The exalted Quetzalcoatl in acrylic on canvas!
I started this at about 4:00 today and finished around 6:20. I paint fast, and in a bit of an impressionistic style,so my paintings tend to turn around very quickly.
Ancient Religions
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Here’s Eight Green Things I Love!
What better way to appreciate a day of wearing green than to celebrate things that are green?
It was hard to narrow down the list, but here are eight green things that I find especially cool:
1) Portrait of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster, by Basil Gogos.
The Monster is my favorite of the “classic” monsters. I find the original movie so heartbreaking. Basil Gogos was an American illustrator best known for his portraits of movie monsters which appeared on the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and painted these characters in an amazing array of c Continue reading
Dragons of Asia: The Naga!
The word “Naga” comes from Sanskrit, and nag is still the word for snake, mainly the cobra, in India’s languages. It is a term used for beings associated with water and fluid energy. In myths, legends, scripture and folklore, “naga” comprises all sorts of serpent creatures, usually dwelling in the ocean.
All nagas are considered the offspring of the sage Kashyapa, the son of Marichi. Kashyapa is said to have had, by his twelve wives, diverse progeny that included reptiles, birds, and all sorts of other beings. They are denizens of the netherworld city called Bhogavati.
Nagas are cherished by both Hindus and Buddhists. In Hindu legend, a giant naga named Ananta serves as a coiled mattress for the god Vishnu as he sleeps and dreams the universe into creation. Another story tells of the god Krishna defeating a poisonous naga and dancing upon its head in victory.
In Tibetian Buddhism, nagas are susceptible to suffering caused by mankind’s carelessness and basic ignorance of proper conduct in nature and disrespectful actions in relation to our environment. As a result, nagas often retaliate towards humans when they behave with such ignorance.
Dragons of Europe: Storsjöodjuret!
Storsjöodjuret, or the “Great-Lake Monster”,is reported to live in the 300-foot-deep lake Storsjön in Jämtland, Sweden. The only one of its kind in Sweden, it had its first sighting in 1635.
Storsjöodjuret is described as a serpentine or aquatic reptile with fins across its back and a doglike head. It is reported to measure approximately 20 feet long, and some accounts describe it as having several humps. There have been over 200 recorded sightings of the serpent. In 1895 a group of men,sponsored in part by King Oscar II, attempted to capture it, even constructing a huge trap. Their venture was unsuccessful,but the trapping device can still be seen in the county museum.
n 1986, the Jämtland county administrative board declared the Storsjöodjuret to be an endangered species and granted it protected status. However, it was removed from the list in November 2005.
