As Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) wrote in his Letters
to a Young Poet:
I want to ask
you, as clearly as I can, to bear with patience all that is unresolved in your
heart, and try to love the questions themselves. . . . For everything must be
lived. Live the questions now, perhaps then, someday, you will gradually,
without noticing, live into the answer.
Inspired by my thorough occupation and enjoyment in painting 'Nevermore', I couldn't leave my nod to Athena (on whose helmet Nevermore perched), without exploring Greek Mythology a little further. Taking the easier road in first reading Madeline Miller's two novels, Circe and The Song of Achilles, I decided it was time to revisit the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. I painted Circe with the Hawk- a symbolic bird for her and Athena, goddess of Wisdom and Protection (War), with both her Owl and spear, with her attention directed to the Owl.
Remains of the Day is a rework of a painting that hadn't ever quite satisfied me. I took it up again to modify to create the mood.
Solitude, a rural landscape, took me to a place very foreign to Greek goddesses. Commissioned by my son-in-law, I was challenged in changing direction.
