Escort Of The Soul was conceived from imagination on the plane ride home from Cairo. I had traveled there to paint on location with my mentor Daniel Sprick. We explored mosques, painted the sphinx and pyramids from the rooftops, and the whole time I was visualizing this scene in my mind. I saw light passing between the long legs of the camels in a caravan going somewhere. The thumbnail sketch is in my stillman and birn sketchbook. I drew it over and over again when I arrived home in Denver Colorado. I then did a small oil sketch. I wanted it to feel otherworldly, so I painted the scene with a violet glow, the complimentary of what the real Cairo was to make us feel that we are in a tangential realm to our own, a bardo of sorts. There is a lot of symbolism in the piece, the psychopomp riding the camel that breaks the fourth wall recognizes us as walking the determined path forward. The viewer is just one of the living, obstructed with the illusion of necessity.
Escort Of The Soul was conceived from imagination on the plane ride home from Cairo. I had traveled there to paint on location with my mentor Daniel Sprick. We explored mosques, painted the sphinx and pyramids from the rooftops, and the whole time I was visualizing this scene in my mind. I saw light passing between the long legs of the camels in a caravan going somewhere. The thumbnail sketch is in my stillman and birn sketchbook. I drew it over and over again when I arrived home in Denver Colorado. I then did a small oil sketch. I wanted it to feel otherworldly, so I painted the scene with a violet glow, the complimentary of what the real Cairo was to make us feel that we are in a tangential realm to our own, a bardo of sorts. There is a lot of symbolism in the piece, the psychopomp riding the camel that breaks the fourth wall recognizes us as walking the determined path forward. The viewer is just one of the living, obstructed with the illusion of necessity.