'Pandora's Box' by Paula Peacock
Oil on Canvas, 16" x 20"
Love, love, love how this one turned out! This painting was years in the planning stages. Planning of the composition, the subject matter, do I include Pandora or not? How to depict the evils of the world? How to depict 'Hope'? In the end, I decided Pandora was overdone and in other paintings I found, Pandora always seemed to be depicted as an overly sexy sex object and a bit on the 'witchy' side. So, I decided to save Pandora the humiliation and let her take a rest from this rendition by painting only the 'box'. All the other elements fell into place after I found the perfect vessel. The apple is representative of Eve, another woman blamed for the woes of the world. But, that will be another story in another painting.
Here's a bit of what I call 'useless information that stuck in my brain for no apparent reason'. It really was NOT a box but a bowl. I guess they didn't do the box thing way back then. There was a misinterpretation of the word bowl to box in the 15th century and it has stuck for the last 500 years.
OIL PAINTING LESSONS in LONGMONT, CO
Contact me HERE if you're interested in oil painting lessons; private or group. I offer to mentor as well. I also hold workshops on The Basics of Handmade Paper, How to Make Paper Pulp Vessels, How to Paint Mandalas, Acrylic Pouring, and more.