"Thus poore Psyches being left alone, weeping and trembling on the toppe of the rocke, was blowne by the gentle aire and of shrilling Zephyrus, and carried from the hill with a meek winde, which retained her garments up, and by little and little bought her
downe into a deepe valley, where she was laid in a bed of most sweet and fragrant flowers..."
A project begun on a really slow day at the office and escalated into something more than the doodle it was originally intended to be. It's an interpretation of Cupid and Psyche, from Greek mythology. With some slight changes to the actual context of the myth (try
[link]), but it's where my doodles took me, so I hope people like it.
I know the myth says nothing about Cupid coming to meet Psyche, but I always thought that he wouldn't have been able to resist coming to see her because he is seized by this love/lust for this mortal who he has been sent to bring to destruction. Plus this is something he experiences for the very first time in his life - he IS love, and yet this is the first time that he is IN it. And he is invisible until later in the story after all, so I always thought that he might have been there, unbeknownst to all.
As you can see I love this myth, and I have analyzed and reanalyzed and read and reread everything I could.
`ChewedKandi has certainly gone out of her way to keep the vector community on the right path. Always making sure that her talents are infinitely scalable, Sharon has put her bezier curves to excellent use, and firmly anchored herself as an inspirational leader. We're absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for June 2013 to `ChewedKandi. Congratulations, Sharon! Read More
Sta.sh
I like that you have him coming out to meet her, invisible. I'm sure he had some curiosity too!
you have a good eye for composition and color.
Yup. It's Episode 1 retold I guess.
I just always thought Cupid would have been one of the invisible presences around her because it was all so new to him. SHE was so new to him.
Also, i thought about the tree with the hearts... it just occured to me. Cupid, before Psyche even arrived, already planted his love for her (quite literally and metaphorically, as it would appear). I mean, it's from his own will, right? Much the same way mortals love. Plant first and hope it grows in another's heart? Or am i being too stereotypical, lol?
I thought about that.
And when Cupid who pursued and wooed her with such tenderness, suddenly refuses her advances towards him, I think it was her first lesson in being treated like an actual person. Because while other people in her life had always put her on a pedestal or put her down because they thought she was undeserving, Cupid just disregarded all her gorgeousness, and held her responsible for something that she ACTUALLY did. Instead of something that was simply given to her at birth that she had no control over.
As for Cupid, I actually always thought he fell in love with her because she was so different from his mother in some ways, and so similar in others. Which actually matched with his own personality quite well. Aphrodite is so reactive, where as Psyche is quite passive but goes into action only when absolutely necessary.
Which ties in quite nicely with how it works with the soul and the body, I think. The soul will tame the body, and the body fires up the soul.
I quite like your interpretation of the tree!
Yet another long post from me. So sorry.
I do like talking about this myth though. I love it for it's nuances that can be picked apart.