It wasn't that long ago that I was fretting about painting the dragon. I just couldn't form an image of what a dragon should look like in my head. Now it is almost time for its successor to emerge. The year of the snake is imminent.
I know a couple whose zodiac signs are dragon and snake. Dragon is traditionally held at the highest regard. Ancient emperors donned robes embroidered with magnificent dragons and these emperors held an absolute monopoly to the rights of anything that had to do with the dragon. The emperors claimed to embrace the virtues of the dragon, being kind and just on one hand but fierce and ruthless on the other. As for the snake, I suppose most cultures do not treat the snake with any fondness, which is unfortunate. It is interesting none the less, to find the snake as a symbol of healing, both in biblical terms and in Greek mythology. It is therefore employed as an emblem in the medical and pharmaceutical arena. Thus this couple would always banter with each other, but wittingly agree that they are both serpents and the true difference lies in whether one has legs or not.
Painting an animal that is associated with being sneaky, like a snake in the grass; or being evil like snake-eyes is difficult. Very difficult. Especially if the painting is to be used as good omen for the rest of the year. I don't want to paint puny grass snakes. They are not majestic symbols for me. I don't want to paint a constrictor snake, they seem sneaky and sinister. The King cobra is fierce alright, but that is all I can see. Always angry and combative. Not a virtue to embrace.
I've tried playing around with snake painting years ago. That never evolved into anything. It was done on photo paper and purely for fun.
Recently I did a family zodiac painting and I modeled a snake in the shape of the alphabet L to give homage to the family name.
For the current exercise I chose to model a rattler.
The rattle snake looks plump and wholesome (if one can call a snake wholesome) and it doesn't bother you unless you initiate the threat. And it gives warning by making the rattling sound. So it's not sneaky like the boa, not scrawny like the grass snake, not pissed off like the cobra. I would say the rattle snake is the gentleman amongst snakes. Enough said.
I found a pose that I liked. It was in the shape of the infinity symbol. I suppose I could hype the painting by addressing the "hidden" meaning of the subject. A true Zen master. Wink. Wink.
Filled in the body to see how the sketch would look;
Satisfied that this was what I wanted, I sketched the design onto a gold speckled Xuan. I wanted to take advantage of the specks to help with the texture of the snake's skin.
I had some packing material laying around that I tried to exploit. It had the same sort of scaly appearance of a snake. I was hoping that it could somehow allow me to "stamp" in the skin.
I decided against it as I realized it could be more effort than what was worth. I would be spending so much time trying to align the "scales" in the correct orientation.
So I sketched in my grid on the snake to help me visualize how the scales would line up when I needed to paint them in. If I needed to paint them in that is. Sketching in the grid was interesting. It reminded me of cutting out and gluing the ribs when building a balsa wood glider with my son when he was young. Fond memories.
I also identified the spine of the animal to help me conceptualize the sides of the snake when it twisted and turned.
