This is a page about a triptych project I decided to start 4 weeks before I'm out of school.

Now, I dont like explaining my art because I feel like well-done art shouldn't need to be explained. But, the basic run down of the triptych is that the role or placement someone is in doesn't define whether they're good or bad.

Any other meaning you come up with is welcome, because that's how you see it.

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First Things first, what's a triptych?

Well, it's three pieces/canvases that go together, often connected by hinges to tell a story. You often see this in Catholic/religious relics, but it doesn't have to relate to religion.

These are two examples, one older that relates to religion and one newer that does not relate to religion.

A triptych, if you want, doesn't even need to tell a story or be connected by hinges. It could just be a landscape separated into three canvases.

Which, i'm sure you've seen something similar in an office or even in your home.

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Moving on

Let's get into the first part of my process, references and inspirations.

A big inspiration for this project was Deborah Sengl and especially her wolf-sheep-priest piece.

Sengl often uses taxidermy and wax sculptures to comment on different social issues, which is what fed my interest in her work.

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Another inspiration, funny enough, was the band powerwolf and their main album artist, Zsofia Dankova.

Dankova is very talented and I was drawn alot to her composition and lighting. Along with the fact that she still uses MS Paint of all things.

But- Powerwolf themselves gave me a lot of inspiration as well. Though they're a metal band and metal can be rough and aggressive, when i think of the songs that helped me think through this project, I'd say "prelude to purgatory", "lupus die", and "alive or undead" are more prominent ones. Which makes sense, they're more melodic and melancholic.

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Sketches and planning.

The fun-ish part

This is where all the brainstorming happened and I figured things out.

Hardest part of this was honestly figuring out how to mix a lamb and a wolf pup, which is what the altar boy is.

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After I figured out the basics of everything I took pictures and compiled them together into full images in IbisxPaint.

These were later printed out so I could sketch them onto actual canvases.

I dont have a picture of the sketch on the middle canvas, but thats due to me not taking many photos of the first canvas' process.

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Canvas one

Like stated before, I didn't take that many photos of this one's process...

That's my own fault...

This is the earliest photo I have of it and it's mostly done.

This is of course there final piece, though I'll get better photos eventually

Biggest thing I learned is that your arm is your best friend and despite people saying oil paint takes forever to dry, it'll always dry faster on your pallet and you'll lose a color..

Speaking of, pallet and arm from the last session

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I'd say the things i'm most proud of in canvas one, which I'll be calling "altar boy" from now on is the tile flooring, the lamb-wolf boy's robes, and the lattice work on the confessional booth.

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Canvas two

This one is the right one and I did actually to take photos.

This is, of course, the sketch.

This was the painting after session one, where I was just getting everything set in stone and getting myself comfortable with the piece.

This is after about three sessions. I actually looked at a wolf this time, while painting to it looks much more accurate.

This is how it is currently, after five-ish sessions. This was just getting some of the final things done before I do the final wash and foreground work.

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I'm still working on this one, which I'll be calling "wolf-priest" from now on, so this page will be updated as I work on the project.

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Now- funny enough- let's take a detour

The frame, something most people don't really think about when they look at artwork. This is mostly because the frames we use today are often mass produced and sleek. Simple.

But in history, there was the painter, but there was also the framer. A less recognizable job.

They made the frame to accent the art.

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Now, sleek is not what I wanted for this project so I decided that I'm going to make the frame myself- eventually.

For a reference, I used this frame from the Renaissance era.

Tabernacle mirror frame, from 1540–60

This is the basic sketch.

With the frame, I want it to accent the art but also be its own piece of art. If you look hard enough you can see a deeper meaning, but the deeper meaning isn't needed. It can just be pretty to be pretty.

This is the more beefy sketch with color, but this isn't set in stone and things may change over time.

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Now, I do plan to make everything on this frame, that means that I will build the base from scratch, I will carve the wood and sculpt the figures. I will make molds if I need to. I will paint it and I'll put gold leaf (fake of course, I'm broke) where I need to.

Will I mess up? Absolutely, but I'll figure it out.

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As this project continues i will update this page, but the frame section will always come after the canvas sections. Just to not make this a mess.

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