2023
2020-2023
Based on the Persian classic book, Conference of the Birds, by Farid u-din Attar, 13th Century.
2023
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.
2016 to July 2023.
Detail of the face of divinity, revealed in the centre of the cosmos in “Arising II.”
2022-2023.
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.
2022-2023
2022
2022
2022.
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.
#2 in the Goldstream Series. Oil on Linen, 55” x 72” 2018-2022
Goldstream II detail of falls & rapids
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
2022
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
#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…
#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.
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.
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?
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.
The Ascended Master (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh 1858-1948)
Detail from the larger painting, Master Kirpal Emerging From Samadhi, Rishikesh, 1948
2021-2023.
On the occasion of the wedding of His grandson, Charan Singh Ji
2021-2023
2021
2021. Oil on canvas, size 24”x36”
Inspired by a walk through Big Timber Trail, Whistler Mountain, BC.
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.
acrylic on canvas 24” x 24” 2021
Oil on canvas. 16” x 20”. June, 2021 - August 2022.
2021
Oil on Canvas, 12’ x 16’ June 2021
2021
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.
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.
Detail 3: The Deer protector, hand and beans, corn, squash.
Detail 4: Sunflowers and creatures bowing before the feet of Earth-Mother.
Hand, bean-jewels, maize, squash & turtle.
2021. Oil on canvas. 48” x 36"
Old Man Contemplating by Shalimar Pond
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
#8 in the Goldstream Series
2020-2022. Oil on canvas, size 24” x 30”
Isha is #4 of 6 granddaughters, a lovely, intelligent and questioning soul.
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.
2020. Oil on canvas, 30” x 40”
2020
36” x 72”. Oil on canvas. 2019-2022. From a trip to Lago de Como, Italia. Jyoti sitting on steps of the old cathedral…
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
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.
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.
#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.
2020
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!
2020
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...”
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)
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.
2019. Oil Painting on canvas. 24” x 36”
The third tribute to his mother, returning to the light of early evening.
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.
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.
2019. Oil Painting on art paper.
Portrait of a family friend.
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.
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…”
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.
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.
2018. oil on canvas, size 24” X 36'“
2018. Oil Painting on canvas. 18” x 24”Granddaughter number six wandering in wonder through t a marvellous cabbage patch.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
2016. Oil Painting.
Arran illustrates Granddaughter Bianca’s strength and determination in this portrait.
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.
Ratana & Baby Gurdeep
2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 16” x 20”
Madonna and Child, enshrined in a halo of light and love.
2016. Graphite on paper. 12” x 16”
Graphite study for the oil painting.
2016. Oil Painting on canvas. 20” x 30”
The glowing presence of the daughter of Arran’s daughter, Jyoti.
2016. Oil Painting. 12” x 16”
What can we learn by looking deep into the eyes of the boy we once were?
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.
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
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.
2015. Watercolour on toned paper.
Original sketch for the Nature’s Path painting.
Ratana and Arran 45th Anniversary 2014.
Oil Painting on canvas, 24” x 36”.
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.
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
pen & ink drawing
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.”
2002. Digital art.
Illustration from Arran’s book: “Journey to the Luminous”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1966. Oil painting on Paper. 12” x 16”
Young man on adventurous seas.
1966. Ink and Watercolor on heavy paper. 12” x 16”
After Christ suffered a painful death and rose up again renewed, lives changed forever.
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.
1966. Oil Painting on Paper. 6” x 18”
Painted this while on my late grandfather’s little farm in Duncan, called Flowerfields.
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.
1964 -1965. Oil Painting.
A detail from “Temptations of St. Anthony”. Anthony the Great of Egypt is considered to be the first Christian monk.
1965. Ink with wash. 12” x 16”
Naturalist studies continue to play a role throughout Arran’s artistic development.
1965 India ink brushed on paper. 11 1’2” x 17”
Deft strokes reveal the specific tension between a cat and its prey.