Canto VI Cerberus 2016

The Divine Comedy (Illustration)

Dante awakens in the 3rd circle.

Cold dirty rain-fall, mixing with heavy hailstones, pounding down, finally, streaking the nude bodies of the condemned souls lying supine in the filthy mud.  (epic poetry of Dante Alighieri)

Cerberus, the three-headed, dog-like worm beast stands over the souls clawing at the slightest movement made by the supine lying in the filth.

The process of the painting is below.

 

Drawing for Canto VI

 I did a few drawings like this one above and a watercolor.

 

Canto VI Cerberus 2015

Next, I painted a similar version on a canvas with egg tempera to start with.

On Canvas

I started building up shape and color

Egg tempera

 Then I changed my mind about something

 

Building up the shapes

I wanted a frontal view of the mouth

I put everything more or less where I wanted it

Canto VI (13-15) Cerberus 2016

And then I changed my mind again

That’s what I like about art