The lion is called the king of the beast, and the eagle was equally regarded as king of all the birds. As the griffin embodies characteristics of both lion and eagle, he is the monarch of both the heavens and the earth. Although most often seen and associated with mediaeval heraldry, representations of griffins date back thousands of years, as early as ancient Sumeria.
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Size: 2.75″ x 2.75″
Mixed media: oil, paper, ink, varnish, resin on canvas.
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Tagged as:
Animal,
Chimera,
Eagle,
Griffin,
Lion,
Mixed Media
The ouroboros, self-devouring serpent, is both the Prima Materia of Alchemy and the Soul of the World. Perfect, self-creating, self-destroying, it is a symbol of the human quest for self-realization as well as the universe itself, wherein creation and destruction, alpha and omega, are inseparable, locked in a cycle of transformation eternally. Used symbolically in esoteric practices, it is a kind of mandala to contemplate, toward realization of the nature of Nature itself.
Size: 2″ x 2″
Mixed media: oil, paper, ink, varnish, gold pigment on canvas.
Tagged as:
Alchemical,
Chimera,
Dragon,
Mixed Media,
Ouroboros,
Serpent
In 79 AD, the Roman city of Pompeii was completely buried in ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, then forgotten until it was rediscovered in the mid-18th Century. Many of its citizens attempted to flee but few made it.
This image is a fanciful telling of a fugitive from Pompeii who dove into the sea and was changed by Neptune into an octopus. He now drifts in the depths, dreaming of his former life.
Size: 2.5″ x 3.5″
Mixed media: oil, paper, and varnish on canvas.
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Tagged as:
Chimera,
Mixed Media,
Octopi,
Pompeii,
Seamonster,
Tentacles
In all fables we are told that the Salamander is born in fire. It dwells in a great mountain which is encompassed by many flames. And as one of these is ever smaller than another, herein the Salamander bathes. The third is greater, the fourth brighter than the rest. In all these the Salamander washes, and is purified. Then he ties him to his cave, but on the way is caught and pierced so that it dies, and yields up its life with its blood. But this, too, happens for its good: For from its blood it wins immortal life, and then death has no more power over it. Its blood is the most precious Medicine upon earth, the same has not its like in the world. For this blood drives away all disease. From it the Sages derive their science, and through it they attain the Heavenly Gift, which is called the Philosopher’s Stone . – The Book of Lambspring
Size: 2.5″ x 3.5″
Mixed media: oil, paper, ink, varnish, and gold pigment on canvas.
Tagged as:
Alchemical,
Animal,
Chimera,
Dragon,
Elementals,
Equinox,
Mixed Media,
Salamander
This emblem, said to originate from a gnostic signet ring, shows abundant alchemical symbolism representing completion of the transmutation of base matter. The red lion, which is the philosopher’s sulfur, is joined to the serpent, the philosopher’s mercury. This resulting living being is crowned with a halo which tells us that it has become gold. The sun and moon represent light and darkness, truth and dream, in balance.
Size: 2″ x 2″
Mixed media: oil, paper, ink, varnish, and gold pigment on canvas.
Etsy link.
Tagged as:
Alchemical,
Animal,
Chimera,
Equinox,
Lion,
Mixed Media,
Serpent,
Snake
In mediaeval times, the scholars who wrote books on Natural History were typically sequestered in monasteries, and usually relied upon the tales of travelers for the “facts” of which they wrote. Many of the fanciful animals found in bestiaries were based upon such oral accounts, and as a result the monk-scholar patched together a representation of creatures taking characteristics from known animals. Such a patchwork is what we call a “chimera” and in this picture we have what was probably thought to be a whale or porpoise, or possibly a manatee, having a fishlike body but a head somewhat more like a cow.
This enigmatic sea monster is from an old astronomical illustration, and in the context of this work, is thus fixed in the heavens and fixed in an ocean of amber, peeking out from behind a wall of gold and text fragments, some kind of ancient relic waiting to be deciphered by some future monk-scholar perhaps.
Size: 2″ x 2″
Mixed media: pigment, oil, ink, varnish, paper, gold dust, gold leaf on canvas.
Etsy link.
Tagged as:
Alchemical,
Animal,
Astrological,
Chimera,
Mixed Media,
Seamonster
