September 2025: After Completion
Nearly ten years ago, I began my I Ching 64 Hexagrams series, fusing imagery from diverse cultures, myths, science, history, and personal experience with the six yin-or-yang lines of these ancient symbols. Now, with just one hexagram left to repaint, my journey to understand this deceptively simple yet profound visual system has resulted in 187 unique paintings. These include ten business-card-size artist trading cards, sixty-four 4×4 and 5×5-inch versions collected by friends, sixty-four 12×12-inch pieces, twenty-nine 16×16-inch, two 24×24-inch, and eighteen 30×30-inch panels.
As the series nears completion, I am curating 64 favorite versions into a deck of cards and a book of hexagrams and haiku. I hope to debut the deck and book in the not-to-distant future at a grand opening of my own gallery.
The tradition of creating hexagrams employs methods such as the Western coin-toss or Eastern yarrow-stalk-casting, yielding six lines—some indicating transformative “change” lines that flip between yin and yang. The first hexagram reflects the present; the second reveals future possibilities, creating 4,096 possible combinations. Although painting every possible combination is beyond reach, I look forward to exploring a randomly chosen subset of these transformational changes in a future series.
Meanwhile, I continue working on the Postcards to America series, two of these works-on-paper are currently included in an online exhibition. Locally, one of my Hexagram paintings is included in a juried exhibition and two Hexagram prints are included in another group exhibition, both at local Albuquerque galleries. Read on for details.
Ghostwolf Gallery’s Superfunkadelic
Opening First Friday, September 5, 5-8 pm
206-1/2 San Felipe St NW STE 3, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Patio Market in Old Town
September 5–September 28, 2025
Hexagram 62: Small Traverses is included in this juried show.
Being There’s Peace Sign Interpretations
Opening First Friday, September 5, 4:30-7:30 pm
1315 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Happy to have framed prints of two versions of Hexagram 11: Peace included in this group show
Drawing Resistance: The Artist’s
Dilemma in Political Conflict
August 16–November 15, 2025
Click HERE to see the show.
Below are the two pieces included from the Postcards to America series
ALABAMA: Sweat Shop
Mixed media on paper, 26×40 inches
© Denise Weaver Ross, 2025
OHIO: The Hurt of it All
Mixed media on paper, 26×40 inches
© Denise Weaver Ross, 2025
About Hexagram 63: Equilibrium
Hexagram 63, my latest re-painting, is also called After Completion, marks a moment when balance and order have been achieved—but only temporarily. Equilbrium is fragile, carrying within it the seeds of future disruption. The hexagram reminds us that every successful completion carries new risks: complacency, decline, or even chaos if vigilance falters.
Formed by the water trigram above and the fire trigram below, Hexagram 63 symbolizes a delicate interplay between flowing and illuminating forces. Their meeting reflects both harmony and tension, urging us to remain attentive after we reach our goals. Long before science named it entropy, the sages of the I Ching understood that life flows toward the unraveling of order we call chaos. When unchecked, it can be destructive, yet it also carries the potential for freedom and the chance to renew or transform the status quo.
Hexagram 63: Equillibrium
Mixed media on panel, 24×24 inches
© Denise Weaver Ross, 2025