Colour scheme based on Kahlil Gibran's poem "On Death"
AIP1, Session 16
ON DEATH
Kahlil Gibran
"You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."
For this session, I was asked to create a painting based on one of Kahlil Gibran's poems. Gibran was a Lebanese-American poet who lived from 1883 to 1931. He is known for his 1923 book "The Prophet" (the poem above is one of many in the book).
I chose this poem because of its different approach to something that is commonly feared--death. We see death as the end of life, whereas Gibran sees it as a continuation, even a part of, life. Life and death balances each other out. Death makes life valuable and vice versa. I started the painting with earthy tones--reddish browns, dark reds, orange and greenish blue, and moved on to more "cheerful" colours like yellow and pink. I wanted to use colours that was dark and yet cheerful, or at least not as gloomy. A more optimistic view towards death.