Blue Hour Podcast

Steve Latta, a visionary oil painter in New York, on the dark work he's waiting to paint, and why he painted the light first."There's a point at which my work will get really dark. That's been coming for a long time."In this Lunar episode of The Blue Hour, recorded in Steve's home studio, Alex Coma draws two Thoth tarot cards for him, the Nine of Wands (Strength) and the Nine of Disks (Gain), and sets them aside until the end.Then Steve walks us through his studio: the Prime Movement series, "a kind of portrait of God" after Aristotle's prime mover; Hyperspace Data Structure No. 1, his ceiling fan as he saw it on DMT; The All Seeing Eye, an early study after Hilma af Klint; and The Watching Wheels, his first mature picture.Eight words follow, from hyperspace to serpent. In Vedic astrology, his Venus period began at the end of August 2015, just after he left film and TV, and his Venus sits in Ashlesha, the nakshatra of the Nagas. That leads to the darker work he hasn't painted yet.If you haven't heard the Solar episode (Monday, October 19), that's where Steve talks about the visions he still can't paint and his almost 14,000 hours of oil painting.THE SUB-ROZA CIRCLEThe cards pointed Steve to the part of the work that happens with other people. That's why the Sub-Roza Circle exists: an esoteric sanctuary and peer network for visionary artists. Join for $5 a month instead of $9, for a limited time: https://sub-roza.circle.so/checkout/sub-lunar-tier?coupon_code=VISIONARYROZEGIFTLinks & Resources:Steve Latta: stevelatta.comFollow Steve on Instagram: @steve.painting.perceptionSteve's Patreon: patreon.com/c/SteveLattaExplore Visionary Art at Roze Umbra, and join the newsletter: www.rozeumbra.comFollow Alex Coma on Instagram: @alexcoma.worldChapters:(00:00) Two cards from the soul(01:21) Inside Steve Latta's studio(08:08) A portrait of God: Prime Movement(10:07) Hyperspace Data Structure No. 1(11:27) The path to his first mature picture(15:32) Eight words: hyperspace to serpent(22:39) Venus, 2015 and the Ashlesha myth(26:46) What will his dark work look like?(28:31) Strength and Gain: the cards return(31:21) Closing reflectionImage credits:Paintings by Steve Latta, courtesy of the artistHilma af Klint, The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood, 1907Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509–1511; Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer; portrait of Henri Poincaré; Poincaré disk tiling: Wikimedia Commons

"There's a set of visions which I've had, which I'm working toward. I'm currently not capable of painting those things."New York painter Steve Latta has put almost 14,000 hours into oil painting in six years, learning the light and shadow of the Old Masters to get there.Steve's Prime Movement series comes from a single vision he says he could explore for the rest of his life. Most of what he knows came from the work itself, and he now teaches his whole process on Patreon, with one camera on the palette and one on the painting. He also animates cameras for cinematics in 3D software, a career he is slowly leaving for painting.In this Solar episode of The Blue Hour, recorded in his New York studio, we talk about edges and where they turn sharp or soft; why it took Renaissance painters centuries to render light and shadow; how he paints visions as if working from life, from a quick sketch, from nature and fractal patterns, down to microscopic photographs of sea urchins; staying "closer to Rembrandt in spirit"; why 4D and 5D experience won't compress onto a 2D canvas; infinite layers of creation; what religious art gave people who never had the visions; the monk-like discipline the work asks for; Severance, the Backrooms and TV as ritual; occult symbols and the Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind; and the two old books he recommends to every painter who has felt a teacher held something back. We finish on Bouguereau, particle physics, and why painters need to step outside the painting world.THE SUB-ROZA CIRCLESteve says there's no real meeting point for artists who are seriously walking this path. That's why the Sub-Roza Circle exists: an esoteric sanctuary and peer network for visionary artists. Join for $5 a month instead of $9, for a limited time: https://sub-roza.circle.so/checkout/sub-lunar-tier?coupon_code=VISIONARYROZEGIFTMembership includes:- Live talks and masterclasses with occult scholars and established artists- Full Moon Transmissions: a monthly meeting reading the esoteric side of members' artwork- The monthly Scrying Gallery- The archive: video masterclasses, blog entries and resource lists- Open-call directories and announcements of retreats and workshops- Chat rooms to meet other artists, share studio progress and lead art talksThis month in the Circle: Full Moon Transmission (Fri Oct 23) · Remote Viewing workshop with Esther Hoflick (Thu Oct 29, 3 PM ET) · Gold Is Not Decoration, Alex Coma with Karen Fitzgerald (Fri Oct 30, 1 PM ET)The Visionary Roze Gift closed with many applications, and the community is now choosing an award. www.rozeumbra.com/visionaryrozegiftNext Monday, October 26: the Lunar episode. Steve walks us through his process in his studio, and we look at the symbolism in his work.Links & Resources:Steve Latta: stevelatta.comFollow Steve on Instagram: @steve.painting.perceptionSteve's Patreon: patreon.com/c/SteveLattaBooks mentioned: The Science and Practice of Oil Painting by Harold Speed · Methods and Materials of Painting of the Great Schools and Masters by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake · The Quantum Revelation by Paul LevyExplore Visionary Art at Roze Umbra: www.rozeumbra.comFollow Alex Coma on Instagram: @alexcoma.world#SteveLatta #OilPainting #OldMasters

Why does Terra Keck tell her unfinished drawings "please don't leave me"? The Brooklyn artist, curator and "Witch, Yes!" co-host opens her studio to Alex Coma for the Lunar half of her Blue Hour diptych.We draw The Sun and the Eight of Wands as a message from her soul; get into why she talks to her work, the colour blushing into her once-monochrome drawings, how she draws by erasing, and the wall of cheerleaders she greets each morning, from Ram Dass to Dolly Parton; run six words past her, from excavation and Persephone to Victorian mediums and wet ectoplasm; and read her Vedic chart live: the Moon dasha that began on 22 November 2018, the spell that exploded, and the myth of Mula, the root, presided over by Nirriti, goddess of dissolution. We close on the light, and on why a gift has to keep moving.Watch the Solar episode first: https://youtu.be/sVGkhXgX8w4Visionary Roze Gift: applications close October 15. Seven gifts; first place receives $1,750 CAD, a two-week residency in Spain and an invitation onto the podcast. $5 to apply, waived if that's a barrier. www.rozeumbra.com/visionaryrozegiftLive in Montréal: our first Blue Hour recording with a live audience, Friday, October 16 at 2:30 pm, during Artch at Espace Transmission, 5435 av. des Érables. Free entry.Chapters(00:00) Two cards from her soul(00:42) Why her work is blushing(04:54) Why she talks to her drawings(07:11) Drawing by erasing(09:51) Seurat & feeling in the dark(12:00) Ram Dass & her wall of cheerleaders(15:49) Dolly Parton & why artists should be funny(17:32) Paper, palette & panels(20:18) Excavation: Pluto & Persephone(22:17) Aberration: anomalies as lighthouses(23:48) Liminal: nostalgia & the Backrooms(25:05) Mediumship & wet ectoplasm(28:36) Magnetism: from nest to garden(30:46) Cauldron & holy time(33:16) November 2018: the spell that exploded(36:44) Sun to Moon: Mula, the root(41:09) The Sun card & Jupiter in Leo(47:24) Why it should feel good(48:52) "I'm the light"(51:28) A gift has to keep moving(52:59) Outro & the Visionary Roze GiftTerra Keck: terrakeck.com · Instagram @herlovelyfaceWitch, Yes!: linktr.ee/witchyesRoze Umbra: www.rozeumbra.com · Instagram @rozeumbraAlex Coma: Instagram @alexcoma.worldWatch on YouTube: youtube.com/@rozeumbra

Are UFOs, fairies, angels and ghosts one phenomenon that every era explains in its own language? Brooklyn artist, curator and "Witch, Yes!" co-host Terra Keck joins Alex Coma for the Solar half of her Blue Hour diptych.We get into Jacques Vallée's Passport to Magonia and why spirit, angel, fairy and UFO encounters share the same "symptoms"; the haunted Park Slope brownstone where a voice came through her co-host's mic; trading Wicca for being "a very magical girl"; Blavatsky and Theosophy; Alex on Vedic astrology, the Atmakaraka and the 27 Nakshatras; why we're all kids performing adulthood; how therapy and letting emotions move are bringing color into her once-monochrome work; curating a malevolent fairy garden party at Field Projects; and why Terra thinks the art market's collapse is necessary.Next Monday, the Lunar episode goes up to Terra's studio and into how she makes drawings by erasing.Visionary Roze Gift: applications close October 15. Seven gifts, including $1,750 CAD and a two-week residency in Spain for first place. www.rozeumbra.com/visionaryrozegiftChapters(00:00) Intro(02:18) From witchcraft to "magical girl"(08:58) Theosophy & Helena Blavatsky(11:47) Vedic astrology: the Moon, Atmakaraka & Nakshatras(15:49) Passport to Magonia: UFOs, fairies & angels(21:55) A haunted brownstone & a voice on the mic(26:53) How the research changed her art(28:56) We're all children performing adulthood(36:35) Why a monochrome artist is turning to color(38:15) Unlearning a lifetime of emotional control(45:43) Curating at Field Projects & the Cottingley Fairies(53:13) What it means to be an artist right now(01:00:28) Is the art market collapse necessary?(01:02:00) Outro & the Visionary Roze GiftTerra Keck: terrakeck.com · Instagram @herlovelyfaceWitch, Yes!: linktr.ee/witchyesRoze Umbra: www.rozeumbra.com · Instagram @rozeumbraAlex Coma: Instagram @alexcoma.worldWatch on YouTube: youtube.com/@rozeumbra

Ambient pioneer Laraaji draws two tarot cards at the start of this Lunar segment — the Devil and the Prince of Discs — and we leave them face up for forty minutes before coming back to them. Filmed in his studio in Harlem.He walks through how a collaboration actually works: a track arrives, he layers zither, kalimba, voice and synthesizer over it, sends experimental mixes back, and eventually hands the artist to his publisher. Then, mid-conversation and entirely unplanned, he puts on headphones and improvises. That improvisation runs uncut from 06:36.On the Devil, he gets specific: a capricious rascal who ignores rules, the augmented fourth that music theory once called the devil's tone, and the devilish energy he sees running through the way scripture has been rewritten. On the Prince of Discs, he traces a lifetime in recorded sound back to his aunt's tape recorder — cassettes, LPs, compact discs, and now streaming, which he describes as a realm of service rather than a format.Then a run of word prompts: liminal, orange, vision, New York, nature, film, romance, Aquarius. Orange turns out to be how he languaged a transformation he had no words for. Romance turns out to be meditation.The second half is his Vedic chart. He entered a Saturn cycle in May 2022 — Saturn in the twelfth house, the placement of the monk — and he describes the withdrawal from social life that followed without ever having named it: "That's the sunset on that old social need. Sunrise on a new inner appreciation." Before that came sixteen years of Jupiter, the guru planet. We read him the myth of Rohini, the moon's favourite wife, and the curse that gave the moon its waxing and waning.Then back to the two cards.The Solar episode — the 1974 sound-hearing experience, the pawn shop, the silences Japan understood → —CHAPTERS00:00 "The devil has gotten a hold of that"00:28 Two cards, left face up until the end01:02 How a Laraaji collaboration actually works04:44 "Like a $20 bill on the sidewalks of New York"06:36 An unplanned improvisation11:25 The Devil, and the devil's tone in music theory12:15 The Prince of Discs, from LPs to streaming16:18 Why this card now: the Nicene Council and inner authority18:34 His aunt's tape recorder20:21 Word prompts: liminal, orange, vision24:06 New York, and being reborn in Virginia at seven27:56 "The highest romance is meditation"32:20 The chart: a new cycle since May 202234:19 Saturn in the twelfth house, the monk's placement36:29 Rohini and the moon's 27 wives40:11 "Sunset on that old social need"43:36 Back to the two cards46:38 Visionary Roze Gift — applications close October 15—ABOUT THE GUESTLaraaji is an ambient pioneer, sound healer and laughter meditation teacher based in Harlem, New York. He has been performing and recording since the 1970s, and his work with the zither and open-tuned autoharp helped define the genre. He leads laughter workshops and sound baths internationally.https://laraajimusic.bandcamp.com/music—The Visionary Roze Gift is open. Funding, a residency place in Spain, astro-tarot mentorship, and a guest slot on Season 5. Applications close October 15 → [GIFT LINK]#Laraaji #ambientmusic #tarot