"Wandering Voice"

22x30 on Fabriano Paper. Acrylic  "Wandering Voice"

She was such a pleasure to paint. I can't even tell you. I've always loved to sketch faces but when I went to paint the sketch,  I always struggled with blending the acrylics and them drying too fast but this time it wasn't a struggle. The paint and I danced together and she came forward as easily as could be. Don't you love it when that happens?

In case you don't recognize her this is a study of the top portrait of the Delphic Sybil by Michaelangelo that he placed very prominently on the ceiling of Sistine chapel. I love her strength and beauty. She was a powerful woman in her time telling men their fortunes and predicting outcomes. She was a priestess. It is said that when she died she became a wandering voice that still speaks to the ears of men in dark riddles about the future. I'm just weird enough to love that too.  I've been to Delphi, in Greece, where she worked and lived. I've been to the Sistine Chapel and seen her painted image. Maybe that's why her image followed me around. I often wonder why we must paint or write certain things and get them out of our heads. What is the mystery of that? Why does a subject or object or landscape call to us and how do we decide that we must paint or write certain things above all the others?

I painted her in a fresco style and she has fine little cracks all through her which gives her the aged look I was going for. It is improbable that anyone will ever buy this painting because she's not in style or would fit in anyone's décor I know.  But I don't care- she feeds my painterly soul.  And I expressed her with my own visual interpretation. She will always remain with me and maybe I will hear her someday speak in dark riddles about my future.