“The Fall, so often considered a terrible thing, is a fall into experience; like falling of the epileptic to earth, it may also have its other face, for then we fall into the embrace of our dreams and fears and know them for what they are, face to face.
[...]the fearful face of the Black Goddess is really the veiled Sophia. The rebirth of the mystery initiation brings us into contact with our own power, which we have failed to take in our own time. Part of the reason for this is that we live in the shadow of the Judeo-Christian Fall for which Woman bears the blame. The experience of Psyche and Kore shows the vulnerable face of Sophia, who is not afraid to fall, to learn by seeming mistakes. They show that the descent into death is the only possible pathway to ascent or spiritual rebirth.”
― Caitlín Matthews, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, Bride of God
charcoal on gessoed board - 30 x 40 cm - 2014
Earlier today I wanted to talk about this piece and found I actually had not published it on my website, nor on Pixels where I sell prints. It is listed on my catalog of works and in my album on Flickr here. So I am correcting this now. On my Pixels Print Shop I added it today Nubian Kore. Since I was talking about it with some friends on Facebook, I added the following comment:
I have not done many charcoal pieces like this. Maybe its time to do it again. There are a lot of tricks involved, using sandpaper, electric erasers, kneaded erasers for picking up and transferring structures, aside from using a variety of charcoal products, from soft sticks to harder charcoal pencils. Also, soft charcoal can be 'washed' with a damp bristle brush. I know, not many people read the comment section, but those who do, may find some good hints here, particularly those that attended a workshop I once gave on my drawing methods. It does take a lot of practice.
The workshop I am talking about happened a year before this drawing, October 2013:
These photos were taken about
halfway through the process.
The image was inspired by a photo from
a book by Leni Riefenstahl
AFRICA
Detail from the finished work
you can also see the structure of the board
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