Orestes And Erinys

Orestes and Erinys

A bit over a month ago I had to give a short presentation on Aischylos‘ Oresteia as part of my coursework and reading it gave me the idea for this piece.

Specifically, it is referencing lines 1057-1058 of the Libation Bearers, where, for the first time, Orestes is seeing the Furies.

(The text does explicitly describe blood dripping from the Furies’ eyes, but when I noticed this, the idea of a blood-covered face had already developed, and I chose to keep it. Also I didn’t have the time or patience to paint more than two figures, so I suppose you can imagine the rest of the Furies somewhere off-screen or something)

*

*

*

(Close-ups)

Another painting! (Am I actually starting to develop a consistent artstyle??)

I felt in the mood to create some Greek mythology related stuff again, so I painted this portrait of Selene, goddess/personification of the moon.

Both the colour scheme and the motive are somewhat inspired by Jules Louis Machards artwork depicting Selene.

I aimed for a somewhat 'soft', 'warm' look, so I avoided stark contrasts, especially in the face and kept the clothing relatively plain, as not to distract with any complicated pattern.

*

*

*

(Close-ups)

So, I've had a watercolour underpainting for this little portrait for quite a while now, and a couple days ago I decided to finally get out my acrylic paints and paint it. I don't use acrylic paint that much, since it tends to be a bit messier and more work to clean compared to, say, watercolour. Still I am quite happy with how the painting looks.

As previously mentioned, I am kinda going through a Greek Mythology Phase™ right now, which led me to creating this painting depicting Klytaimnestra after the murder of her husband, Agamemnon. The snake is in reference to a dream she had, in which she gave birth to and nursed a venomous snake/dragon instead of a child, which is seen as a prophecy of her death at the hands of her own son, Orestes.

I decided to do a bit of research into historical Mycenaean Greek dress, seeing as the Epic Cycle and the events directly thereafter are most likely set in the mid to late Bronze Age and as such the style of clothing and architecture would differ considerably from that of the later Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Periods that is often associated with Greco-Roman mythology.

Then again, I'm not a Historian, Classicist, or anything of the sort, I'm just some random sixteen year old with too much free time on their hands, so I make no promises of accuracy. There are also certain elements that I deliberately left inaccurate, either because it didn't fit the colour scheme, such as the fresco on the wall, which should have had several yellow elements that just looked a bit muddy when I tried to add them, or because I was too lazy to paint them in intricate detail, such as the skirt, which should consist of several layers of different fabric atop each other, but I didn't want to paint all that.

Said skirt is inspired by John Colliers painting also depicting Klytaimnestra after the murder.

Anyway, sorry for the long, nerdy ramble of text, I hope you like the painting and have a nice day :)

(a couple of close ups in case Tumblr fries the quality)

Just a bit of messing around with colours.

(Reddish Orange and desaturated Green is not a combination I expected to work out, but it kinda did)

*

*

*

(More Zoom-Ins for some details)

St. Sebastian and St. Irene of Rome

The motif of Saint Sebastian perforated by arrows is in itself quite common, but I found far less depictions of the scene that followed, involving the widowed Saint Irene and her servant rescuing him from this martyrdom (only for him to be martyred again later lol), so I decided to try my hand at it.

Besides, I wanted to paint something with more anatomical detail, as I have been quite lacking behind in doing actual studies and involving it in an actual painting makes anatomy more interesting to me.

I feel it necessary to note that I myself am not religious, but growing up in a historically somewhat catholic area and having an interest in religions and mythologies must've imbued me with a certain interest in the imagery, I guess.

*

*

*

Closeups: