DESCRIPTION EDITED !!!

FULL-VIEW AND READ THE DESCRIPTION. THANKS !

I dedicate it to my father for his birthday JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE PAPA !

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Cinabre is the central piece of this tryptich [link] (far from being finished… )

Its name comes from the french name of the cinnabar stone, which is considered both as a poison and a symbol of eternal life (it has been used as a drug of longevity and resurrection).

Cinnabar is also used as a pigment.

All these images are meant to look very stiff, icon-like and full of symbols (bugs, colors, stones… ) and will be printed full size (200cm x 60cm) as door ornaments.

EDIT : Since many people asked me what are the symbols, here's a very quick explanation

She's red, color of fire, life, passion and blood. Yet, she's very pale and has "dead" skin. White has different meanings in different cultures yet it's almost often associated with calm/peace. I added green too, to enhance this opposition. The colors symbolize life duality.

The pomegranate is based on the myth of Persephone : it's a symbol of death and life too. Persephone ate 6 pomegranate seeds which caused the world to suffer winter.

The dice are meant to represent chance/fortune which are to me very important in life (I mean life in general, with its beginning and ending). I added the cards symbols (spade and heart) to enhance this aspect (heart = love. Quite easy ^^ spade = life, both soft and spiky, skull = death. Easy too )

She's wearing a very bright red dress full of feathers and some "light bulbs thingies" (some kind of metaphorical fire) which symbolize the phœnix : also associated with life and rebirth.

The cinnabar stone, as mentionned previously is associated with eternal life and death too.

The horns/antennaes are associated to Nature and insects (these are very organic). Insects have been associated with eternal life and death in many many cultures (Egyptian one for instance). Mosquitos "steal" life, beetles/scarabs carry eternal life, worms/flies are symbols of death…

Mantises are well-known for eating their mate.
I painted this mantis to enhance the "devouring passion" aspect of this painting and also to enhance the likeness of Cinabre to a "Red Lady" (I don't know the english name for these creatures, I'm sorry).
Red ladies are some kind of "vampires" that seduce men to steal their life in order to become immortal.
They are seducing them by showing them their perfect pale body (they are described as "so pale that their skin looks almost blue or green in comparison to their vivid red clothes they open to seduce men"). Cinabre's dress is untied as if she were about to steal someone's life (her stare is also very intense and her open lips show some sharp teeth).


This painting is full of dual symbols and tries to depict Life in general in a very iconic way, such as the two other pictures of the series.
I could spend the whole day wrinting the symbolism about this series so I think I'll stop here for now ^^

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Original size : 7087px x 23622px , 300dpi
Photoshop CS3
Wacom Intuos 3A4
No direct reference used (ie : I didn't copy a photo) though I used many references for the peacock mantis, a real pomegranate on my desk and a mirror for the hands.
40 hours approximately, I don't really know.

You can see the WIP here : [link]

Quick animated WIP : [link]

Closeups (40% size) [link]

Wallpaper here : [link]

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Thanks for looking !

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THIS IMAGE IS ©DIANE ÖZDAMAR. DO NOT USE ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN CONSENT. ASK FIRST