Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 27, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 27, 2025.  At this point, the special "Homer" event at Porter Mill was fast approaching.  This event featured paintings inspired by  the Iliad and the Odyssey. I chose to participate because the Iliad was one of the first books I read when I began graduate school in Comparative Literature and also because I think the Iliad still has important things to say to us in 2025.

I have produced several  literary-themed paintings over the past year, and this painting will be part of that series. This series came about by chance because of a number of art shows with literary themes that I have participated in. So now I have done paintings related to "Moby Dick", "Alice in Wonderland", "The Scarlet Letter" and a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad". These paintings are all the same size (20 x 20), and done in the same style. I hope to exhibit them as a set at some point. And maybe I will paint more.

 

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of being engraved with antastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem), it is inscribed with Homer's words: the opening line of the "Iliad," as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls."

Here is my painting as of September 27th.  I continued to work on getting the lines right, and fixing small mistakes in the lettering.  But the biggest change was an additional coat of blue to the background.  Almost there. . .

Reposting: Rosh Hashana Still Life drawing video

Back in 2022, I created this little drawing video on my iPad with the Procreate app.  I am bringing it back today to wish those celebrating the Jewish New Year " L'Shana Tova" and  to everyone, no matter what calendar you follow, I wish you bright days and a sweet year ahead.  So let's get started.  Just press play.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 23, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 23, 2025. At this point, I was working hard to get it ready for the  the "Homer" event at Porter Mill, featuring paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I wanted to participate because the Iliad was one of the first books I read as I began graduate school in Comparative Literature (and I have some lovely memories of those days) and also because I think the Iliad still has important things to say to us in 2025. 

This painting will become part of a series of literary-themed paintings that I have produced over the past year. This series came about more or less unplanned because of a run of art shows with literary themes that I have recently participated in.  So now I have done paintings related to "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "The Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".  These paintings  are all the same size (20 x 20), and done in the same style, so maybe at some point I can exhibit them as a set. And maybe there will be more to come.

Anyway, this painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  it is decorated with Homer's words:   the opening line of the "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept 23, I added a translucent layer of metallic paint (gold acrylic) to the body of the shield, and added a second coat of gold paint to the edge of the shield.  As I worked, I corrected a few small mistakes.  At this point, the painting was almost finished. There was already one coat of blue on canvas at this point (though it doesn't show up well in this photo), but another coat was needed.  Time to seal the edges and attach a wire.  And obsess over invisible mistakes.  Almost there.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 22, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 22, 2025. The deadline was fast approaching for the "Homer" event at Porter Mill,  featuring paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I wanted to participate because this painting will become part of my series of paintings with literary-themes. This happened somewhat by accident because over the last year or so,  I have participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  it is decorated with Homer's words:   the opening line of the "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept. 22, I added pale blue background to the corners, hoping to evoke the sky.  And I used metallic gold paint around the edge of the shield.  This was now getting very close to completion.

Reposting: Pink Apples on a Branch (Oil Bar Painting)

This is an oil bar painting that I did in 2021.  I am reposting it today because I am sending it with wishes for Shona Tova for those celebrating the Jewish New Year, and wishing everyone happiness, health, peace, love, and success in the year ahead.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept. 17, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 17, 2025.    I was getting this ready for the "Homer" event at Porter Mill,  paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  This painting is going to be part of a  series of paintings with literary-themes, something that happened by chance because over the last year or so,  I have participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of decorating it with fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  I am decorating it with words,  the opening line of Homer's "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept. 17th, I continued to work on the outline of the shield, trying to get the lines of the circle right.  I also began to clean up the corners of the canvas, to get them ready for the background color.  I made a lot of very small changes to the lines of the spiral and to the lettering. Perhaps attention to these details seems too much, but I think that the simpler the design, the more important these little corrections are. This painting was getting close to what I wanted to see, but there were still some things to do. . .

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 14, 2025

Here is my "Homer" painting as it looked on Sept 14, 2025.  I was painting this for a Porter Mill event, paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey. So this painting will become part of a  series of  literary-themed paintings.  The series was unplanned; it came about because I participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the  shield of Achilles, inscribed with the opening line of Homer's "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

Two weeks had passed since I last worked on this, and so it might look like progress is slow.  But I reworked the lines of the circle and the spiral, and put another coat of gold on the shield.  Stopping to re-checking and correcting the geometry is not fun, but it is necessary.  To be continued. . .