If you don’t get to heaven when you’re living, how you’re going to get there when you die?” an old black man accosted the artist in his teens with these potent words. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566791611351-TOW6FXGDSJRZLOVRPPYO/Head+Radiance.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - Further Illustrations for the book and the Inner Planes Chart As the meditation practitioner advances along the journey, the sensory currents are withdrawn up the the third eye, or single eye, where he or she beholds the radiance of their own divinity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566336845173-F4BLWRLCRWX8WDVMI16Q/Arran%27s+painting+of+Kirpal+1970%3F+2.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1592120939328-WZ93OVKWHZUKSLB6LJY4/The+Saint+%26+Villagers%2C+Rajasthan+1967+LR.jpg The artist's paintings of his spiritual Mentors - The Saint & Villagers, Rajasthan Tour, 1967 Latest finished painting, June 2020. Oil on Canvas, 24” x 48 This has been the most technically challenging painting I’ve ever attempted, with more than 108 figures, inspired by a photograph I took while on tour of Rajasthan with my revered spiritual Guru, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). I spent 17 months in this great Master’s presence, mostly in India and briefly in the USA and Canada between 1967 to 1974. I recorded my experiences, talks, miracles and teachings in various diaries, which after some 45 years was finally published as Journey To the Luminous—Adventures with the Adepts of our Time, and republished online as Moth & the Flame, available for free on this website. https://www.arransart.org/works-in-progress daily 0.75 2024-12-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1594839972192-AU393AY00E2Z73BOUU82/CONFERENCE+OF+THE+BIRDS.jpg Works in Progress - Conference of the Birds Based on the Persian classic book, Conference of the Birds, by Farid u-din Attar, 13th Century. More about this later. Work in progress, oil on circular board https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1594839972192-AU393AY00E2Z73BOUU82/CONFERENCE+OF+THE+BIRDS.jpg Works in Progress - Conference of the Birds Based on the Persian classic book, Conference of the Birds, by Farid u-din Attar, 13th Century. More about this later. Work in progress, oil on circular board https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699163504971-UGTV8BW69Y0C1KWARQ6I/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Painting Conference of the Birds II August 26, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1605685090178-EOROWBYLM9F2O4XQN6VY/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Kirpal, the Lion of Compassion Oil on Canvas, work in progress. From the first b&w photograph I ever saw of my future Satguru, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). Just seeing his picture for the first time, I was drawn into the enormity of his eyes, shining with an inner Light. This was just the beginning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699163620161-QNAN47F7YVMVFQFWE01S/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Working on Conference of the Birds II August 26, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699163726024-K0JJ0K8BWKWZ0IR8LXEX/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Conference of the Birds II, in progress November 2, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599241461928-3PUL3J945ADH4QQFH9FT/IMG_5987.jpg Works in Progress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699163977305-EN8OZB31M55VY0DX2WFM/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Detail 1, Conference of the Birds II, work in progress October 25, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699164016884-E4I5OBHYIE6TGPNK84YA/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Detail 2, Conference of the Birds II, work in progress October 25, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598163732497-KOT7AV7MMFF0D5EKY9XJ/Goldstream+%237+Isha+in+Sun%27s+Golden+Rays.jpg Works in Progress - Isha in Golden Sun's Rays, Goldstream, #7 in the series oil on canvas, size 24” x 30” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699164067747-H0C7QKDEVC3M47JWO6WO/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Detail 3, Conference of the Birds II, work in progress October 25, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699164105351-QR8PLM5WS39J27VHNO1L/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Detail 4, Conference of the Birds II, work in progress October 26, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566344504307-EWQ2A4TIKPCUZY0ONM30/Ascent+of+the+Spirit.jpg Works in Progress - Ascent of the Spirit 2019 oil on canvas, work in progress. This canvas implies the ascent of the soul or spirit, symbolized by the white dove in flight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1699227314046-KIOQ9JKSRN0YQBC4IS9X/image-asset.jpeg Works in Progress - Self Portrait, 2023 November 3, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1572286771838-LYJ66U8EPKJUIFIF0MES/Tremezzo+St.+Lorenzo+Cathedral+with+Sunset.jpeg Works in Progress - St. Lorenzo Cathedral, Tremezzo Italy (2nd iteration) Oil on canvas, size 36” x 72” The beginning of my latest painting, from a recent trip to Como di Lago, Tremezzo, Italia. October 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1566783266178-JY27YE4WZR02YFQFVJAN/Day+Branches%2C+WIP.jpg Works in Progress - Daylight through the Oaks, Mendocino Painting in Progress, oil on linen, 38” x 50” This work was inspired by a mystical experience the young painter had while on a long walk through the Mendocino hills of Northern California in the winter of 1963. While standing beneath a mighty oak tree he saw the splay of fractal colors through the lashes of his eyes, and as he marveled, the inner Light dawned in and all around him. There was nothing but bodiless Light and a sense of loving awe for the Cosmos. He’s imposed a radiant, fractal being in the tree, with an oak lealeaf nimbus splaying out from the forehead. This is a painting that started in 1965, but was never finished. This is the artist’s latest effort. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1567717011340-XPJ7KEQDS5MZ0I69XSBH/IMG_4355.JPG Works in Progress - Daylight through the Oaks, Mendocino 2nd iteration Painting in Progress, oil on linen, 38” x 50” This work was inspired by a mystical experience the young painter had while on a long walk through the Mendocino hills of Northern California in the winter of 1963. While standing beneath a mighty oak tree he saw the splay of fractal colors through the lashes of his eyes, and as he marveled, an inner Light dawned in and all around him. There was nothing but bodiless Light and a sense of loving awe for the Cosmos. He’s imposed a radiant, fractal being in the tree, with an oak leaf nimbus splaying out from the figure. This is a painting that started in 1965, but was never finished. This is the artist’s latest effort. https://www.arransart.org/biography daily 0.75 2025-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/47fe59f6-05f9-4006-8a40-3fa5c390ffd1/Arran+Stephens%2C+Oct+10%2C+2024+-+3645+-+v1+Vertical+Crop.jpg Biography https://www.arransart.org/poems-and-writings daily 0.75 2024-12-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035721180-RL7G85NASFR2OKQC6RLA/IMG_8497.jpeg Poems It’s a path of love… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035841203-5PR9MR0PN0GKSZG7BH4R/KIRPAL+Handwriting.jpeg Poems Guru is Shabad (Sound Principle that created all worlds), handwriting of my Satguru, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). The Shabad permeates all space and is heard by the initiate in meditation—a Music that transcends and superior to the greatest music on earth. It loosens the gordian knot between the body and the soul. A true gift from Master to disciple, the Unstruck Sound transports the soul to the Source from whence it came. As Rumi has written: “listen to the sound of the reed flute; hear its tale of separation and woe; even since it was severed from the reed bed, it has been enduring its long separation. O, I want a heart torn by separation that I may unfold to such, the pain of love, for one long separated far from his source, wishes back the time when he was one with it.” It is the transcendent Sound of the Infinite that reunites the soul with its creator. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035365460-Z62H5038RAEM5DZ9BTBK/A+Science+of+Soul+that+never+ends+%282017%29 Poems A Science of Soul that never ends! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598031824843-6SSRJF0LV0DWLUFTVEGL/Dew+Microcosm+poem+Dec+63+Mendocino.jpeg Poems Dew Macrocosm, Mendocino county, 1963 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035020292-P64ENJEBB0ZVA8VSM3XT/IMG_4779.jpeg Poems Thinking of Rumi & Kirpal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599328148574-XED064KOAPPKC3AFUS2X/Reason+%26+Religion+are+irrelevant+to+a+lover... Poems https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035456706-COP055OEZG1LDOGSC12Z/Journal+2017 Poems Lotus of the Heart 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598034867029-NF5TYAXI1O3C092TBND0/IMG_0959.jpeg Poems Admission’s Price. Journal, 12/14/18. Master Kirpal often called me Arun or Arran ji. Arun is a kind of Hindi version of Arran, Arun or Aruna is the morning light as it breaks at dawn. Arran is the name my mother gave me, named after the Isle of Arran in Scotland. Ji means respect, but certainly not deserved in my case! These poems attempt to describe states that are indescribable, but crows must caw, frogs must croak and birds must sing! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598030705393-29VQH53TC5BRZJEATIK3/Wounded+Dance%2C+1963+poem Poems another little 17 year old poem from the Beat era, North Beach, San Francisco https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598328475980-K65R0CTC0UL5D0LEJW5I/image001.png Poems https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599236832158-P8K23KP7CBIXDT5DPNDA/Carrots+from+Shalimar+2020.jpg Poems The Happy Garden, where golden sunflowers nod and say hello and bright blue borage, nasturtium and golden zinnia dance with bees; where carrot fronds tickle feet and bean tendrils gently brush arms as we walk through jungled profusion. And crinkled Savoy cabbage, parsnip, tomatillo, chard and leeks smile up, berries ripen and hot August sun beats down, making skin a heated glow. Hummingbirds and dragonflies flit about, emerald throats and wings more jeweled than an emperor’s cape; red robins take their share, fulsome tomatoes—oversized rubies on the vine, and heavy green cukes await plucking while squashes bask about, lazy in the sun. cherries, plum, peaches, asparagus and figs have already come and gone, alas! The garlic and onions have been plucked and dried in the shed. Apple, pear, grapes and kiwi are next to harvest. Oh! Let me not forget the lurking wonders, our life-web heroes beneath the soil! wriggling worms and microorganisms enabling life itself, all connected, unseen. In the air, hidden music overrides all, if we but listen close. Ahh, this blessed last gasp of summer won’t stay; soon, crisp autum will descend and the verdant garden will curl and brown and die, then starkcold winter will come to lay down a mantle of rain and snow. The long frigid stasis will rebirth again in spring—she hasn’t failed us yet. . Sun’s benison will rise even if clouds obscure. Thank you for your bounty, Happy Garden! And for Happy Gardens everywhere. You’ve more than rewarded our labour! (Late August, 2020) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598034785623-MC6U2RU62TMSM8HPBEO3/IMG_0578.jpeg Poems Journal October 29, 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035524788-1YI2KFCS6QYBO60A7NQQ/IMG_8193.jpeg Poems “To share His love is to receive His love.” SRS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598034606660-B0EF4HP640NLVXZ8VZYQ/IMG_0337.jpeg Poems Diary, 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035262704-ZZJB1UPQJ93QSAKLPKG0/IMG_5512.jpeg Poems Not my words, but wish they were! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1599328212765-73P0X03HXCBHX3557VD3/Imagine...a+salmon Poems https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598034903912-24VCDVI2ESYH3IIXPQQ7/IMG_2372.jpeg Poems poem from Nikos Kazantzakis https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598030500760-CFQ5CA22WNN5HWNJPBZC/Arran%27s+Poem+1960.jpeg Poems My first poem at age 16, 1960 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035801491-KSJ3BBBVG6U0D5A5R9O2/IMG_8884.jpeg Poems Big slice of humble pie https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1598035651438-NV7S1KM0XL83LI3O6RW4/IMG_8211.jpeg Poems Lazarus Soul dec 25 2017 https://www.arransart.org/home daily 1.0 2025-08-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/421a2ca4-0669-46b4-b378-ef73028f5499/Conference+of+the+Birds+New+Event+Poster+-+v2+Print+8.5x11.jpg Home - Unveiling Arran’s Painting at SFU In an exclusive evening at Simon Fraser University’s Experimental Theatre in Downtown Vancouver, Arran unveiled his newest painting, Conference of the Birds, a work exploring the search for spiritual truth through Farid ud-Din Attar’s 12th century tale of 30 birds. Featuring Arran’s presentation, along with Ratana Stephens and SFU President Joy Johnson, light Persian food, live poetry, classical music by the Kereshmeh Ensemble, and giclé art prints by Opus Art Supplies, the evening celebrated the beauty of Attar’s and Rumi’s mystical poetry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/d3fdc9ef-0fb9-468d-bec6-15849354efce/Arran+with+Moth+%26+the+Flame+Book%2C+July+12%2C+2024+-+1666.jpg Home - Moth & the Flame Newly revised in 2024, Arran’s autobiography is the journey of a heart-filled seeker and his discovery of modern spiritual masters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1746657784364-MVNYSUV6QGBIXLAE6MTT/Conference-of-the-Birds-II---Apr-8%2C-2025---White.jpg Home - Arran Stephens’ Latest Works Conference of the Birds, 2025 Oil on panel 84” diameter https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/a199e9a3-8714-442f-a3d6-ebb574c052e9/Arran-Signing-Conference-of-the-Birds-Prints-at-Opus%2C-May-20%2C-2025---7010---Crop.jpg Home - Limited edition signed prints of Arran’s paintings Signed prints of Arran’s artwork are available while quantities last—order yours soon! https://www.arransart.org/books daily 0.75 2025-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/2becc770-b048-48d7-9f76-7d53dabe9ad4/M%26F+PDP+-+Artboard+7+-+Photos+Feature.jpg Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1739234926210-AU3MTTP25R0NSPITAPIY/M_F_mock-2-862837.png Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1739234832104-Q8TD3TYU1AOD53VMZPWF/M_F_front-cover-full-881447.png Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1739234830962-UUOME5BL4XA2WTQ1TSA7/M_F_back-cover-full-863825.png Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/4dd02acc-6da4-4264-b247-4915a93f6253/moth-and-the-flame_summary+%281%29.jpg Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/266ea505-af0a-4d5e-a124-3e83ef4f804e/moth-and-the-flame_about-the-author+%281%29.jpg Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753237514-2LB0UQ00LHS8AVDAL6DY/M%26F+PDP+-+Artboard+3+-+Quote+1.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753246197-BOZEF507WMG1L0PGRWT0/M%26F+PDP+-+Artboard+4+-+Quote+2.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753250695-0993PY06N5BPTBKX18DN/M%26F+PDP+-+Artboard+5+-+Quote+3.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753255194-F5R2GJQTZID9QZ1KQQMY/M%26F+PDP+-+Artboard+6+-+Quote+4.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1572299764724-8NAE0GN40LNNMFT5KKJS/Viaje-a-lo-luminoso-compressed+2_Page_001.jpg Books - Viaje a lo Luminoso Moth & the Flame is available in Spanish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1ed2feb5-012b-4428-afd0-9cc0462e2d70/Hindi+Book+Cover.jpg Books - Kirpal: Mere Guru, Mere Malik Launched in February 2024 with the blessings of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj, this Hindi translation of Arran’s newly revised autobiography is now available in hardcover in India. Watch the book launch video with Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj on YouTube. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753488698-D5JFLDTTT7QGKODEC6J8/Link+Button+-+Amazon.com.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753488627-S39D9I0L0SV33DZH50YT/Link+Button+-+Amazon.ca.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1737753489354-ITBBT0KHJ6XFAV4FO9SE/Link+Button+-+Banyen.jpg Books - Banyen Books & Sound (Copy) https://www.arransart.org/prints daily 0.75 2025-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/a199e9a3-8714-442f-a3d6-ebb574c052e9/Arran-Signing-Conference-of-the-Birds-Prints-at-Opus%2C-May-20%2C-2025---7010---Crop.jpg Prints - Limited edition signed prints of Arran’s paintings Printed on acid-free paper with archival pigment inks by Opus Art Supplies, prints of Arran’s artwork are available while quantities last—including Conference of the Birds and other paintings. Order yours soon! 100% of proceeds go to SOS Meditation & Ecology Centre in Richmond, BC, a non-denominational charitable organization dedicated to meditation and inner peace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1746657784364-MVNYSUV6QGBIXLAE6MTT/Conference-of-the-Birds-II---Apr-8%2C-2025---White.jpg Prints - Conference of the Birds 22×22” or 36×36” Print signed by Arran Stephens. Inspired by the celebrated 12th century spiritual poem, Conference of the Birds, by Farid ud-Din Attar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698987118793-LQ4X47GOMQ9GKACW6YG5/Goldstream-Canyon---An-Eternity-of-Now---May-13%2C-2022.jpg Prints - Goldstream Canyon 15.3×22” Print signed by Arran Stephens. Based on Goldstream, BC, where Arran grew up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698980973504-CPJUY59UE39UFGQ4EJKM/Madonna-of-Sunflowers---May-9%2C-2022.jpg Prints - Madonna of Sunflowers 22×22” Print signed by Arran Stephens. Inspired by Ukraine, where sunflowers are the national symbol of peace, and unjust war has been ongoing. The cyrillic text reads, "Ukraine." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d3a1a00a546a400017401f1/1698985081215-7XSW25GFGAYELZA24RZV/Little-Niagara-Falls%2C-Goldstream---Apr-2022.jpg Prints - Mystery Falls 15.3×22” Print signed by Arran Stephens. Based on Goldstream, BC, where Arran grew up.