MichaelWhelan , 9 days ago

CRISTATE 2 (2018)
Oil on Canvas - 12" x 9"

Executed with leftover Raw Umber oil paint, this is a riff on painting from 2009 called CRISTATE. Both sprang from my fascination with the shapes made by Cristate cacti.

I fancy trying a third that will be more along the lines of the original, which was larger and somewhat more ambitious. Perhaps the next time I have leftover paint and a surface to put it on.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/2018-leftover-11/

#leftoversandpalettegremlins

Rendered from the chest up, a man with head slightly turned away casts brown eyes back on the audience. His face is a bronze and mask-like, reminiscent of a Green Man sculpture with a pair of fan shaped crests projecting wide like flat broccoli antlers. A smaller crest rises between them off his forehead. The edge is all ridges and accents ending with a tuft of beard tapering to a leafy point. His ears are pointed back. He wears a dark jacket with the collar flipped up.