The painting "Alchemical Studies V (Homunculus)" is an exploration into how we often suppress or deny unpleasant emotional content. The first stage of the alchemical process calls for us to be introspective and cook our inner conflicts and to bring them to light. The painting was inspired by the image of "The transformations of Mercurius in the Hermetic vessel" as found in the manuscript "Cabala Mineralis". Carl Jung described the image as a homunculus or "pissing manikin" as an allusion to the urina puerorum or "little boys' urine," which itself alludes to the "Philosophical Water" and the first stage of the alchemical process of purification and spiritualization.