Havent been posting much since the loss of my camera and color scnning, but I have a rare work of mine that was both small enough for the scanner and could be achieved in grayscale, the only channel which still functions.
Here is the preparatory work for the central figure in a current painting. It is realized in pencil over a ground (2 parts guesso 1 part acryllic), the color of which i approximated using photoshop.
Scene : I Samuel 15:33
"And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah in Gilgal."
Symbols : Surprisingly few so far, split into a little dichotomoy:
The wretchedness of the Amalek?
The first stroke has blinded Agag, blinding being considered a punishment of God for sin. Agag is turned away from the light of the Lord, representing his separation from the children of Israel. He covers his eyes with his left hand, the hand used to wipe oneself in the days before toilet paper, to represent his impurity.
The wickedness of Samuel?
Agag is naked and unarmed, and makes no effort to protect himself. He falls onto a white cloth representing the lightweight innocence with which he lived and approached samuel "pinned down" by the viciousness of his death.
My hope is that the scene will be open enough to be interpreted either way.
Known issues - his right (our left) flank and shoulder needs to be reworked from the breast up. Also, his left hip needs to be defined a little differently.