The Inspiration Behind “Melting”
By James Hurley

Some artworks emerge from deliberate planning, while others seem to pull themselves from the depths of the subconscious. Melting was one of those pieces—born out of exhaustion, intuition, and a need to clear my mind by creating art.

The night before I created this, I couldn’t sleep. My mind refused to settle, tangled in thoughts that felt both personal and distant, as if I were caught between two worlds. The next day still restless and seeking clarity, I opened photoshop and started creating—something I often do when I need to clear my thoughts.  Whilst doing this I searched for words in the jumble of noise and randomly searched the web for any images or meaning that may inspire my art.  In doing this I came across the definition of three runes.

The Runes and Their Influence on the Artwork

Each of the runes carried a distinct energy, and somehow, they wove themselves into the piece without me consciously realizing it.  As a result I have added them to the artwork and used their inspiration to fill the digital canvas with textures and colours.

Wunjo (ᚹ) – Joy, Longing, and the Elusiveness of Fulfillment
Wunjo represents joy, harmony, and fulfillment, but when I looked at it through the lens of exhaustion and introspection, it felt more like something just out of reach—like a memory of happiness rather than its immediate presence. This influenced the two faces in Melting; one seems whole, illuminated, and present, while the other dissolves into something raw and tangled, as if joy and selfhood are slipping through the cracks.

Wyrd (The Blank Rune) – Fate, The Unknown, and Letting Go
Wyrd is the rune of fate, the great unknown that we cannot control. The strands weaving through the composition—the tangled threads that feel like hair, nerves, or fate itself—came intuitively, but I see now that they are the physical representation of Wyrd. They are the unseen forces shaping us, the inevitable currents of change that we sometimes resist, but ultimately must surrender to.

There is a dissolution happening in this piece, an unraveling that isn’t necessarily negative, but necessary. We are always shifting, whether we realize it or not.

Ansuz (ᚨ) – Wisdom, Divine Messages, and Altered States of Mind
Ansuz is the rune of divine communication, wisdom, and insight, often associated with Odin. Looking back, I realize that this entire piece was a form of subconscious communication, a message revealing itself through visual form rather than words. The eyes in the artwork—their intensity, their layered presence—feel like conduits, as if something beyond me was speaking through them.

The act of creating Melting was, in itself, a conversation with the unknown.

Insomnia, Transformation, and the Artistic Process

Creating this piece was a blurred, almost trance-like experience. I didn’t set out with a structured plan—only the feeling of exhaustion, the imprint of my thoughts and emotions combined with the definitions of the runes in my mind, and an unshakable need to express something I couldn’t quite put into words.

The end result felt strangely familiar yet foreign, like looking at a reflection that shifts before your eyes. It embodies that liminal space between wakefulness and dream, the way sleeplessness can make reality feel just a little too fluid, as if you’re dissolving into the space around you.

In many ways, this piece is about melting between identities, between past and future selves, between what is known and what is still forming.

Final Thoughts: Art as a Form of Divination

I often wonder: did the my tangled emotions and the words it generated  push me to find definitions in the form of runes, or was it just a coincidence that a web search pushed me in that direction or did the need to add purpose to my art manifest the runes? The more I reflect on Melting, the more I see it as a mirror to my thoughts, a subconscious revelation that only became clear after its completion.

This experience has inspired me to deepen my connection between art and divination. Moving forward, I want to explore creating artworks based on runes, allowing intuition and fate to guide the process rather than imposing strict intention.

For anyone who has ever felt lost, unraveling, or caught in a state of becoming, this piece is for you. We are always melting, always transforming—and sometimes, that’s exactly what we need to do.

— James Hurley