I wanted to draw this picture on a tablet, but then I wanted to transfer it to canvas with paints. Now, from the outside, it seems to me a little religious, but in fact it's not at all.
I really like the image of Bartimaeus in the days when he lived under King Solomon and Ptolemy - despite all the evil that the magicians did to him, he still remained himself.
He also saved Nathaniel's soul.
After all, we all understand that if it hadn't been for Bartimaeus, Nathaniel would have died long ago and the callous and cold John Mandrake existed instead. I won't say that I'm 100% satisfied with the result, but I got creative pleasure painting these feathers, shadows on clothes, splashes of rain and emotions on their faces. Aloof, incredibly strong mentally, but at heart a very lonely Nathaniel, whose only friends were silent books - the last time he cried was when Mrs. Underwood died, the only person he loved.
Among the greedy, corrupt, vile wizards, there is only a boy who has been attacked by everything at once. This song symbolizes the British government in my head - "a flock of crazed birds." Vultures who pretend to be colleagues, but in fact are just waiting for you to make a mistake.
Bartimaeus, on the other hand, is calm. He understands all this. He's seen too much over thousands of years, so I think his help for Nathaniel wasn't entirely imposed by his endless Imprisonment. After all, despite everything that followed, he never revealed John Mandrake's true name to anyone and did no harm.
I'm sure such an inventive genie could have found a loophole.
He stayed with him until the end. This peace with a hint of truth is what I wanted to show. The way the genie covers the real Nathaniel with his wings from the dank downpour on his soul, from the real demons longing for his death, and calms him down.
Bartimaeus was the last person Nathaniel showed his tears to. Nathaniel was still himself only because of Bartimaeus.
And while darkness, bad weather and demons are raging outside, there is silence, tranquility and a starry sky under the powerful wings.
