Monday, May 10, 2010

Tiamat WIP

I was totally struck by a quote from the ancient Sumerian myth and decided to paint Tiamat. She is the creatrix goddess of the Sumerian cylce. She is connected to serpents and dragons and was killed by her own grandson Marduk. Possibly this is another myth symbolizing the matriarchy being destroyed by the patriarchy, but like most ancient myth, the symbolism is multi-layered. Here is the quote that I couldn't get out of my head:
"Know that Tiamat seeks ever to rise to the stars, and when the upper is united with the lower, then a New Age will come to the Earth, and the Serpent shall be made whole again, and the waters will be as One."
I will go more into my interpretation of that when I have completed Tiamat, but for now I will just post my WIP pics. You will get to see how nuerotic I can be with my backgrounds with this progression.



The above image shows my graphite underdrawing. It is just a rough sketch and the painting usually morphs into something a little different looking than the sketch.



Here I have started to give her a little color and decided to go with black hair again.



More color added. I was thinking I wanted a drippy background here, but was really feeling unsatisfied with it. Basically, at this step, I had no idea what to do with the background. I like to paint the women sort of realistic with a lot of detail and make them the main focus. I like my backgrounds to be more abstract, but I never really know exactly how they will turn out. It is a lot of trial and error.



At this stage I decided to forget the drip, and go with a solid dark blue background.



At this stage I added some kind of circle thingys with drips. I am not sure really why except they look kind of cool. I will come up with some esoteric meaning later maybe. I do plan to paint yet another snake around her in an ouroboros style. I guess the circles will reflect that. I am feeling the power of this goddess and having a great time working on her. Hopefully I will have her done and posted by the end of this week.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Gorgeous gallery sweetheART ;} happy hippy hugglez

MoonSpiral said...

Hey Val, thanks for looking and commenting!

Antony Galbraith said...

I am constantly impressed with the growth of your work. I am so glad you are willing to share it with others, even at the more delicate stages of creation. Thanks!

MoonSpiral said...

Thankyou Doan, I appreciate your kind words and support. It has always meant a lot to me!

Anonymous said...

As usual, I'm loving the color choices, and symbolism. Beautiful work and I can't wait to see the finished piece! Love her draconic mask on her feminine side and the supportive color meanings really work there. The circle, one of those "exhausitve" symbols 'cause there are so many possibilities, really is quite appropriate... vaguely symbolic of the Moon and the womb, it's inclusive and balanced; implying a fluid cyclic balance... like the changing of seasons, the balance of night and day, or the duality of yinyang... highly appropriate to this Goddess. Awash with creative energies... truly, lovely work!

MoonSpiral said...

Thankyou so much....I think I will just have to copy all that and credit you when I finish her up!

Yvonne said...

Ahoj, really LOVELY!! Her energy is palpable.
Have a nice Now, Yvonne

MoonSpiral said...

Thankyou Yvonne!

Matthew said...

Great to see the creation of an original artwork :-)

MoonSpiral said...

Thankyou Matthew! I appreciate that and am happy you enjoyed it!

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