Distillatio is the final volume in Orryelle’s four-fold Alchymic book-web The Tela Quadrivium. For eight years Orryelle worked only in black and white (with touches of gold and silver) for the previous volumes in the series, but in the last few years he has been exploring the alchemy of Colour in diverse media for this culminating volume.

Distillatio explores the Colour phase of Alchemy, the ‘Cauda Pavonis’ or Peacock’s Tail, and also the related Albedo or White phase. This purified essence splits into a vivid spectrum of colours. The book seeks out the alchemy of colour in a diverse array of media, from semi-digital (incorporating photography by the artist) and gouache to large oils on canvas with gold, silver and copper leaf, also employing egg tempera for the Renaissance Misch-technique, including the artist’s own new spin on the method using peacock-egg tempera to reify an alchemical symbol with potent results.

Each volume of the Tela Quadrivium series connects into a multi-directional and spiraling narrative of images, symbols and text to form a greater whole which has now been distilled into completion. As the culminating volume of the Tela Quadrivium, Distillatio provides the reader with the final pieces in an intricate esoteric puzzle, bringing together the book-web entire.