The Moth Story
The story began a few months after Howard's death when a Polyphemus moth perched on the porch screen, laid her eggs and died. I had seen her before and even had taken pictures, but this sequence of life touched me deeply.
Her image stayed with me for days. Finally, I started some studies of the earlier photos and began to feel this moth as a metaphor.
To my mind the medium had to be watercolor. Here's the first painting:
 "Like Icarus" 14" x 14" Watercolor (See blog post) |
|
I googled
Polyphemus to learn the moth had gotten its name from Polyphemus
who
plays a pivotal role in Homer's
"Odyssey."
It was a revelation: Homer was Howard's most favorite sage. Reading further, I found that moths tend to use celestial navigation. Just for fun I used the celestial navigation principle to draw a sphere within which repeated lines vanished to a single point, like the navel of an orange. Then I drew the moth within that sphere, placing its head slightly below the vanishing point, allow its striations to follow. Joila.  "Polyphemus" 21" x 18" Watercolor (See blog post.) I thought at the time that the moth metaphor had run its course, but I would be proven wrong. Another alighted on a tree as if in upward flight. It was this that lead me to the next painting. |
 "Ascending" 20" x 28" Watercolor (See blog post.) |
|
Although I
had intended "Ascending" to be the last in the series, once it was
finished I realized I wanted to revisit the mother moth. I
began
to realize these studies and paintings were playing a major role in my
coming to terms with Howard's death.
I discovered a serenity within these paintings.  "Alpha Omega" 20" x 28" Watercolor (See blog post.) |
|
|
Home
| Gallery
of Paintings
| Dianne's Blogs|Contact|Anatomy
of a Painting