HOMO HARMONICUS COLORATIS

TEACHING THE MISCHTECHNIK

       This painting was created as a demonstration piece during The 2024 Summer Seminar at Torri Superiore Italy. I wanted to show the students how different colours can blend in the eye of the beholder ('the optical mixing of colour') when an opalescent layer of white casein sits between various colour layers applied transparently in an oleo-varnish medium (the foundation of the Mischtechnik).

HARMONY, COLOUR & PROPORTION 

       The initial drawing was made for the Anthropos - one of the main figures in my first large-scale painting for The Apocryphon Chapel, called The Upper Aeons. The Gnostic Anthropos is both male and female - a hermaphroditic figure that is later divided into Adam and Eve. 

     While writing Sacred Codes, I made a thorough investigation of Human Proportion and the Classical Style. Proportionally, the standing figure may be divided into four equal parts at the nipples, pubis and knees. Stylistically, the figure combines the Classical Greek musculature of both male and female anatomies.

     The figure of the Anthropos appears before The Harmonic Armature - a geometrical shape that measures out the Diapason halves, Diapente thirds and Diatessaron quarters for any composition (you can read more about Harmonic Composition in the section on The Halls of Wisdom). Hence the squares (Diatessaron quarters), triangles (Diapente thirds) and the circle in the middle (Diapason halves).

     At the same time, I have layered colours so that they combine harmonically in the eye of the beholder. I began with yellow and violet at the top and bottom, then added semi-transparent layers of blues and reds to the left and right. After that, I worked towards the secondary and tertiary colours - all of which were reversed on the figure.

     In the end, I've come to think of this painting as an exercise rather than a work of art - but an interesting exercise nevertheless... All my investigations into Proportion, Anatomy, Harmonic Composition etc are explained in detail in my book Sacred Codes.