James Then » painting

“Swan” Painting

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:03:53 +0000

A very traditional styled acrylic painting of a Swan and flowers, finished with gold leaf.

“Pride”

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:14:25 +0000

New painting called “Pride”, has been a while since I last painting but this is a good start to getting back in the game.

Traditional American Pin-up

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:34:23 +0000

new painting done in water color, my first of many to come. I plan to start doing paintings and offering them up for free over my blog as flash designs. Here is the first of many, the banner was left blank for that purpose.

“Raijin” The God of thunder and lightning

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:05:38 +0000

Raijin is a demon who is found in Japan’s religion of Shintoism. When Buddhism arrived in Japan, Raijin and Fuji (The God of Wind) was adopted as well as many other Shinto icons into Buddhism. Raijin bangs on a massive drum to form thunder.

“Solace” Buddha painting

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:28:43 +0000

This is a painting of a Buddha (Thai Buddha influenced) surrounded by three Lotus flowers, to represent the Buddha’s purity. I intended the buddha to be a statue more so than a person.

Shi-Jin’s Dragon 1 of 9

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:27:53 +0000

This is a painting of one of 9-Dragons Shi-Jin’s dragons. Okay let me explain if you’ve never read “Water Margin”, a classical Chinese Folktale from around the 16th century. In the story there is a character named Shi-Jin, also known as “Nine-Dragons Shi-Jin” because of the 9 dragons tattooed all over his body. I wanted to do 9 paintings of dragons in dedication of Shi-Jin and what those dragons within his body suit of tattoos would look like.

The Tibetan

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:00:09 +0000

Taken from the traditional imagery of the Hanya Mask, I originally set out to create a Tibetan style skull, although this is the result. Paired with leaves.

King Koi swimming in the lotus garden painting.

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:24:01 +0000

New painting I’ve done in acrylics on canvas. It’s been a while since I’ve painted and even longer since I used Acrylics. I started a painting underneath what you see now and just forced myself to do something, it wasn’t looking good at all. I went to bed woke up early the next morning, over my morning tea I looked at the canvas and had my inspiration and started painting.

Sadhu

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:57:15 +0000

With great interest in the east, my next subject was the “Sadhu”. They are men who give up the goals of life to pursue moksha (liberation) through meditation and contemplation of God. Sadhus often wear ochre-colored clothing, symbolizing renunciation.

This was an interesting subject for me to pick, the sadhus wore bright orange clothes, hair tangled and face paint.

Lupe

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:32:15 +0000

“Lupe” – Our Lady of Guadalupe is a traditional icon, she is the patron saint of Mexico and the imagery is used constantly. I wanted to take a different approach while keeping the popular motifs used in a Lady of Guadalupe image. I kept “tradition” in mind, and decided to give her a “Traditional pin-up” look. My version of “Lupe” sports tattoos on her face, neck, and hands.