Gabriel's world of beauty and heartbreak

The High Priestess

My OC Xander portrayed as the High Priestess Major Arcanum of the Tarot. I took a lot of inspiration from both the Marseille and the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot for this painting. The High Priestess has been etched into my brain as the Arcanum of intuition, and I love the symbols both decks use in the image of the Arcanum, so I've worked with many of them: the pomegranate and the pillars as symbols of dualities, the pomegranate calling back the story of Persephone and Hades, as well as the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge, the pillars of Boaz and Jachin the pillars of Severity and Mercy, darkness and light, receptivity and action; the Moon, present here in three of her faces: in his tattoo on his right hand, behind his head, and the crescent of light in the foreground; and you already get a glimpse of what awaits you behind the veil: the Cosmos itself, beauty, awe, and wonder, it's processes, cycles, electricity, light, the synthesis of elements, alchemy, as above, so below.

I've also been working on detailing Xander's tattoos. Those visible here are: dark swirling fire on both of his arms, collarbones, and neck, surrounding asrological symbols: the Moon (right hand), Saturn (right forearm), Mars (left upper arm, partially covered by a shining star in the foreground), and Mercury (neck, partially obscured by a red choker); other motifs on his left shoulder: a parchment that says "temet nosce" (know thyself), an ornate frame with the image of a rose in it, a skull that has a parchment hanging from it, and a text: two excerpts from The Rose of Paracelsus by Jorge Luis Borges in its original Spanish: "El camino es la Piedra. El punto de partida es la Piedra. Si no entiendes estas palabras, no has empezado aún a entender. Cada paso que darás es la meta. / Sé que “hay” un Camino." ("The path is the Stone. The point of departure is the Stone. If these words are unclear to you, you have not yet begun to understand. Every step you take is the goal you seek. / I know that there is a Path."). A part of a coiling snake is also visible on his thigh, partially obscured by the red laces.

Here's a close-up of some of his tattoos:

Architect of Ruin

A long overdue sneak peek of a certain painting I've been working on.

And you know that, too 💧💕