Zodiac series

Over two days 4 and 5 Feb I made more than 12 paintings but these 12 sit in a series I made for my daughter, who is into horoscopes and everything to do with the zodiac. Because I love colours it was fun to make these. I was surprised by the thoughts that came to me when I was making them. I thought about culture, history, and the passage of time, I imagined what it might’ve been like to live at a time when horoscopes made up a larger part of life. I even though about the multiplicity of the star signs and how this inherent complexity requires learning, which is not easily given up once communally acquired. I thought about the Persian gods in the pantheon and how a multiplicity of influences accustoms us to compromise and reason. 

You can understand how satisfying it was to make these things.

I will get them framed in sets of six and I will send them to Japan so my family can do with them what they will. Using Messenger my daughter told me the colours to use for each star sign, and I interpreted these instructions myself. For the most part I used colours straight out of a tube but for Libra I had to devise a sort of creamy beige as well as a pink.

They look better close-up.

As with other paintings I made the first base layer with watercolour, let it dry, then put on collage. After this layer had set I added Posca marks to complete the image.