The painting (24' x 36') was done in oil using traditional methods. That is, a complete sketch transferred onto the canvas. Then a sepia wash. Then the underpainting in black and white to establish values. Then thin coats of color built up slowly until this end result.
The black swan on the Black River sings a sad song. Lemminkainen was sent to kill the swan, but the swan's song was so beautiful he was unable to do so. A Finnish god later punishes Lemminkainen for this transgression and his body was cut up and thrown into the river. His mother later rescues him and sews his body back together. Life is infused into Lemminkainen again with the help of another god and a magic drop of honey.
In Sibelius' music, the swan is represented by the English horn.
Click on image to see larger version.
3 comments:
Nice work! I didn't really know that Kalevala was really known outside Finland.
Greeting from Finland by the way.
I like it a lot, the technique seems good
Sibelius is one of my favorite composers and since I like his music I looked into the deeper meaning of what he wrote and found a lot of his inspiration flowed from the Kalevala. Also, a Finnish painter named Gallen Kallela is an artist I admire greatly and he's done some well-known paintings based that book of Finish mythology.
I plan on doing more such paintings when I have the time.
Post a Comment