Bombers x

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I worked on the hermit in Bombers, painting a velatura skin and emphasizing the shadows between the rocks in the lake bed area. I think he’s wearing blue jeans, as many of my figures seem to be doing these days. Denim is a breeze to render on a well drawn en grisaille, because beneath a blue glaze the grey and white is so completely right for the bleached out fade of an old pair of jeans. I get a lot of pleasure from painting these simple things.

Why should we be ruled by the movement of planets? Astrology is bunk, right? But when I consider the profound effects of three of the planets upon all of us, I find myself prepared to have an open mind about the practice. The rotation of the earth clearly orders the seasons and powerfully affects our lives; the sun keeps us alive by providing heat, growing crops and governs the day and night; the movements of the moon are powerful enough to move oceans. We can witness the procession of the zodiac before us in the sky, so the motion of the heavens is both powerful and present.

The alchemists were convinced that the microcosmic life of man ran in conjunction with the motions of the heavens and sought out the laws of the universe in order to better understand the mind of God.  In the slow dance of the planets, they saw that the laws of physics govern not only the cosmos, but the lives of men.