First Oil Painting Using Layers and Glazes

 

For awhile now I have been dreaming of doing some oil painting and so I finally began some paintings a few weeks ago. This is the first one that I feel is close to finished.  It has been a challenge trying to use this new medium.  Like learning to do karate when I have only done Tai Chi before.  I began painting with a single idea in mind and as I painted I discarded some of the first superficial images that arrived until I came to this image. There are many layers of paint, but it is not the same as watercolor “veil” painting as it feels more sculptural as the actual painting pigments are so much more dense and thick.  The “I” is the angel attempting to awaken the personality who is sleeping in the light of the white mountains.  The cold of the ice has kept him mental and in hibernation.  There is someone who is even more asleep than the white figure though and this  is the form of “Essence” who is not really sleeping, but completely submerged in the black lake of the subconscious.  She has a deep warmth within her and when she begins to manifest and awakens will be a sword of heat and strength, cutting through the veil of shadows and with the help of the white Knight the two working together will be able to walk in “reality”.

The Life of Christ Veil Painting

The life of Christ is here represented by a few important moments.  The first image is the birth of the Christ child with his two loving parents gazing at him in his manger bed.  The second is the temptation of Christ.  He stands on a cliff with the devil goading him to jump off it.  The third picture is of Christ on the cross with his mother weeping in the left hand corner as his blood pools around her.  When born the baby is close to the heavens.  Then he descends to the lowest point in his life when he contemplates the devil’s enticements and experiences real hell on earth and then he is again close to God as he ends his life and returns to the heavenly spheres.

Intersecting Paths Veil Painting

Three figures are on their individual paths.  The young woman is at the bottom looking up for guidance and light.  The middle aged man is at the top gazing at his spirit self who you can just make out in light yellow facing him.  He is carrying a heavy load full of remorse, aches and pains, stress, etc. and is searching for his real essence or spiritual self to join him again.  The old man is fully embodied.  He has lived a rich life and has no regrets.  He looks down at youth who is much closer to his feeling of himself than the man at the top right and he sends down some energy for the eager young woman who is just beginning her way. The old man then heads toward the light.  The light that is beckoning him to the other side, to death and the future unknown.