Hera embraces Nature and births Zeus

3' by 4'

oil on canvas

While painting 'Hera embraces Nature and births Zeus' I was embracing surrealist ideas and techniques of allowing the psyche freedom to express itself. I started with a photo of Vancouver's rental bikes at Kitsilano beach. I transformed this image in-camera using a color reversal function. I then printed that image using l'inkage (a technique I discovered that gives me a unique look more similar to a painting). I then chose aspects to draw and from this I began to develop the painting. I found myself projecting Minoan themes on the developing canvas, themes I had contemplated years ago while living in Greece. To my surprise, one day I saw that my image of Hera had a correspondence to the ancient image of 'the cupbearer' in the Cretan palace of Knossos. I had copied this fresco image 20 years ago and found that it still wants to speak.