Medium: Acrylics and Coloured Pencil
Size: 8.5"x11"
Represents: Death

This is the first of two Hades cards I need to paint for the deck and it was rather curious to watch this painting develope. The linework was so simple as none of the background was present; the background was painted on freehand. It was nice to let myself go and just let the brush go where it wanted and not worry about whether the faces were perfectly rendered. They are all dead after all.

I was uncertain at several points as to whether I had chosen the right colours, or whether the composition would work once the whole picture was completed. It just seemed a little chaotic and lost at times. Then I realised that the energy of the card itself was touching me again. He is death, and while death represents transformation, during that transformation we usually always feel a little caught up in the chaos of change, feeling a little lost and afraid. But death is not meant to be feared, just heeded.

You know what? This card may be a little less 'flawless' than my other paintings, but I'm glad of that. I needed to paint something where I was not quite so much the control freak. It was nice to trust my instincts for a change as I truly believe that this card is all the better because it's not quite so perfectly rendered as others.

Reference: The model for this painting is the generous and kind Cobweb-Stock.