Birth of the Griffin Original Watercolor Painting

Description

Birth of the Griffin Original Watercolor Painting

Entitled “Birth of the Griffin” this original artwork was painted using watercolor and ink on the paper. It was inspired by a two page spread from my Alchemy Notebook featuring an intertwined lion and eagle wrapped around the sun and the moon surrounded by the alchemical symbols associated with their transmutation into the Griffin. This illustration of the mysteries of alchemy is accompanied by a secret script written in an Alchemical Alphabet. I originally painted this image in the pages of the Alchemy Notebook, a project I have worked on for many years exploring the symbolism and meaning behind the mysteries of the alchemical process. The last image in this listing shows the painting from this listing next to the open pages of the Alchemy Notebook.

This painting was created entirely by hand, drawn with ink pens and colored with watercolors. The painting is on a heavyweight acid-free paper board, and the entire piece measures 9″ x 7″, with the central image measuring 5″ x 7″.

This artwork is an adaptation of an emblem that appears in the Opus medico-chymicum of Johann Daniel Mylius, published in 1618. The emblem is from a section in the third volume called Seals of the Philosophers, which illustrates 160 small round emblems dedicated to the heroes of alchemy. The emblem that inspired my Alchemy Notebook painting is “The Philosophick Testament of Pythagoras: Without Fire nothing will be wrought, as no warrior should be without arms.” This emblem is traditionally depicted with the lion’s head inverted, with the head of the eagle in its jaws, to create an ouroboros – in the shape of an infinity symbol instead of the more common circular serpent. I chose instead to break the loop in the design, and have the two face each other. My thoughts on the symbolism of this image is that it represents a joining of the two powerful alchemical beasts, representing the mystery contained within the origin of the griffin.