#medea-typical death mysticism

[medeaft]

The way to the Pyramid (originally: Út a Piramis felé) 2023 Acrylic on paper

All of this is very symbolic, and everything is on it for a reason. It is Tremere-related, and is intended to try to express how I see the clan and what that means to me.

The labyrinth is unicursal. You can't tell that from this angle, but there will be another painting at some point (not immediately, but hopefully not far in the future) that will make that clear. One doesn't actually lose one's way; however long and winding, however many times it seemed like you were going the wrong way, all of that was necessary: the path you walked so far was the correct path, and you will get where you are going.

I had some difficulty with how to tag this, because I wasn't sure all my Medea-typical death mysticism thoughts were visible enough on the surface of it to tag; but even aside from the vampire thoughts, a pyramid is a tomb, and that's not coincidental.

[medeaft]

Reading on a bench (originally: Padon olvasva) 2024 Ink on paper

Strauss from Bloodlines.

This I imagine to be in the garden of the Chantry (which I headcanoned exists: here is my thought process of how I came to think that even though there is no way it fits into the street).

I know that having my signature and the year on the book looks a little suspicious; I promise he isn't reading my diary. He respects secrets more than that. I just like signing somewhere that the text fits into the picture.

[medeaft]

Last sunset (originally: Utolsó napnyugta) 2023 Acrylic on paper

It's an image I have had in my mind for a long time. As is sometimes the case, I don't feel I'm done with the topic, and will continue to explore it later. In this case it's more than one element of it. I certainly know I will want more pictures of reeds, particularly with their inflorescences heavy with water. And I will definitely want more pictures of bodies of water as symbolic of death, in which to rest, in a similar composition; that's a comforting theme to me, and one that, in thinking about it and exploring it visually, I have whole internal subcategories for.

[medeaft]

The lord of the castle returns (originally: A várúr hazatér) 2023 Acrylic on paper

So it wasn't the plan that if I paint something very Tremere, I have to immediately also paint something very Tzimisce; this just wanted to come out of my hand, unplanned.

[medeaft]

A million stars, a million graves (originally: Egymillió csillag, egymillió sír) 2024 Ink on paper

I drew this for comfort; I find it comforting to draw really-really detailed pen-and-ink drawings.

I know someone who told me once that they thought for a long time that everyone does actually see rays around distant lights; only later in life did they figure out that's not normal and they have astigmatism. So if you think stars do in fact look like that, maybe it's important that I mention that that's not how everyone's eyes work.

[medeaft]

The bandit king (originally: A haramiavezér) 2023 Acrylic on paper

Ah, Andrei. He is so horrible, I love him.

I like thinking of different outfits for him (also for Strauss) - he doesn't need clothes to protect him from the weather, he doesn't seem to have a desire to look presentable or unremarkable or not startling, so the only thing he needs clothes for is their best purpose: decoration. He wears them so he can look dramatic in them. And the ones he is wearing in Bloodlines are very suitable for this. But surely he must have other ones also. I decided a good while ago that this outfit is one that he has; and now here he is wearing it, telling his band of ruffians companions about his atrocities values and plans.

I gave myself very little room for his elaborate clothing. But if I hadn't, it wouldn't have fit in the scanner and you wouldn't be looking at it.

[medeaft]

Pisha 2023 Watercolour on paper

Occultist, death mystic, wanderer, vampire, necromancer; eyes shining like the Moon, a face spattered with blood, and a name commemorating love and death; truly a creature after my own heart. I wish I could know her better.

A small portrait, but I had to do it like this to get my courage up. Her eyes are so beautiful that every time I wanted to do something more complicated with her, I became afraid that I wouldn't be equal to the task of her eyes. This is the only reason I haven't been painting her more.

[medeaft]

I cannot protect him from himself (originally: Önmagától nem védhetem meg) 2023 Acrylic on paper

Or from his misaligned boiserie, apparently. Which was horrible to paint, because I felt responsible for how bad it is, even though it's supposed to be bad. But anyway, have a Sheriff worrying over his stupid Prince.

The Sheriff's head isn't meant to be glowing; there's a lamp on the wall behind him, and his face is more lit than the rest of him. I'm actually quite sorry to have painted his eyes closed, as they are remarkable. But it seemed to suit the situation more. I should like a better-lit picture of just him someday, where he gets to look more colour-correct and detailed.

And don't let me get stated on the drying times. I made some very unfortunate discoveries over this particular tube of paint, and to be specific, the way that the surface it leaves behind affects the drying times of the next layer. No more of that will be entering my house, in the interest of finishing my next picture sometime this year.

[medeaft]

Oil (originally: Olaj) 2024 Watercolour on paper

It's one of those pictures that hasn't left my mind for months and needed to be done. For the sake of Tumblr's delicate sensibilities I'm not explaining my thought process this time. I'm sure Regent Strauss can have any number of reasons to pour oil over his hand. Maybe it's magically necessary.

[medeaft]

In the chantry garden (originally: A székház kertjében) 2023 Acrylic on paper

I know that there's no visible garden to the chantry in VTMB; it's a headcanon I made up, but I made it up with some reasoning behind it, and I feel like it's plausible. Here's my reasoning (long textpost).

But ultimately I just wanted to paint plants, and I also wanted to paint Strauss, because I love plants and I love Strauss.

Maybe I shouldn't be drawing your attention to it, but this is really a size of picture I shouldn't be scanning myself anymore; there's a scanning error that appears when I do. Still, I wanted to show it to you anyway, because this is a picture I've been wanting to make for a long time.

[medeaft]

Oath of allegiance of the pawn (originally: A gyalog hűségesküje) 2023 Acrylic on paper

This is a very self-indulgent picture of my Bloodlines self-insert PC handing a chess pawn to Strauss; it represents the final choice in the game, but it is a choice that had been made long ago in my heart.

When earlier I told @master-of-shenanigans what I was working on, they described my thought like this: "I didn't want to be a pawn and you didn't want to play this game either, but here we are with no other choices. Let's stick together. Let me be your pawn, if a pawn I must be."

Aside from the fire, I gave us a little bit of moonlight through the windows, because it seemed fitting.

I made a minor mistake. I tried to paint a picture that was as big as can possibly fit into the new scanner. It didn't quite fit. This is why I have the white borders cropped off this time; not because it didn't have them, but because that was what I could sacrifice the most. The other mistake I made was framing the picture such that the nice carvings on the fireplace were out of frame. It's a pity for that. But then how big would it have been, and how much less would it have fit into the scanner! Altogether, I don't mind.

[medeaft]

Dragon's eye (originally: Sárkányszem) 2023 Graphite and watercolours on paper

Only the eye is made with watercolours; it needed the saturation.

So this is more an experiment than anything, I tried water-soluble graphites (both tinted and not) for the first time. I like it, I want to buy some of this now. So I know it's not perfect, but I'm new at this particular medium, and next time it will be better.

I asked myself: I wonder if Andrei has an actual dragon shape; I wonder what he looks like in it if he does. And I drew this in tentatively answering myself. Behold Andrei the dragon.

[medeaft]

My ancestral estate (originally: Őseim otthona) 2022 Acrylic on paper

As Andrei said, "the sights in this haven pale in comparison to my ancestral estate". Naturally, this made me wonder what that ancestral estate would be like, and I needed to paint that eventually; now, the time has come. I wanted something that's much more finished than his current residence, even though I'm sure he constantly makes improvements somewhere, because I think he's just like that.

The well of blood is there for use by him or any guest who arrives thirsty.

I painted his eyes with a needle. I have a 3/0 paintbrush, and even that wasn't thin enough. Maybe I should just have done this at a larger size, but if I had done that, I couldn't scan it and you wouldn't be reading this. (I realise there are services available where I can scan much larger things, but I can't afford do that unless it is for a commission.)

[medeaft]

The final conflict (originally: Ez a harc lesz a végső) 2023 Watercolour on paper

I have been wanting this picture for a while now. Damsel may not like me very much, but that's alright, I like her.

[medeaft]

The emblem of true friendship (originally: Az igaz barátság emblémája) 2023 Acrylic on paper

This is a picture I have wanted to paint for many years now. I have seen a similar composition in some emblem books, always about true friendship; the first time I saw it with an inscription that was about how even when there is no joy in one's own life, a friend can still bring joy; later I also saw it with inscriptions that were about how even death will not stand between friends, but they will keep each other in their hearts forever. In any case, the imagery stuck with me, and this picture was eventually going to need to happen. Here it is now.

The variety of grapevine I painted is pinot gris. I chose that for the colour of the fruit, because it seemed like that would go well with the picture. However, then I realised that in Hungarian, the name of this kind of grape ("szürkebarát") can be interpreted as "grey friend". (It's not, it's meant to be grey friar, that is, Pauline friar; but it can also mean grey friend.) And even as a coincidence, I quite like that.

Whether the tree is dead or just temporarily leafless is intentionally left unclear in my picture. But because the meaning of the emblem can potentially include death, and it's right there, I'm still giving it the death mysticism tag.

[medeaft]

Greeting the Moon (originally: Holdköszöntés) 2024 Acrylic on paper

I missed acrylics. At last I feel well enough to paint again (knock on wood). There are so many things I want to paint, I have an absolute stack of sketches. But first of all I finished this, after all I had already started it before I didn't feel up to it for a while.

I realise that this is a strange way to hold a dagger and not a safe way to actually use it for the intended purpose, and that it has a handle for a reason. Still, when I hold one in order to gesture with it as opposed to actively slicing/piercing something with it right at that moment, I like holding it like this, two fingers lying along the flat of the blade, making it an extension of my arm; and for this picture it felt right.