Odyssey, The Beginning Of A New Chapter

This will be my last painting for a while. My last piece of watercolor paper is now gone and the wildfires will be starting soon in my area. I feel that it's time I take a step back and meditate on my art. To purge, and make room for new growth. I hope that I will come back in the winter months with a new fire, and something new to convey.

I decided that my beginning layers in my previous paintings were too small for the 11x15. I increased the size this time around. I find that it looks better and makes this initial stage quicker.

I'm still chasing the illusion of depth. perhaps i'm asking too much from this medium. After all, I have been holding off on oil paints for a long time now...

In my mind I saw something new. This time there was a horned figure, blue and nude walking towards a dark horizon. It reminded me of the Greek myth of Minos and the Minotaur. I've never painted a nude figure before, so I was hesitant to proceed in case I botched it, and wasted my last page.

I struggled for a bit. I also kept having this urge to keep adding blue. In my head the piece had a certain hue to it that I can't explain.

It took a couple of hours for the figure to really take shape and look less like a contour drawing. I would work on the figure. Then while that layer dried I would work on a wave, or part of the receding frame. Then back to the figure.

In my mind he was wading through the water. In reality he was just stepping over the frame and into the sea.

Odyssey, 11x15 on paper.

This was my last painting for a while but if I sketch anything cool while i'm waiting for firefighting to start back up i'll make sure to post it. Thanks for checking out my art. Let me know what you think in the comments. Where does this painting take you? It's always a trip to read.

Steem on!

-William