Paper Cherubim

Here's another of my occult angels from the Highfield book. This one is a Cherubim, or more accurately, a Cherub though the word "cherub" is now used to describe those pudgy baby angels with tiny wings. A "real" or mythologically correct Cherub has a flaming sword and guards the way back to Eden, among other biblical guardianships. This one follows the image making instructions in the book. Since a majority of its body parts were deemed "masculine," I made this a male figure. He still has the grey-green legs and olive-green feet of any angel whose name ends in "-im."

I've done a little Photoshop work to this piece. The flaming sword was made from red foil and the metallic glint did not show up in the photograph. So I improvised a red flaming texture and re-created the sword. I also added a few little whitish specks, or stars, to the dark lower background.

"Cherubim" is cut paper and foil paper on an acrylic-painted background, 7" x 10", January-February 1987.