More Winter

 At first the head dress was going to be a half-circle, then after seeing some great reference photos of other traditional Russian headdresses, I changed my mind.  A different shape suited this character better......but painting over the headdress I'd already started was very, very tedious!!

Winter

Winter is slowly going away, relasing its grip.  Time to show a painting I've been working on this winter.  I'd been wanting to paint this for a while, but it never seemed the right time.  I needed to paint it in winter, since for me, this painting is a kind of personification of winter.  It was also inspired by a track from a artist called Grimes, which I'll post later on.

Here's how the painting started, just with a drawing on paper, and later a drawing on canvas.  There's bad lighting I'm afraid because there isn't much of it in my house in winter!  There's only so much you can do in photo editing without losing detail!

Anyway, here's the start of it - 

The Fool - almost finished

I started this painting a while ago, and it's almost finished.  I got my inspiration from 'The Fool' card in Tarot, and turned it into something else.  I'm not someone who reads Tarot, but I'm interested in the symbolism and the archetypes.  For me, they conjure up stories in my imagination. 

The woman is stepping over a cliff, eyes closed into the unknown.  Beneath her, is seems like there's a drop featuring the sea in the distance.

 Her expression is carefree, with no worries in mind.  She's carrying a little suitcase/briefcase with her, with an image of a wheel on it - a bag full of hopes and resources for her destination.    Her dress is melting away into butterflies, a symbol of transformation.

Someone could look at this painting, and think, 'Is she committing suicide?'...........but we don't know.  We can't really see what's underneath that portion of the cliff.

For me, The Fool is about taking risks and about bravery to seek new opportunities, or perhaps to go on a journey.  As with taking any new opportunity, it comes with risk.

It might be a naive decision leading to disaster, or be the best path she's ever set foot on. 

The inventor and his companion

 

I was rummaging around in my little store room today, and I pulled out a half-finished painting I had forgotten about and lifted it onto my easel.  It's about 60-70% done..........maybe I should finish it. 

I like paintings with meanings or narratives (that is not to say that I don't enjoy art without these things).  I like characters and something to build a story around.  

In my head I conjured up an image of man with a little mechanic bird resting on his hand..............

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 There was once an inventor who lived alone, up in a home amidst the rooftops of Paris.   He was used to being by himself, but eventually he felt the pangs of loneliness, and it drove him to create a little mechanical friend.......a little bird which wouldn't fly away like the rest, a companion that would stay with him..........

The little bird was kept in a golden cage, and woke up the inventor every morning with its song so he could start work.......  

but after a while, he saw that his little friend looked on to its natural counterparts with envy.  Without room to fly, its wings became harder to move and the little bird became sad, and so it stopped singing in the mornings.......

....then one day, the inventor decided to do what was best for his little companion's happiness, even though he would miss him.   He went to the window, and opened the cage............

.......the little bird hopped on to the inventor's hand and looked up at to him .  The inventor bid fairwell to his companion, and let it fly away.......

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Jester - Part 9 & 10

Jester head - Part 5, 6, 7, 8

Jester - Part 7 & 8

On the Easel - Jester head Part 5 & 6

Jester - Part 5 & 6

Jester - Part 3 & 4

At the beginning, a painting is very fun to paint when there isn't too much pressure, and when you don't have to worry about texture and small details to much!

Jester - Part 1 & 2

 

From now on, I'll start posting pictures of my painting, from beginning to end (click the photos to enlarge them).