The Sin of Gluttony is FinishedGlutton

Gluttony

'Gluttony'

30. x 25. cm

Canvas, acrylic, oil

Lorna Marrison

Gluttony is described as over indulgence in food, drink or intoxicants. Here we have a more modern take on the idea by having a vampiric psychic who drains from her fellow dancers their youth, beauty and colour. Here they dance on the shores of the river Styx waiting for Charon to ferry their drained souls to the under world.

The Sin of Greed is Finished

Greed

'Greed'
30.  25. cm
canvas, acrylic, gold leaf, oil
Lorna Marrison




Greed is defined as the extreme desire and pursuit of wealth, status and power. So this guy with his immobile  face, hidden eyes and whopping big gold ring and a hat that is more like a crown feels dangerous. He has power and knows how to use it.

So apologies if he is really a family man who donates to charities.

Gabriel the Archangel

Gabriel the Archangel

'Gabriel, the Archangel'

30. x 25. cm

canvas, acrylic, oil,

Lorna Marrison

Still continuing my series of the sinners I now present Gabriel the Archangel played by a Eynsham Morris dancer. Gabriel is often painted as a mortal man. Traditionally he blows a horn to initiate the 'Last Judgement'. Here the accordion chord instead of calling for 'fresh men' sound the end of times. This chord is symbolised by the sound wave on the horizon. His body holds back the chaos.

The Sin of Pride is finished

Pride

'Pride'
30. x 25. cm
canvas, acrylic, oil
Lorna Marrison


Pride is the desire to be more important or attractive then others.  This dance by the Armaleggan Morris shows them strutting like beautiful cockerels showing off their plumage to their hens. Morris dancers are serious attention seekers.

Wrath is finished

Wrath

'Wrath'
canvas, acrylic, oil
30. x 25. cm.
Lorna Marrison

Wrath is uncontrollable anger or rage.

When showing this painting to family and friends I realised that other people interpret this image differently. The signs for wrath here are personal to me. Starting with the red acrylic toned canvas. Red signifies extremes for me and in this case blood and passion. I allowed it to penetrate all the paint.  If you click on the image to enlarge the men you will notice that they are sightless: the one by his blank glasses and the other by not having a pupil.  This signifies the lack of direction or understanding in their rage. Finishing with the closeness of their faces and the raised stick/weapon.

The Sin of Lust is finished

Lust

'Lust'

canvas, acrylic, oil
30. x 25. cm
Lorna Marrison

Lust is the continual desire for carnal pleasure which can become violent and self indulgent. 

When Eynsham Morris dance a stick dance it is rhythmical and violent but when Armaleggan  Morris dance their stick dance it is gentle and lewd. So this guy is personifying a combination of these dances and expresses the extremes of lust. So to save mine and his blushes I will leave the rest to your imaginations.

The Sin of Envy is Finished

Envy

'Envy'

canvas, acrylic, oil
30. x 25. cm
Lorna Marrison

I started on 'The Angel and the Seven Deadly Sins' in January. It has been a bit of a slog working on eight canvases at once. I think I have improved my productivity as a result because I could move on to the next canvas when paint needed to dry. However, I have looked at this painting for so long I can no longer decide if it 'works';  so the down side of working like this is that you loose freshness of perception.

 'Envy' is the resentment felt when you think the other person has something you lack. The joke here is that both dancers are played by Martyn Royper who dances for both Armaleggan Morris and Eynsham Morris

Underpainting and drawings for SINS

Underpainting and drawings
Click to enlarge

Starting on the left is a Eynsham morris dancer depicting the Archangel Gabriel who has often been depicted as a mortal male. Traditionally he blows a horn to start the end of time and the 'last judgement'. Here he will play the accordion. The sequence for the sinners is lust, sloth, gluttony, envy, pride, greed and wrath.

The plan is for the paintings to go from being tonally light (good) all the way to dark (bad) for wrath. I am surprised at how long it is ... yes I know maths is not one of my strong points. I like painting a series as it allows me to explore all aspects of an idea. Morris dancers are good archetypes for the abstract ideas and I have loads of source photos.

Gluttony, a further graphite study

Gluttony, a further graphite study

Gluttony

Gluttony

Why it's gluttony will be revealed with colour. I need to sharpen this composition yet.

Greed

Greed

This guy looks scary to you?

My scanner died last night so I had to photograph this drawing. It takes about 6 hours for each drawing to be completed. I regard drawing as thinking time, not just about light and shade but what I want to say in the picture. Starting this one I was just thinking about the bling he was wearing but as it progress I found that this character was sucking the light and colour to himself. So he will join Wrath at the dark end of this series.

Sloth

Sloth

This one started in my drawing book but I moved it into Photoshop when I was overwhelmed with detail. When I am not sure putting in detail is my first recourse but after many re drawings the expression was right but the tatters coat was a distraction. Looking at the background now I think I may remove it in the painting. Click too enlarge and see his face ...

Lust 2

Lust 2

I think this one is better. I had to develop the sketch further in Photoshop.

Lust 1

Lust-1

Having done this drawing I do not like this composition. Time for a rethink.

Wrath 1

Wrath 1

This will need redrawing to refine the composition and to get the lighting right as there is an awful lot of reflected light to sort.

Envy

Envy

Interesting that envy is the resentment that the 'other' has something that they lack as here the same man plays both parts by dancing for both sides.

The start of a new Morris dancer series of paintings

I am on the last few canvases for the "Out" series and hope to start blogging them in the new year. I am waiting for paint to dry so I can glaze.

The new series of paintings working title is "The Morris Angel and the Seven Deadly Sins" which is way too long a title so must come up with a snappier one. All suggestions gratefully accepted. The sins will be played by 'Armaleggan Morris' who with their decorated faces will allow scope for depicting the sins and the angel will be  from the 'Eynsham Morris'.


I am using shadow in this drawing to depict the idea of wings. The trouble was that it started of as a thumbnail on a page with another drawing and developed to the point that there was no more room.