Saturday, March 26, 2016

Hebe's Alchemy in Aquarius


Hebe's Alchemy in Aquarius Oil on Canvas 36" X 36" $3500.00

It's a terrible photo, and once I've had it professionally photographed I'll replace this one, but I just felt I needed to post some updates on recently completed works.

HEBE was the goddess of youth and the cup bearer of the gods who served ambrosia at the heavenly feast. She was also the patron goddess of the young bride and an attendant of the goddess Aphrodite. She was the daughter of Hera and Zeus and her male counterpart was the boy Ganymedes, who was carried off to heaven by Zeus to be the god's lover and cup-bearer of the gods. Ganymedes also received a place among the stars as the constellation Aquarius, the sign under which I was born.

In this scene Hebe is pouring the universe from the shell with the Aquarius constellation over her shoulder. The Aquarius zodiac symbol represents water and air, both depicted here. She rides atop hippocampus, a mythological creature typically depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish. Poseidon, God of horses often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocampi. The terms hippocamp and hippocampus now refer to the real animal called a seahorse, and the terms seahorse and sea-horse refer to the mythological creature.

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