Finished Piece - The Mountain Spirit.

Below is my painting of the Mountain Spirit of Korea, a shaman or sanshin associated with immortality, nature and trees.  The tiger here is deliberately larger than life to embue  the calm power of the Sanshin. This is a spirit of ancient times and is seen incorporated within Buddhist temples when they were built in the 4th Century in Korea. 

This piece was supposed to have been completed a couple of posts ago, but I had reservations about the bottom right corner.....I have promised myself to now leave it be.  

Click this link to see a typical korean image : Sanshin Mountain Spirit 

Korean Mythology - The Mountain Spirit

Workings -finding the right expression.

Owl strategy -the less he spoke the more he read.

Strategy for the year as follows : do not veer from the topic of Mythology for a series of paintings, work on Picture Book Project, undertake any commissions, and keep drawing. So here is a drawing. Did you know owls are seen as a bad omen in some cultures ... shame.

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Hare Scratching

Originally associated with the likes of Goddesses,
Christianity believed the hare to be the familiar of witches.

Mountain Spirit

A few shadows to do but nearly finished. My depiction of the Mountain Spirit, the Sanshin and a tiger from Korean mythology.

Cobra

Sanshin not quite finished but taking a break by starting to plan another piece of work.

A Snippet

Just a snippet of the Sanshin my current work in progress.

Preparation sketch spaniel

I have decided my next painting shall be my depiction of the Korean Mountain Spirit San-shin and his tiger.

Sedna theme ends.

Time to find further inspiration in myth and folklore.  There is too much to choose from.  First task is to decide what to do!

Fishy Hairy theme.

At last......well you only have to consider line, design, composition, shadow, light, transparency, opacity, shade, hue, tone, shape, realism (or not), and all the rest of that stuff and hopefully nothing drastic goes wrong and that finally it turns out ok. Phew, about time too.

Mr Watchful, ever patient.....

A a moment of spontaneity and surprising even me, here is my easter hare.

A few adjustments, and just a little time has passed. One day all my time will belong to my artwork....

The new drawing here is again of Sedna in preparation for a painting (see my previous post for the first). I have just counted up at least 13 preparatory drawings (even more are in the bin). This drawing is completely original, emerging as a combination of my imagination and the prep drawings. Sketches from different references enables me to amalgamate a believable rendering with the ideas I had in mind of how she should look and the head position I want. This of course being restricted to the fact that she must be the same person as depicted my first painting of her! Now to research the rest of the image .....

Additions

MY NEW DISTRACTIONS

Preparation for my next piece

It is good for me to stick to a theme and I wish to develop my Sedna image further. So first stop some reference sketches in order to decide on an idea.

Artist Gary Hodges and The Crucible exhibition

I made a trip to the Nature in Art Gallery at Gloucester to see the Gary Hodges exhibition recently. If you like highly realistic drawings of animals these are a joy to behold in a gallery setting. His website cannot convey his images the same as seeing them in real life, ; although his recent book has some very good reproductions. The show at Gloucester is on until 10th October.

Also, I have been to see The Crucible sculpture exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral too and it is excellent.

The painting shown with this post is Sedna, who in Arctic mythology, either retains or releases the sea animals depending on whether hunters are respectful of animals souls.

Procrastination

This is quite unavoidable, I have turned into a DIY queen just for the last few weeks. Soon there will be no alternative list and it's back to the creative table; won't be long.

Mythical creatures

How welcome this rain is for thirsty plants.

For me at last a painting project 6 months old and with a sigh of relief emerges the completed Thunderbird; one magnificent mythical creature.