Occult Goddess Isis

When I first encountered the esoteric philosophy and ritual practice which is commonly called "the occult," I was fascinated and scared at the same time. It was ancient, it had gods and goddesses, and it claimed to be able to change the world by ritual and mental practice. I wanted there to be Adepts who were not only moral leaders but possessed of extensive mental discipline and the ability to travel between realities.

Now in my older years "the occult" looks like a form of Catholicism with some of the characters and stories switched around, where you get to do the rituals and wear the ornate vestments yourself, though you are doing them in your living room rather than in a nice sculptural ritual space. Many occultists are ordained as independent Catholic priests anyway, so you get a side helping of old-time religion, though not orthodox by any means.

I did this little piece in the living room of an occultist friend of mine in Washington, DC. The "Goddess Isis" is based not on a real person but on a fantasy character of mine, one of my "techno-mages." Fantasy is a basic part of occult practice, and in some rituals the celebrant is called upon to temporarily take on her/himself the identity of an ancient God or Goddess. In this case it is "Isis," the ancient Egyptian goddess of esoteric insight and knowledge.

"The Goddess Isis" is ink and watercolor on paper, 5" x 7", January 1984. In this restoration, I have added in Photoshop, flesh color to the Goddess' head, arms, hands, and feet, since the bad photograph completely faded those colors out.

Techno-mage in Uniform

Here's my friend Tanheu the techno-mage again. He's wearing the quasi-military uniform he favors. He has a military background; he attended a military "high school" and was in officer development in university, in his original country, Khemi. He was destined to have a career in the Khemaru military, in intelligence and nouergic defense, until he became a political dissident and was exiled from his country (and nearly executed, except for the influence of a powerful patron). In Surakosai, he serves in the reserves, also in nouergic defense. He is not a dissident in Surakosai, but a loyal defender.

Photoshop, about 5" x 10".

Figure in Colored Pencil

More figure drawing happened tonight at Falls Church Arts. This time I took my colored pencils with me and attempted to render the many interesting light, shadow, and skin tones on our expert model. The model has had a long career working for artists, including being a live model for Disney animators in Florida. She said that during the production of Disney films such as "Lilo and Stitch," the company kept models on 24-hour call so that if the artists (working all night) got into a problem, they could immediately work it out with the help of a professional model. Imagine that! That was a while ago, now they probably just use the abysmal "Poser" or other 3-D computer figure generating software.

Figure drawing is colored pencil on sketchbook paper, about 7" x 9", May 4, 2011.

The Universal Graph

Here's another in my patented geometric style. This one is called "The Universal Graph" and is inspired by the standard of two-dimensional graphing, the Cartesian coordinates. The perpendicular white lines are the two dimensions of the coordinates, X horizontal and Y vertical. The other lines in the picture are straight and curved outcomes of various equations, all plotted on this graph. It's universal as long as you are working in 2-D, and thus this flat image and screen.

This is done in acrylic, acrylic watercolor, and some watercolor metallic/iridescent paint. The lines are added on with acrylic markers. Some spray paint was used. This is all painted on a piece of dark blue Canson paper. I hope to display this at Balticon late this month.

"The Universal Graph" is acrylic and watercolor on blue paper, 11" x 8 1/2", May 2011. Click on the image for a somewhat larger view.

Sun Chalices

1998 seems a long time ago, even though it is only 13 years ago. Well, 13 years is quite a long time. In those days, I was living where I live now, and I had everything I have now, except for the orange Honda Element. In those days, I did not have a day job, and I spent a lot more time doing art, including lots of on-site sketches. My 1998 daily journal was lavishly illustrated with ink and colored pencil drawings, one on each page. This one was a springtime effort. I remember clearly sitting on the garden wall in front of this flower area near a big apartment building, drawing these sunlit blooms. Every so often spring produces a warm, sunny, flower-filled day which actually lives up to the poetic hype. My recent Saturday at Village Winery was one of those days. I add to the poetic-ness by calling these flowers "sun chalices." Tulips do look like wineglasses, full of sun-wine. Original drawing size, about 4" x 5".

Melaklos with Panorama Egg

This character is from an obscure fantasy book published in 1978, "The Panorama Egg" by A.E. Silas. It was a story about a modern man who is transported into an alternate fantasy world through the portal of a "panorama egg," an ovoid which shows another world inside it. The egg is presented to him by a mysterious alien sorceress called Mera Melaklos, the character in this portrait. In 1983 one of my fantasy-loving friends commissioned me to do a portrait of the Melaklos character, and this was finished in April of 1984. It is one of the only paintings I have ever posed for myself. I felt an affinity for the character who could walk between the worlds. I didn't use my face, obviously, but the rest of the figure is me wearing a grey hooded cloak and holding an egg. I'm still wandering between the worlds.

"Melaklos" is acrylic on Strathmore illustration board, 15" x 22", April 1984. Click on the pic for a larger image.

Village Winery

Saturday's winery visit brought me to Village Winery in historic Waterford, Virginia. It's set in a park-like paradise which was glowing with sunlit spring green. The vines were sprouting fresh new leaves and visitors sat on the grass sipping nectar. Village Winery specializes in elderberry and apple wine as well as the more familiar grape varieties. I enjoyed a glass of the apple wine while drawing this view of their old barn. This is an "authentique" "plein air" artwork, done all on site with no studio alteration other than preparing it for placement here and a bit of enhancing the contrast. It's Pitt brown technical pen and colored pencil on sketchbook page, about 10" x 8".