I call this “The Tempted.”
Long ago when a third of the angels fled heaven there existed among them much pain of heart.
It was not just the pain of separation from heaven, but from each other.
Bonds centuries old and more were broken.
Here we have the meeting of two who have been separated.
Who tempts who?
In my mind as I was painting it I was thinking it was the angelic figure tempting the demonic one.
He knows what he is, and he is fine with who he is, but she is more than he can resist.
How far will this go?
Maybe he will change his entire being for her.
I don’t know.
As for why I used some of the iconic ideas of what demons and angels should look like , let me say that I felt I had no choice.
The idea of what angelic is and what demonic is has been burned into our imaginations through art, literature, and even church propaganda throughout time. I can’t personally imagine fallen angels becoming red and growing horns and tails, but that is what we have for our base imagery. You will see no forked tail and no halos in this. No need of feather wings or bat like wings to get the idea across was necessary so I didn’t need to go that far.
Besides, this was not exactly meant to portray a demon and and angel.
I was thinking really of people when I started. Humans. When my mind went adrift as I was painting I went to musings of angels both fallen and still in grace, but my original intention wasn’t there.
To combat the tried and true demon and angel look I tried to make my figures not fall into the fantasy category other than what I already described. I’ve been painting myself (or a version of myself) into my work for a while semi often of late as a type of mental coping mechanism to stress factors out of my control, and to break away from less than average body types. I’m not tall, nor short, nor heavy set, not thin. I am what comes from eating many a donut, living primarily on coffee, sleeping little, but still being active by walking multiple miles per day. The days of my athletic V taper are long gone. I’m the perfect model for what I wish to express now. Plus, when painting oneself, even as a demonic red creature in an expressive manner it makes a person reflect on oneself in a way nothing else can. I am getting to know me again.
I’d say that is enough babble from me about this simple painting.
If you would like to get prints of it you can find them HERE.
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