WELCOME TO
RAINBOW MOUNTAIN
GALLERY
Rainbow Mountain Gallery is located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada and is the digital art studio & gallery of Canadian Artist DJL. The selections of work here are landscapes, abstracts and seascapes. All the artwork is copyrighted and may not be copied, transferred or reproduced.
If you would like more info,
or to buy custom sized archival quality, high definition prints,
or to leave a comment for the artist
CONTACT DJLRAINBOW MOUNTAINS
Rainbow Mountains is Digitally Created on Fractal Painter 5.0 Copyright@2001
Dedicated In Love & Gratitude
To Daniel Beaton & Shane Bolton
Please Scroll Down Below Images To Read the Rainbow Mountains Story
RAINBOWS in the NIGHT
2003
If this image looks familiar, it's because it is a
composite layer transformation/mutation of the
Original 'Rainbow Mountains' displayed above.
This is the kind of creativity that can be expressed with Painter X,
using layers of the same image but with different composite
attributes and transparencies.
SNOWSHACK
Watercolour on Paper/Fractal Painter Digital Painting
Snowshack is an image I originally painted as a watercolour
and then scanned it a couple of years later into my MAC computer for digital painting.
This image is about keeping the light on, especially when the world is coming down around you and you find yourself in circumstances WAY WAY more impossible than you think you can survive.
CHALK MOUNTAINS
2003
Fractal Painter 5.0
Fractal Painter 5.0
2006
Digitally Created on Fractal Painter 5
Digitally Created on Fractal Painter 5
Digitally Created Fractal Painter 5.0
This is my image that I began with to create my Red Mitten Skiers Image
2007 Watercolour
NIGHT MOUNTAINS
2002
Digitally Created Fractal Painter 5.0
More Artwork Coming Soon
RAINBOW MOUNTAIN
The Rainbow Mountains Story
Rainbow Mountains was inspired by the appearance of a very unique pair of rainbows that appeared in answer to a desperate request I made of the spirit world. I asked for a sign that there was another force in the universe that I could believe in. It had been a very dark year; with my 13 year old son badly injured in a freakish, tragic accident that killed two of his teen companions at a waterfall near our place in B.C. Those young dudes, that died at 16 & 17 years of age, were so beautiful and funny and full of life that summer, and then one day in the middle of a beautiful day, they were just gone. There was NO going back, No chance to appeal. Gone Forever.
Our 3 families lives' were tossed into the stratosphere with no firm ground left to stand on and no security anywhere on earth. When the next morning dawned, we were all still at the hospital with the two surviving boys. I had not slept on the cot the nurse had brought to our hospital room, where my injured child lay unconscious with a brain injury. While I paced up & down the hospital corridor, I discovered a door to an outdoor patio at the end of the hall. When I stepped outside to try to get a grip on my traumatized, spaced out mind, I was astonished at the scene. The whole sky was a deep cherry pink and over on the mountain where the two boys had died, there were two incredibly vivid rainbows. I stopped in my tracks and felt the power of life that continues after death in all its' 'for sureity'. And then I shut tight the door to my heart and glared at the wondrous sky, furious that such beauty would try to intrude upon the complete collapse of our whole world.
In the years previous to that day, I had been studying and practicing spirituality and I had created in myself a very strong belief in God, Angels, Everything Happening for a Reason, Meditation, The Afterlife and that we are all protected from harm if we pray for it, ask for it. I had spent a lot of money learning how to communicate with a higher power, our spiritual guardians and my own inner soul. I loved God. I loved myself, my family and all humankind, all life and our mother earth. I was very connected to the spiritual world and I trusted life completely.
Well that morning, out in the dawn, lit by sunrise and rainbows, I turned away from what was being given as a gift from that world I loved so much. I closed my eyes, shut my heart and I did not look at the beauty again. Instead, as I went back inside the hospital, I heaved my new and expensive spirituality into the waste can at the door. Life was way too serious to believe in rainbows, angels and the possibility of spiritual connections. It was time to grow up and face the 'real' reality: Our beautiful, cherished kids could die without us even being present, on an innocent summer day in a place of incredible natural beauty. No warning. No chance to pray. No reason. No sense.
JUST CHAOS & FEAR!
It was several months later when it happened. We had become more and more lost as the darkness of gravity surrounded us every day. Our son did not want to live. Our happy life as a family filled with love & laughter no longer seemed real; like a fairy tale from a time long gone by or a dream from childhood. There was numbness, agony, nothingness and insanity.
One dark and miserable winter day, I had reached the limit of my endurance. I just could not go on, suspended without God, Guardians, or even the now highly suspect Earth to ground me. So, that morning,for the first time since the accident, I spoke right out loud to whatever powers that be. I said, to any able to hear my cries, that I could not go on and I must have a sign that the spirit world existed and that when our kids die, they go somewhere in this universe besides gone. I thought to myself about what kind of a sign it would have to be for me to believe it. A rainbow, I thought, would do it. Then I said HA! There can't be a rainbow on a dark wet windy day in the middle of winter here on the wet coast. I challenged God and all Gods' angels to make a believer out of me once more, knowing they would fail.
I did not have much hope. I was really looking to finally prove to myself that there was no God, no Angels, no spirit guides, no ancestors in heaven - Just us humans waiting to die or be killed, to stand by helplessly watching our loved ones die and our friends burying their loved ones. Life was about endlessly mourning the hell that we all live in.
The day stayed dark, as if the sun could not rise. The black clouds were so low, we had to drive through them to go to our local beach, where we walked almost daily to try to relieve our pain and anxiety. The wind and the sea would always refresh us just enough to face the next round of terror that was now our life. When we got to the beach that day, it was so cold and the icy wind so fierce, we could not even look up from the beach stones as we walked. The three of us just crept along the beach, hunkered over and grim. I had stopped looking for the sign I had asked for; clearly there was zero chance of any light based phenomena like rainbows to miraculously appear on such a day. There would be no miracle of course; we were alone on a hostile planet that had no mercy, no reason and no love.
Then it happened!
Suddenly, in the midst of another icy 35 knot gust of wind, it all just stopped. Like somebody threw the switch. The three of us were standing about 15 feet apart in a triangle when the sky opened up and the sun's warmth landed right upon us. We looked up from the wet stones, astonished at the sudden change. I looked up at the sky and saw two of the strangest, weirdest rainbows I have ever seen. They started out right at the mountain top where the boys had been killed. Then they twisted, spiraled & skewed wildly over to the our beach, 45 miles away. The rainbows landed on the stones, right smack in the middle of the three of us. We were actually standing at the end of two rainbows. There was no pot of gold, but a wealth of powerful energy and love and the spiritual sign I had asked for.
This time, when I saw the two rainbows, I did NOT turn away. I just let the warmth come on in and melt the terror that had frozen my heart. I heard the voice of one of the boys say, 'Hey Lady! You know it's all good. You know it's gonna be all right'.
What a feeling; to return home again to love. Right there, love was, waiting patiently all the while. You can throw it in the trash can if you like, but love will out wait you every time. When the time comes, when you manage to open up just a crack to peer out from the darkness, love will widen that crack into a rainbow and come bounding back in like a river.
Life did not change dramatically after our reconnection via the rainbows. The boys were still gone, my son and the brothers that survived, and the parents who had lost their young sons continued to suffer in unimaginable ways. It was just unbearable; so many beautiful & innocent people in so much stupid agony. But the world was different again all the same. Now, we were not alone while we all went to pieces. Every awful moment that transpired from then on, I just stayed connected; asking for strength and faith and guidance and help. And every moment, every time, it was given. I will never lose this connection, it sustains me still as we go through many more challenges. I painted Rainbow Mountains, not only as a tribute to the boys that died, but to keep me reminded of how powerful love is and that it does, in fact, conquer everything - even the very worst thing!
WHY ARE THERE 3 RAINBOWS, INSTEAD OF 2?
Some of the visitors to Rainbow Mountains Gallery have emailed me about this question, so I will answer it here as a FAQ:
When I made this image, I made it to send to our great friends Jim & Trudy Beaton, who are the parents of Dan, one of the boys that we lost that day. Incredibly, tragedy was not finished with them when their 17 year old son drowned; The very next year, Jim's younger brother became ill and soon after died of brain cancer. Then it wasn't very long after that Jim's Father died as well. So not fair!
I had been working on this image for quite a few months by then, to give to them and Shane Bolton's parents as well. So when the third member of their family had passed, I made this image into a card to send to them at that time. That is why there are 3 rainbows instead of just two. One for each of the Beaton family who had passed.
Here is my note that I had wanted to include with the card image, but I'm not sure if I even did. I was just so blown out of the water during that time. The other day, I came across the note, from that time of impossible insanity:
"We send our love to all of you and hold you so close in our hearts every day, especially at this time of still MORE grief.
Here on the Island, our family sails on, through whatever crisis each day brings, just trying to survive another day. We keep trying to find a safe harbour for our kids and our lives; some kind of sheltered place, out of the storm. Of course our search has been fruitless. We have scanned & searched the world over, trying to figure out where to run to, where to take our traumatized kids & what to do to remedy the deluge/torrent of emotional & physical crises on which we all are swept away.
We still have not found it.
THAT particular harbour does not exist on earth.
What really stands out for us now is the revelation that our voyage continues anyway. Steady as ever, moving us ahead. Long after our ship has been blown into unrecognizable pieces, our family clinging each to a ragged chunk, scattered all over our sea. We see the truth now: there is actually nothing on this earth that is keeping us afloat. And yet we sail anyway somehow. I guess it is love that has been carrying us all along. Though we thought it was us; our skills, our paycheck, our house, our intelligence. It is clear now, that it was none of these. It was love all along that held us. The great gift of the shipwreck is that is allows us to see from where our power to live in the world comes. And from where it does not.
So, while we all wash down this river ride, don't forget, you are held close to love all the time. But to be fully supported by love, we just need to ASK to be filled up, held up, rescued & sustained. This power is free and readily available to every single one of us - there's a station to fill up at everywhere you are, open 24/7. When grief & fear take over and the storm gets into its' full fury, we have the power to survive it.
JUST PUT OUT YOUR HANDS, BREATH SLOWLY & DEEPLY.
THEN SAY 'I CHOOSE LOVE'
MUCH LOVE & RESPECT TO YOU ALL
DJL
SHOPPING FOR ARTWORK?
Check Out All the Great artwork for sale and art pieces at LIVE AUCTION NOW. Click on the links at left to view the art listings in each category. Everything from metaphysical talismans & tribal jewelery & hip hop bling,
to original paintings and drawings, limited edition reproductions, glass art, tattoo art,
dj art, angel art, vampire art, folk art, paperweight art, antiquities, collectables and sculpture/carvings.
The Number of Pieces of Art Currently Listed For Sale Is In The MILLIONS!
GO TO ArtBeat.name HOMEPAGE
Digitally Created Fractal Painter 5.0
More Artwork Coming Soon
RAINBOW MOUNTAIN
GALLERY
The Rainbow Mountains Story
Rainbow Mountains was inspired by the appearance of a very unique pair of rainbows that appeared in answer to a desperate request I made of the spirit world. I asked for a sign that there was another force in the universe that I could believe in. It had been a very dark year; with my 13 year old son badly injured in a freakish, tragic accident that killed two of his teen companions at a waterfall near our place in B.C. Those young dudes, that died at 16 & 17 years of age, were so beautiful and funny and full of life that summer, and then one day in the middle of a beautiful day, they were just gone. There was NO going back, No chance to appeal. Gone Forever.
Our 3 families lives' were tossed into the stratosphere with no firm ground left to stand on and no security anywhere on earth. When the next morning dawned, we were all still at the hospital with the two surviving boys. I had not slept on the cot the nurse had brought to our hospital room, where my injured child lay unconscious with a brain injury. While I paced up & down the hospital corridor, I discovered a door to an outdoor patio at the end of the hall. When I stepped outside to try to get a grip on my traumatized, spaced out mind, I was astonished at the scene. The whole sky was a deep cherry pink and over on the mountain where the two boys had died, there were two incredibly vivid rainbows. I stopped in my tracks and felt the power of life that continues after death in all its' 'for sureity'. And then I shut tight the door to my heart and glared at the wondrous sky, furious that such beauty would try to intrude upon the complete collapse of our whole world.
In the years previous to that day, I had been studying and practicing spirituality and I had created in myself a very strong belief in God, Angels, Everything Happening for a Reason, Meditation, The Afterlife and that we are all protected from harm if we pray for it, ask for it. I had spent a lot of money learning how to communicate with a higher power, our spiritual guardians and my own inner soul. I loved God. I loved myself, my family and all humankind, all life and our mother earth. I was very connected to the spiritual world and I trusted life completely.
Well that morning, out in the dawn, lit by sunrise and rainbows, I turned away from what was being given as a gift from that world I loved so much. I closed my eyes, shut my heart and I did not look at the beauty again. Instead, as I went back inside the hospital, I heaved my new and expensive spirituality into the waste can at the door. Life was way too serious to believe in rainbows, angels and the possibility of spiritual connections. It was time to grow up and face the 'real' reality: Our beautiful, cherished kids could die without us even being present, on an innocent summer day in a place of incredible natural beauty. No warning. No chance to pray. No reason. No sense.
JUST CHAOS & FEAR!
It was several months later when it happened. We had become more and more lost as the darkness of gravity surrounded us every day. Our son did not want to live. Our happy life as a family filled with love & laughter no longer seemed real; like a fairy tale from a time long gone by or a dream from childhood. There was numbness, agony, nothingness and insanity.
One dark and miserable winter day, I had reached the limit of my endurance. I just could not go on, suspended without God, Guardians, or even the now highly suspect Earth to ground me. So, that morning,for the first time since the accident, I spoke right out loud to whatever powers that be. I said, to any able to hear my cries, that I could not go on and I must have a sign that the spirit world existed and that when our kids die, they go somewhere in this universe besides gone. I thought to myself about what kind of a sign it would have to be for me to believe it. A rainbow, I thought, would do it. Then I said HA! There can't be a rainbow on a dark wet windy day in the middle of winter here on the wet coast. I challenged God and all Gods' angels to make a believer out of me once more, knowing they would fail.
I did not have much hope. I was really looking to finally prove to myself that there was no God, no Angels, no spirit guides, no ancestors in heaven - Just us humans waiting to die or be killed, to stand by helplessly watching our loved ones die and our friends burying their loved ones. Life was about endlessly mourning the hell that we all live in.
The day stayed dark, as if the sun could not rise. The black clouds were so low, we had to drive through them to go to our local beach, where we walked almost daily to try to relieve our pain and anxiety. The wind and the sea would always refresh us just enough to face the next round of terror that was now our life. When we got to the beach that day, it was so cold and the icy wind so fierce, we could not even look up from the beach stones as we walked. The three of us just crept along the beach, hunkered over and grim. I had stopped looking for the sign I had asked for; clearly there was zero chance of any light based phenomena like rainbows to miraculously appear on such a day. There would be no miracle of course; we were alone on a hostile planet that had no mercy, no reason and no love.
Then it happened!
Suddenly, in the midst of another icy 35 knot gust of wind, it all just stopped. Like somebody threw the switch. The three of us were standing about 15 feet apart in a triangle when the sky opened up and the sun's warmth landed right upon us. We looked up from the wet stones, astonished at the sudden change. I looked up at the sky and saw two of the strangest, weirdest rainbows I have ever seen. They started out right at the mountain top where the boys had been killed. Then they twisted, spiraled & skewed wildly over to the our beach, 45 miles away. The rainbows landed on the stones, right smack in the middle of the three of us. We were actually standing at the end of two rainbows. There was no pot of gold, but a wealth of powerful energy and love and the spiritual sign I had asked for.
This time, when I saw the two rainbows, I did NOT turn away. I just let the warmth come on in and melt the terror that had frozen my heart. I heard the voice of one of the boys say, 'Hey Lady! You know it's all good. You know it's gonna be all right'.
What a feeling; to return home again to love. Right there, love was, waiting patiently all the while. You can throw it in the trash can if you like, but love will out wait you every time. When the time comes, when you manage to open up just a crack to peer out from the darkness, love will widen that crack into a rainbow and come bounding back in like a river.
Life did not change dramatically after our reconnection via the rainbows. The boys were still gone, my son and the brothers that survived, and the parents who had lost their young sons continued to suffer in unimaginable ways. It was just unbearable; so many beautiful & innocent people in so much stupid agony. But the world was different again all the same. Now, we were not alone while we all went to pieces. Every awful moment that transpired from then on, I just stayed connected; asking for strength and faith and guidance and help. And every moment, every time, it was given. I will never lose this connection, it sustains me still as we go through many more challenges. I painted Rainbow Mountains, not only as a tribute to the boys that died, but to keep me reminded of how powerful love is and that it does, in fact, conquer everything - even the very worst thing!
WHY ARE THERE 3 RAINBOWS, INSTEAD OF 2?
Some of the visitors to Rainbow Mountains Gallery have emailed me about this question, so I will answer it here as a FAQ:
When I made this image, I made it to send to our great friends Jim & Trudy Beaton, who are the parents of Dan, one of the boys that we lost that day. Incredibly, tragedy was not finished with them when their 17 year old son drowned; The very next year, Jim's younger brother became ill and soon after died of brain cancer. Then it wasn't very long after that Jim's Father died as well. So not fair!
I had been working on this image for quite a few months by then, to give to them and Shane Bolton's parents as well. So when the third member of their family had passed, I made this image into a card to send to them at that time. That is why there are 3 rainbows instead of just two. One for each of the Beaton family who had passed.
Here is my note that I had wanted to include with the card image, but I'm not sure if I even did. I was just so blown out of the water during that time. The other day, I came across the note, from that time of impossible insanity:
"We send our love to all of you and hold you so close in our hearts every day, especially at this time of still MORE grief.
Here on the Island, our family sails on, through whatever crisis each day brings, just trying to survive another day. We keep trying to find a safe harbour for our kids and our lives; some kind of sheltered place, out of the storm. Of course our search has been fruitless. We have scanned & searched the world over, trying to figure out where to run to, where to take our traumatized kids & what to do to remedy the deluge/torrent of emotional & physical crises on which we all are swept away.
We still have not found it.
THAT particular harbour does not exist on earth.
What really stands out for us now is the revelation that our voyage continues anyway. Steady as ever, moving us ahead. Long after our ship has been blown into unrecognizable pieces, our family clinging each to a ragged chunk, scattered all over our sea. We see the truth now: there is actually nothing on this earth that is keeping us afloat. And yet we sail anyway somehow. I guess it is love that has been carrying us all along. Though we thought it was us; our skills, our paycheck, our house, our intelligence. It is clear now, that it was none of these. It was love all along that held us. The great gift of the shipwreck is that is allows us to see from where our power to live in the world comes. And from where it does not.
So, while we all wash down this river ride, don't forget, you are held close to love all the time. But to be fully supported by love, we just need to ASK to be filled up, held up, rescued & sustained. This power is free and readily available to every single one of us - there's a station to fill up at everywhere you are, open 24/7. When grief & fear take over and the storm gets into its' full fury, we have the power to survive it.
JUST PUT OUT YOUR HANDS, BREATH SLOWLY & DEEPLY.
THEN SAY 'I CHOOSE LOVE'
MUCH LOVE & RESPECT TO YOU ALL
DJL
If you would like more info,
or to buy custom sized archival quality, high definition prints (13 X 20 inch)
or to leave a comment
CONTACT DJLSHOPPING FOR ARTWORK?
Check Out All the Great artwork for sale and art pieces at LIVE AUCTION NOW. Click on the links at left to view the art listings in each category. Everything from metaphysical talismans & tribal jewelery & hip hop bling,
to original paintings and drawings, limited edition reproductions, glass art, tattoo art,
dj art, angel art, vampire art, folk art, paperweight art, antiquities, collectables and sculpture/carvings.
The Number of Pieces of Art Currently Listed For Sale Is In The MILLIONS!
GO TO ArtBeat.name HOMEPAGE