Igneus

In Latin Igneus means of fire. Fire is one of the most used symbols in the world, representing destruction, death and suffering, but also rebirth like the fiery phoenix. Universally, fire has been used to level forests and cities, to warm dwellings, to cook, to kill, to cleanse; fire is terrifying and marvelous and powerful. So many references came to mind when I decided to make this piece: visions of hell-fire, walking through the fire, the fear of enduring campfire stories, the fleeting, fragile flame of a candle, "witches" burning at the stake, etc. Materials, Homes, Relationships, Jobs, ect. all come and go, but regardless of set backs, I am a survivor and I will prevail.

Originally, I sketched a silhouetted figure similar to that in a previous painting, Anima Mea, burning at the stake. I wanted to create a piece that showed a walked through the "fire" type survival, wise and mischievous look of someone having a hidden knowledge , and the stubborn, maybe arrogant, determination to prevail no matter what. Thinking my silhouette at the stake would be too blank in facial expression and be too rooted in one specific use of fire, I sketched a face coming out of the flames, eventually settling on a self portrait.

This piece became a very cool and extensive mix of my art experience. I began setting up, modeling and taking self portraits using my DSLR. I picked my favorite image, brought it into Photoshop and changed the levels and threshold to a high contrast image of just my face (eyes, nose, mouth). Next, using my Cricut, I printed and cut three identical vinyl iron ons of my face, one in orange, one in yellow and one in red.

I painted the canvas with an orange gradient and dripped purple, blues and blacks down. After drying, I applied the iron ons, slightly above the last to give a deep, almost shadow effect. After cooling, I drew the outline of the flames and applied more drips of purple and blue. I embroidered using black thread, using the vinyl as a stencil or guide, and combined a variety of fire" colors in the flames. To finish and balance the almost white blue in the flames, I mimicked the drips on a small scale using a white acrylic paint pen.