Ammonites and Ginkgo Leaves

An introduction to symbolism in Michael Whelan's art

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May 04, 2025

With knees up and hands folded over them, a woman in hooded robes, black trimmed in red, sits with her back to the edge of a massive waterfall. A lantern set at her feet illuminates the raised wedge of ammonite fossils upon which she sits. More are visible beneath the surface of green water flowing around her little island. The massive scale of the falls can be seen as the cliff's edge retreats to reveal a crescent of frothing cascade. — Detail from THE FOURTH CRUSADE (2002)

When I first interviewed Michael Whelan in 1997, shortly after his first one-man exhibition at Tree’s Place, I asked him to describe the difference between illustration and his fine art.

He provided a generous answer, explaining that illustration was his first love, the art he’d aspired to since childhood, while his gallery work was the art of his maturity.

“Artists are people who perceive the world in metaphors,” he continued, referring to perspective Joni Mitchell shared in an interview with Vanity Fair. “I don’t think that was true of me when I was younger, but there has been a change in me and it’s definitely true of me now.”

On the beach, a shallow ring of water forms around an ammonite fossil. Curled up and naked, a woman lies on her side atop the ridged surface of the spiral. Her eyes are closed as if she's asleep or perhaps lost deep in contemplation. Her arms are a tangle, with one bent to sink fingers into her dark blonde hair. Beneath her, the other arm extends past the point of her knee to hold up the fanned leaf of a gingko tree against the smooth skin of her calf. Small shards crack off the ammonite as the water retreats over smooth sand. In the immediate foreground mossy rocks jut out of the sand. In the background, larger angled rock formations partially obscure the horizon but open enough to provide a view of the frothy surf rolling in. — KAIROS (2007), Acrylic - 24" x 36"

As Michael matured as an illustrator, he began to incorporate symbolic elements more and more in his art. That ultimately led to a desire to explore visions of his own.

Pursuing gallery art in earnest, he began to define his own lexicon in recurring elements that would serve as symbolic shorthand for bigger ideas. Foremost among those symbols was the ammonite, a chambered mollusk that died out 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

Fans new to Michael’s personal work often ask about their meaning, so today I wanted to share his thoughts on ammonites as well as the ginkgo leaf, another element he often pairs in opposition to those enchanting spirals.

Michael Everett

A Reminder of Death, a Reason for Hope

Ammonites have always been meant as a personal form of “memento mori” symbols in my art. They are cautionary reminders of our impermanence.

Humans, in arrogant self-regard, think of our species as being on Earth forever when in fact our time here has been a tiny fraction of earlier life forms’ stay on our planet.

LEFT: A woman in flowing robes stands on a mound of rock. In front of her, large ammonite fossils stack, unevenly fused together by coral. The s-shaped formation blocks vibrant blue night sky, but the ammonites are ancient and deteriorating. The woman holds a hand to her chest as she stares through the eroded spiral center to witness a bright shining star. CENTER: A woman sits naked on rough stone with her back to the ocean. Her knees are up and ankles crossed as she glances down in contemplation at an impression of an ammonite set in—or perhaps even painted on—sand colored stone. One arm is extended over her legs as she loosely holds a thin chain as if she were drawing the red glass heart tied to the end across the chambers of the ammonite. The chain now lies slack as she's lost in thought. Her other elbow is propped on her knee with that hand resting on her opposite shoulder, providing a perch to rest her chin on her wrist. The position of her limbs effectively covers her body, providing a measure of modesty. The background view is framed on either side by sea stacks, tall rocky formations with flat tops. The water is green, frothy at the shore and luminous as it extends under placid skies. RIGHT: Out of the water slender outcrops of stone stand earthy bronze in contrast to blue skies barely marked with traces of cloud. Attached to the top one of the thicker shards of pitted, textured stone is an intact spiral of an ammonite fossil. Lazing across the upper curve of the ridged shell, a woman raises her head to catch golden rays of light and an ocean breeze that carries the long locks of her sunflower blonde hair. The bare curve of her hip suggests that she's not wearing anything. — HOPE (1997), available as a limited edition print in our shop, EQUANIMITY (2000), and PATIENCE (1996), also available as a limited edition print

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth far longer, and ammonites, which literally filled the seas in their multitudes, are but ghostly fossils in the dirt. Their only remaining cousins are the nautiloids, sole remnants of a species which dominated our planet—in the oceans at least—for millions of years.

A dark haired beauty stands on a spiral fossil that rises barely above the surface of shallow water. A path of these ammonite stepping stone meanders out across placid water past a natural breakwater of rocks but doesn't quite reach the horizon. She doesn't appear to notice the path forward; she's stopped to admire a red glass heart that dangles from a cord. Her eyes aren't fixed on it though as her thoughts retreat inward. The pure white cloth draping her body spills down to reveal the bare skin of her back. — DIVINING HEART (2005), available as a limited edition print in our shop

My counter symbol to ammonites are ginkgo leaves. Ginkgos are reminders that some species have survived catastrophic events—even the atomic destruction of Hiroshima!—so they make fine symbols of survival and defiance against seemingly overwhelming odds.

I view humankind as being poised on the razors edge between the two fates, extinction or survival and revival. The twin symbols of ammonites fossils and ginkgo trees represent those two polarities in my art.

Plus they look cool.

“Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.”

Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back

May the Fourth be with you!

It wouldn’t be Star Wars Day without dropping pearls of wisdom from everyone’s favorite Jedi Master.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more insight on Michael’s only Star Wars cover.

In his hut on Dagoba, Yoda sits at a stone slab table with his chin resting upon the back of his hand. He holds a feathered quill in his other hand as he writes on a scroll rolled out in front of him. The ends of the scroll are capped in gold as is the lid of the ink well to his right which is flipped open. The ink well is painted purple with pink polka dots. Behind Yoda, the stone wall is tinged an earthy red. Three oblong ovals offer a view out to the swamp. — YOURS TRULY (1983), Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 28" X 22”

Weekly Art Recap

Grid of images 3 across in 2 rows corresponding to the list below. — Art featured from April 28 - May 3

The Long Road - a vision of the Dark Tower painted for Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King
The Big Question - another gallery painting inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s words
To Stand Against the Shadow - preliminary concept for A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Gentleness - a tender moment featuring a young Adrian for the Virtues series
Golden Witchbreed - science fiction cover illustration for Mary Gentle
Outbound - an early noncommissioned painting that became a cover for Marvel

Coming Soon…

Join us for another Whelan Wednesday as we shift gears from star studies to Shoggoths with another original from At the Mountains of Madness.

An exclusive preview of the original art releasing this week will be available for our paid subscribers on Substack before the art is released in our shop on Wednesday, May 7 at 11am ET.

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