Art Inspiration: Pandora; A Gift From The Gods: Final

 

For the past four months I have been posting different elements of a project I have been working on. This has been an independent project that I worked on in my spare time. Yet over the past four months my spare time has been very limited. It took longer to complete than I realized but finally I have finished it.

In my life there have been moments that inspire me to create and wonder about different possibilities. Working with children has always been a catalyst for these moments. On numerous occasions I have provided a drawing or art class for the children and their curiosity has inspired many ideas and creations. Some of these inspirations have produced scenes of me drawing them camping, or as characters from Harry Potter, but the majority of them enjoyed me creating a scene based on the Greek gods. I have posted this work so titled “The Greek Gods, Distraction on Olympus”.

This experience was so enjoyable that I have been thinking of creating another scene from Greek Mythology for some time. I have always enjoyed Greek Mythology and a friend has been asking me questions about Greek myth while we have been going to art exhibits. Our discussions and these different excursions to art institutions inspired me to come up with a new scene.

It began at an art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) were we attended the works of Henry Moore and Francis Bacon. In the exhibit I saw a sketch by Moore called Pandora. It caught my eye because if you have every seen Moore’s works, it is about the human form but the heads are small and the focus is on the body itself. Yet in this drawing he drew Pandora with a full head and face to proper proportion. This was Moore’s idea or take on the legend of Prometheus and Pandora, my favourite Greek Myth story. It made me wonder what would my take or depiction of this story be if I drew it. With that thought in mind I began the journey to create my depiction of the creation of Pandora.

From those humble beginnings, the idea was translated onto paper and then I redrew them on the computer as the images I posted. I must emphasize that these drawings are not for the children in my school but an independent work I undertook for my own enjoyment. It is from my imagination and may be a bit adult. I must state this because in the past I have done some creations for and with students. This project and the individual images within it are not intended for children. I so enjoy creating and this piece particularly because it is my favourite Greek Myth that I had to let myself go and create. I wanted to express myself without any limitations from others.

 Final

 

This piece is a culmination of the months of work and the assembly of the nine individual images to create this final piece. The only semi new part is the background where I drew the Parthenon temple as a representation of Mount Olympus in the sky.

All the different characters of the Pandora story are present for the final scene. I assembled all the characters and I also made sure that their eyes are all looking on their creation, Pandora. We can see then all from, right to left;

• Hephaestus, created Pandora from clay
• Athena, gave the gift of needlework and weaving
• Hermes (flying), gave the ability to lie and cheat without remorse, to have the nature of a thief
• The Kharties (The Graces) Algeae, Thalia, Euphrosne; they placed gold necklaces upon her and other gifts to make her irresistible to men
• Aphrodite, bestowed upon Pandora the beauty, the mystery of sexual attractiveness and desire and the pain that goes with it
• Zeus, if you look closely Zeus is holding his gift to Pandora. The Jar/Box/Urn with all the evils and plagues of humanity and of course Hope too.

 

I hope you enjoy my depiction of the final image of Pandora: A Gift From The Gods. 

Pandora: A Gift From The Gods

Art Inspiration: A Gift From The Gods; Pandora: Athena

 

In my life I have had moments that inspire me to create and wonder about different possibilities. Working with children has always been a catalyst for these moments. On a number of occasions I have provided a drawing or art class for the children and their curiosity has inspired many ideas and creations. Some of these inspirations have produced scenes of me drawing them camping, or as characters from Harry Potter, but the majority of them enjoyed me creating a scene based on the Greek gods. I have posted this work so titled “The Greek Gods, Distraction on Olympus”.

This experience was so enjoyable that I have been thinking of creating another scene from Greek Mythology for some time. In the next few weeks I will be posting the different characters of this scene and a little background info on each one.

I must emphasize that this drawing is not for the children in my school but an independent work I undertook for my own enjoyment. It is from my imagination and may be a bit adult.

 

Athena

 Athena’s birth is one unlike any other in antiquity.  Her father Zeus had relations with her mother Metis (meaning “wisdom”) and she became pregnant.  Zeus, fearing that she would give birth to a son that would eventually over through him devoured or swallowed Metis. 

Soon after Zeus began to have a terrible headache. Since aspirin wasn’t invented then, he instead got Hephaestus to split his head open with an axe.  Talk about your spitting headaches.  Once the head was open, a full-grown, beautiful woman dressed in full armor and carrying a spear, came out and yelled out a fierce war cry at her birth. 

From her birth we can see her divine characteristics.  She was the goddess of wisdom but also the goddess of war.  However unlike Ares, Athena was the honorable side of war that had tactics, strategies and glory from war and combat.  She also had a strong relationship with her father.  Probably because she was born of him and not from the traditional woman born.  Also another aspect of her character is she remained a virgin.  

Her accomplishments and symbols were numerous but I will touch on a few. 

1. In the Pandora tale, Athena gave the gift of needlework and weaving.
2. Her animal symbols where the owl and snake.  Hmm. wise owl interesting.
3. Her other symbols include her armor, helmet, spear and aegis or shield that had the head of Medusa on it. 
4. She was also seen with a small winged female with a crown of garland of success.  Her name was Nike meaning victory.  Hmm Nike – victory. Fascinating!
5. One of her incredible tales includes a contest with Poseidon for the control or patronage of Athens.  The contest had both deities give a gift to Athens and the people would decide.  Poseidon struck a rock with his trident and a salt-water spring or horse came out.  Athena touched the ground with her spear and an olive tree came out.  Upon seeing the tree they proclaimed Athena the winner.  In the Acropolis, across from the Parthenon, the marks of where the trident struck can be seen, as well near by the olive tree.   This began the bad blood relationship between the two deities.  This was also the catalyst for the tragic story of Medusa.

I drew Athena as an athletic woman taking into account her skill as a warrior. Of course I added the Aegis and the spear, but I also wanted to show her as a woman. Her figure and dress helps to emphases this as well drawing her with long brown hair caressing her shoulders and breasts. Her face is very feminine even though in many traditional art of Athena she had very masculine traits.

I hope you enjoy my depiction of Athena, goddess of Wisdom and War from The Gift From The Gods; Pandora. 

Athena – goddess of Wisdom and War

 

Art Inspiration: The Greek Gods Distraction on Olympus: Final Product

 

For the past three months, I have shown you the different parts or elements of a project I worked on with the children from my Drawing Club class.  Below is the final work from the fruits of our labours. 

We put all these different elements into a scene. We added the grassy mountaintop, sky and the clouds to give it that final touch.  The children asked me what is the story behind the scene.  I told them…

It is another day on Mount Olympus. There is beauty everywhere and the gods are engaged in their pursuits.  In the background you see the Palace of Olympus floating, Hephaestus is busy making armor and arms, Dionysus has indulged in some wine and is sleeping it off, Hermes is delivering a message but stops to see the commotion below.  The Muses are singing with Apollo as he sings to Aphrodite.  Athena and Artemis are enjoying the music as is Aphrodite and she is moved my Apollo’s singing.  However Ares is not too happy with this wooing of Aphrodite by Apollo.  His dogs of war are not too happy either but are distracted by Artemis’ hunting dog. 

While this is going on, a large Titan named Prometheus is concealing a fennel stalk, which has fire.  He is intending to give the fire to humans for he is their champion.  He is grateful for the gods distracting one-in-other to make his escape with the fire. Therefore the title of the scene is “Distraction on Olympus”. 

The children, as did the parents, all loved the scene, however they also enjoyed the stories about the Greek Gods.

I hope you enjoy  “Distraction on Olympus”. 

Distraction on Olympus

Art Inspiration: The Greek Gods Distraction on Olympus: Athena

 

“Distraction on Olympus” is a project I worked on with my students at the school I work in.  It was the final project in a drawing club the children where in when I taught them how to draw in the style of comic and cartoon characters.  The class had decided to go with the theme of the Greek gods and I would help them draw a scene around that idea.

In the process of creating the scene, the children asked to be represented as the gods in the project.  They would choose who they wanted to be drawn as from the Greek gods.  There was one girl in the class that had the intelligence and grace that you would associate with the goddess Athena.  When I told her that I chose Athena for her she was excited because that is who she wanted to be drawn as.

Athena’s birth is one unlike any other in antiquity.  Her father Zeus had relations with her mother Metis (meaning “wisdom”) and she became pregnant.  Zeus, fearing that she would give birth to a son that would eventually over through him devoured or swallowed Metis. 

Soon after Zeus began to have a terrible headache. Since aspirin wasn’t invented then, he instead got Hephaestus to split his head open with an axe.  Talk about your spitting headaches.  Once the head was open, a full-grown, beautiful woman dressed in full armor and carrying a spear, came out and yelled out a fierce war cry at her birth. 

From her birth we can see her divine characteristics.  She was the goddess of wisdom but also the goddess of war.  However unlike Ares, Athena was the honorable side of war that had tactics, strategies and glory from war and combat.  She also had a strong relationship with her father.  Probably because she was born of him and not from the traditional woman born.  Also another aspect of her character is she remained a virgin.  

Her accomplishments and symbols were numerous but I will touch on a few. 

1. Her animal symbols where the owl and snake.  Hmm. wise owl interesting.
2. Her other symbols include her armor, helmet spear and aegis or shield that had the head of Medusa on it. 
3. She was also seen with a small winged female with a crown of garland of success.  Her name was Nike meaning victory.  Hmm Nike – victory. Fascinating!
4. One of her incredible tails include a contest with Poseidon for the control or patronage of Athens.  The contest had both deities give a gift to Athens and the people would decide.  Poseidon struck a rock with his trident and a salt-water spring or horse came out.  Athena touched the ground with her spear and an olive tree came out.  Upon seeing the tree they proclaimed Athena the winner.  In the Acropolis, across from the Parthenon, the marks of where the trident struck can be seen, as well near by the olive tree.   This began the bad blood relationship between the two deities.  This was also the catalyst for the tragic story of Medusa.

  I decided to draw Athena like the other female characters with an hourglass figure.  Yet you usually see Athena dressed in a long dress or robe, so I did the same.  I did not add the owl, it seemed too Harry Porterish, but I did draw her with her helmet, spear and aegis with the head of Medusa on it.

   I told the story of Athena to the class, abridged of course and they were very pleased with the results.  The girl particularly love her character. 

 

I hope you enjoy Athena, goddess of Wisdom and War, as much as the children did. 

Athena goddess of Wisdom and War.

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