I had just started painting again and all the years if holding back...holding it in, caught up with me. California was burning and the demons inside of me were smoldering too, waiting to get out.
I used Batarang shapes to make the mouth and hair and eyes. Let me know what you think, or just don't. but, hey, sometimes negative feedback is the only fuel i need for my fires.
I have been listening to astrophysicist's broadcasts a lot this days. Few I like the most are Joe Rogans's with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox, Sean Carroll. They talk about obviously space, extra terrestrial life but also religion, people, psychology. I realised that when you think at cosmos level or at subatomic level, the things we worry about in day to day life feel very less compared to the vastness out there or in us. So I think it is very important to get out of the city, to find clear sky and look at the stars up there. It gives a surprising energy which I don't know how to describe but feels powerful.
Coloring practice! Looked up a lot of references for the lighting, and despite not looking like the reference I'd say I've leveled up with colored pencils. I almost never use prismas except for hair, but this time prismas colored the entire lass. This here's Yonn Goldheart Afflora, savior of Galantra, basically she's the braveheart of her country. The dirt on her face speaks of 1000 hunts and the loss of her eye shows the extent of her bravery and sacrifice. I'm thinking her chapter should be explained in a short story, yes? For legends get passed along in story over fire and wine!
All you have to do is lift your chin up to encounter the most fascinating things in life. What would it take to lift up your chin and talk to the person sitting right next to you. I fear that one day we will forget the very essence of being a human.
One week on from Beltane Fire Festival 2025 and it stills feel surreal that’s it for another year, you know? It’ll be nice to get back to some semblance of normality/whatever… For now? Have a gar on me :-P :-)
Apparently, Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubaten and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds fame actually did this to his school back when he was a lad! I needed an idea for a convoluted weird-as-they-come title, and after reading that story I knew I had something, heheheh :)
"Lang may yer lum reek (a Hogmanay greeting, implying "May you never be without fuel for your fire!", but more literally translates to "Long may your chimney smoke!")" All this I corrupted and used to inspire me here.
"I only saw my soul there screaming. That's all I could hear. It was on fire. There was no water. There was nothing." - Monique Berk. These drawings were inspired by a woman's testimony I listened to on Touching The Afterlife here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F8S2mj0J4g
I was on the fence about posting this one, but I've been very moved by the testimonies of those who prior in their lives seemingly had no hope. While you live and breathe, there is hope.