Cosmic Time, 2016

Cosmic Time (2016), 121.92 cm X 121.92cm, Italian canvas, acrylic paints, airbrush, never exhibited. Personal collection.

I have been very fascinated with the new inner workings of watches ever since I was a little girl. I was inspired to make a painting on the subject as I became older and saw myself change physically with time. I realised that time moves so fast that we do not see what is happening until reality hits when it is time to be old. 

I combined two concepts in this painting. One is the Hindu goddess of time; her name is Kali. The other concept is watches.

The painting has a great deal of focus on round movements to symbolise the circle of time. This the circle that represents both life and death.

If you look very carefully you can see that there is a female sheep shape that is painted in the night sky. She is outlined in stars. She is the goddess of time and hides under the watch’s movements in the night sky. 

In this painting I focused my palette on night-time colours. That is, silver on a black/brown and blue/black  base. The watch movements have a silver glow with small touches of brightness, such as red. (the colour of blood and that is associated with the Goddess Kali).  

I enjoyed playing with the third dimension using lots of shadows that are contrasted with white/silver highlights. This method deepens the sense of perspective. The Cosmic Time painting took a long time  to plan and make. It has so many details and different methods that are combined to make a balanced whole.