Psyche, Resolute

Psyche, Resolute 48” x 36”, oil on wood
Psyche, Resolute 48” x 36”, oil on wood

 

Psyche, Resolute

In Greek Mythology, Psyche overcomes the forth task placed upon her by jealous Aphrodite in order to regain the love of Cupid. She must obtain a beauty ointment from Persephone, queen of the underworld. Psyche is well aware that no mortal ever returns from such a journey. In despair, she believes that the only route is to kill herself. She has made attempts before after losing the love of Cupid. But there is another path, one that tests her focus and devotion to the cause. Three times in the underworld she must harden her heart to pity and rejects pleas for help from creatures of the underworld. She strengthens her soul and maintains her focus, and loses all earthy attachments and overcomes the fear of death. She returns to the living with a rejuvenating spirit, a renewed soul, and feeling resolute. At times, to push pass our own “underworld” we need to maintain our focus in healing, achieving, and transcending to a state of strength.

Psyche opens the box to obtain the beauty and deep sleep envelopes her….but that’s another part of the story with a happy ending.

Hypatia

Hypatia (c.370-415 AD) was a great female scholar known as the first woman mathematician, an astronomer, and a philosopher. In a world dominated by men, she was a free thinker dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom in a pivotal moment in time of the great city of Alexandria. Her life came to an end when she was brutally murdered by a group of zealous monks that saw her standing in society as a threat. Her dismembered body were scattered around the city and burned.

Inspired by her strength, wisdom, and dedication to knowledge and science, I wanted to depict a portrait of Hypatia as a proud heroine, a vivid portrait of an exceptional woman with a tragic hint in her face as she sternly glazes beyond the norm of her time. Behind her, an astrolabe credited as her invention, symbolizes the age of science and discovery. She is ancient and modern, holding archetypal value that survives in the contemporary age, and a bearer of universal human values, of education and science, and of the global struggle of women’s equality.

Hypatia, 20 x 13 in, graphite and charcoal.
Hypatia, 20 x 13 in, graphite and charcoal.

The Edge of Humanity

The Edge of Humanity:

An artificial intelligence conquest must encompass the integration of total knowledge through interfacing with the emotional soul, which unfolds according to a systematic neural invasion. Through the unnatural navigation of the human mind, it will unavoidably fail, lacking the tears and deep connection to the natural world that only can arise organically from the fine tuning of countless human events and possibilities.

The Edge of Humanity: “13” x 19″, graphite and charcoal on paper
The Edge of Humanity: “13” x 19″, graphite and charcoal on paper

EdgeWIP

The Gaze

The Gaze: 24″ x 18″, oil on wood:

An unidentifiable girl glaring at the viewer only materializes as the viewer returns the look, but only if it’s long enough with interest to makes the connection. The painting is organic when captured by the gaze of the viewer insofar as he remains a spectator gazing at the painting. The gaze is the vehicle for silent communication between the viewer and the viewed. It’s word without sound; it’s personal without being personal. How does it makes you feel?

The Gaze

The Girl With No Name: Work in progress

This panel illustrates the process I’m taking for my latest painting. The drawing was first sketched and lightly inked. In this particular piece, I’m avoiding the use of solvent. A solvent that I’ve used before when there is abundance ventilation is Winsor & Newton Liquin. I’ve tried many non-solvent medium and have yet to accustom to any of the them. My range of painting thinners are OMS, Liquin, linseed oil or walnut oil, or a combo of these. I’ve also experimented with solvent containing medium and Liquin is one I like the most. For this solvent-free painting, an underlayer consisting a mixture of watercolor and acrylic black and white paint were used. This allows thin layers without the use of solvent to begin with. Once dried fully, I started to paint in oils with just black and white to create the grisaille or the “dead layer”. I’m careful to minimize the use of linseed oils to avoid breaking the fat over lean rule. Once that’s dried to the touch, I started the color layer as shown in the last image. Stay tuned as I apply addition color layers to the painting. Thanks for watching.

portrait panel1