A couple more before heading to Switzerland

This one is based on the Sleeping Woman (Goddess?) of Malta, a tiny clay figurine found at one of the Stone Age sites:



And this one is rather more mundane, a left-handed tennis player:



Enjoy your weekend!

Holy cow!

First a production note: I'm scheduled to be traveling September 21-29 (without my Wacom tablet!), so this may be my last post until I return.

Except for the bird, immediately below, this might be called the "Body Parts Issue".

A handful

First up today is one called "Eyes":



Then comes another look at the past, "Laurel," with the woman of the same name being changed into the tree:



This is the same drawing "treated" by Photoshop:



I call this one "Cronos Magnificent", a variation of "Cronos Progenitor", the "old" father of the gods. The original drawing is processed here as a photographic negative.



And finally, one I call "Blunt".

A bit of this

A young rabbi, perhaps from a Joseph Roth fiction:



And another visit to the ancients, this one based on a cemetery decoration in Malta:



And another look at Rod the Mod, trying to get closer to the elongated Woody Woodpecker sense I have in my mind:

Won't he ever stop?

Here's a little architectural ditty.



And another face--



And an attempt at Rod the Mod during his '70s, George Hamilton IV tan phase:

An odd pair

Not exactly mythological, but in some ways tied in, I suppose. Inspired again by ancient Mesopotamia. This is my "Gudea" portrait. (King of Lagash, wasn't it? About 2100 BCE.)



And here's a guy sitting in a chair. I call it "Seated".

Barcelonan Shades

These two are based on two different photographs I took of the statue in the middle of a fountain in a park in Barcelona. (In one of the photos, you can see a Burger King sign in the background.)





This is inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian figurine. Quite a tiny rascal, if I remember correctly; perhaps even on smaller scale than this drawing. White stone, I think. 2000 BCE or so; maybe older. For the head I used a photo I took at the zoo of a snow leopard.



Thinking of this ancient statue also brings to mind Henri Rousseau's "Horse Attacked by a Jaguar", in which the predator has such an innocent expression on his face.

Aphrodite

gets her come-uppance.

That rascal Hephaestus

Hephaestus, the gods' smith (and a god himself), got thrown off Mt Olympus at some point in his early years. I can't remember what made Zeus do it, but the result was Hephaestus' lameness. In this drawing, I imagine him still fairly young, not terribly "pumped up" yet.



Later, of course, Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite who considered the smith-god ugly and preferred malingering with Ares. Hephaestus entrapped them, in flagrante. . ., in a net. I've got Ares in the net at this point, but Aphrodite will get her due soon enough.



And this one, yet another face, is called "'50s" (as in the decade).

Pan again

I can't help it. I guess I've been hypnotized.

The myths

For reasons I don't quite fathom (perhaps some of it has to do with Donna Jo Napoli's excellent young adult novel with treats the subject), I find myself immensely moved by the ancient tale of the mournful cry of "The great god Pan is dead" going up. Here's one treatment of that idea, which makes Pan only partially "human"--perhaps inaccurate, but not inappropriate, I think.



And here again is the Minotaur, whom I seem to be unable to leave alone.

More faces and a visit with the goddess?

Here are two more attempts to get a face to look something like mine. Still haven't gotten it yet.



Except for the open eyes, I think that one looks not unlike a death mask. This second one is called "Oh By Jingo."



And here's another simple line drawing. Is it a goddess reaching for the Golden Apples, or Eve in the Garden? I'm calling it, with a nod to Belly (or is it the Breeders?) "Feed the Tree".

Wisdom, Not Beauty

Boxing student

Gorgon

A face

A cafe scene

Another batter attempt

Here's another go at the batter's hands:



And here's a sort of self-portrait again:

Batter's Grip

Inspired by seeing photos of Babe Ruth's and Lou Gehrig's grips at the Denver Art Museum.

A rather mild-looking Minotaur, no?