Portrait of Regina

Watercolor and colored pencil on paper,
8.5 x 12
2009

second panel finally in progress

I must confess I am proud of this one. :)











Ignis Aeris is the right panel of The Waterman triptych. it represents the elements Fire and Water, or the yang ones. the left panel will be called Terrae Aquae, and it will represent the ying elements Earth and Water.

I didn't intend to use too much symbolism in the side panels, since they are supposed to "frame" the main one, which I decided to call Unio Mystica (this is the very own you've been watching for a while, with the naked Christ.) the four elements are the base of the physical universe, or microcosm, where the Divine Spirit manifests.

in Ignis Aeris, the bottom figure is the Magician. this arcane represents the number One, the power of creation. his nature is pretty much Air/Fire, since he pursues the gifts of the intellect (Air) and of the power of will (Fire) combined. I wanted to represent him wearing the Nemean lion skin, like Hercules. Hercules is the epitome of hero, that guy who has the power of will, creativity, braveness and passion (all Fire qualities), as well as mental skills (Air) in enough quantity to be succeeded in his endeavors.

other symbols I used are the butterflies (for Air) and the phoenix ( for Fire, represented by the middle figure in a bird mask). all the gestures evoke spirituality and connection to the higher planes.

it was funny to notice, when I finished the sketch, that the group had gained a sort of a Bacchanalia aura. I think that the god Bacchus has a strong fire connection, with all that wine and ecstasy, not mentioning that his cult was also pretty wild and sexually indulgent... more Fire, impossible.

ascension

Ascension was finally finished today, after some days of deserved rest - and even a little frustration. I had loads of problems with the background, but I think that I managed to fix them. I got so happy with the final result that I'm seriously thinking about using this image in my promo postcard.

Ascension was painted and repainted a couple times in watercolor paper before I get to this version. I had initially planned something more ethereal and soft for the deeply spiritual concept, but the colors started to explode on the board almost uncontrollably and I decided to go with the flow. in the end I realized that that was the spirit. Ascension is about love and its power and it is everything but subtle and smooth.

Anahata is the chakra located in the heart region. it has 12 petals and it is connected to the capacity of loving deeply and also to the feelings of compassion and empathy. it is generally depicted in the color green, but in my mind it appeared in luminous yellow with hints of red. it is through the anahata chakra that we can achieve universal love. it is the main point of contact to the so-called "inner Christ" and the upper planes, and this is why the general depictions of Jesus and Mary carry a flaming heart.

other symbols I used to represent the same concept are the water, running upward in a straight blue stripe across the picture, and the fish. the fish is connected to the Pisces sign and also to the primitive Christianity message. both symbols are related to universal love and compassion. the skull is there to say that loves transcends even death, and that it leads to a deep transformation - put here the meaning of the XIII arcane, Death. things that die to give place to other ones. yep, love is a profoundly alchemical force.

the upper figure is representative of a state of ecstasy and bliss conduced by deeply spiritual experiences. when we are able to achieve a full state of love, even for brief moments, we feel like we are connected to something bigger and higher. in our average level of evolution we can only realize a small part of this. only rarely our love is not attached of some kind of selfish intention. experiencing love is also a totally libertarian thing, which I wanted to show through the hawk with open wings emerging from all that violet at the top. it's absolutely amazing to get rid of feelings like hate, vengeance, jealousy, prejudice and all the things we read everyday in the news and that make our world so miserable. love feels like you can be everything and do everything. and it's only through love that we can transcend our material condition and achieve perfect happiness and fulfillment.