Circe, Goddess of Enchantment

´Circe, Goddess of Enchantment, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Circe, ancient Greek goddess of enchantments and herbs, made famous by Homer’s Odyssey and the memorable welcome she gave to Osysseus’s crew.
Trespassers upon her island were offered sweet wine laced with a potion that packed a beastly hangover, literally.
The pig, lion, and wolf motif are used a few times (on her tripod, the writing on her arm) as those are what she turned men into – and is doing right at the moment of this scene in fact.
She’s entwined and crowned in Enchanter’s Nightshade, a plant from the Circaea family, named in her honour. Her crown is also decorated with the seed heads of opium poppies.

The original painting was mixed media over acrylics, A3 size (29×42 cms, approx 11.5×16.5 inches)

Prints available here.

Work in progress pics:

Elemental of Water & Choice

Water Elemental by Soni Alcorn-Hender

From a series of paintings embodying the four elements as human(ish) characters: the Spirit of Water and choice.
Seen here with his would-be lover, and the choice she has to make.

Acrylics, gesso, and liquid gold on paper; size A3 (30×42 cms or 12×17 inches.)
Created for Perna Studios (to be printed as a basecard) for their trading card set ‘Elementals’.

Prints and shiny things available here.

The work in progress (condensed into a few seconds) :

Elemental of Earth & Protection

Earth Elemental by Soni Alcorn-Hender

From a series of paintings embodying the four elements as human(ish) characters: the Spirit of Earth and Protection
(with baby foxes, a little deer, and apparently *the* most fascinating plant anyone’s ever seen. :3 )

Acrylics, gesso, and liquid gold on paper; size A3 (30×42 cms or 12×17 inches.)
Created for Perna Studios (to be printed as a basecard) for their trading card set ‘Elementals’.

Prints and shiny things available here.

(Work in progress gallery) :

Elemental of Fire & Revenge

Fire Elemental by Soni Alcorn-Hender

From a series of paintings embodying the four elements as human(ish) characters: Fire, the Spirit of Revenge.
Acrylics, gesso, and liquid gold on paper; size A3 (30×42 cms or 12×17 inches.)
Created for Perna Studios (to be printed as a basecard) for their trading card set ‘Elementals’.

Prints and shiny things available here.

(Gallery of work in progress) :

Mermaids of the Deep: Antarctic Volcanic Octopus

This monstrous little she-creature is part of a small, on-going series inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and different sea creatures.
This one takes after an astonishing ghostly white octopus found a mile and a half under the sea, in the frozen black and crushing depths at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean. There they survive on the vents of volcanically-heated water erupting from under the seabed. That’s about as extreme as it gets. If we tried to visit we’d be simultaneously boiled, frozen, and pulped.
So my Antarctic Octopus mermaid is a force to be reckoned with: pictured here resting sweetly on the skull of a much larger foe that she vanquished before breakfast.

21x29cms, acrylics and gold leaf, digitally-added frame.
Prints and pretty things available here!

Antarctic volcanic Octopus mermaid, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Mermaids of the Deep: Egyptian Starfish

My deep-sea monster ladies are inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and various sea creatures; this one a starfish – specifically the ‘Egyptian sea star’, which then suggested a sunken (or sinking) Egyptian temple for her to haunt.
(The statue is based on a particular pharaoh, extra points if you know which.)

Prints and shiny things available here!

Egyptian sea star Starfish mermaid Soni Alcorn-Hender

Thingol the Elf King

Thingol upon his throne, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Thingol, King of the Grey Elves, from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.

“In Beleriand, King Thingol upon his throne was as the lords of the Maiar whose power is at rest,
whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all their days,
whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps.”

Thingol throned in his grand and secret underground kingdom The pillars were said to be sculpted like great beech trees, with golden lamps hung from all their branches.
In the frame, either side of him are symbols based on those for Melian (his wife) and Luthien (his daughter), and above him his doom: the ‘Nauglamir’ necklace with a Silmaril in the middle.

He can also ornament your own underground lair, with pretty printed things from my RedBubble shop here.

Thingol (work in progress) by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Thingol (work in progress)

Thingol (detail) by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Thingol (detail)

 

Eöl the Dark Elf

Eöl the Dark Elf, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Eöl the Dark Elf from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.:

“But Eöl, though stooped by his smithwork, was no Dwarf, but a tall Elf of a high kin of the Teleri, noble though grim of face; and his eyes could see deep into shadows and dark places.”

If you’d like a print of his glowering suspicion, you can find them in all sizes and finishes here.

This glowering gentleman was painted in a different way (for me): sketched entirely in paint, no line drawing at all until the end for details.
An interesting exercise, though riddled with mistakes and horror and doom. :)

Eöl the Dark Elf (detail), by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Eöl (detail)

Elves at the border

I wanted a border for my Elf portraits, and I couldn’t find what I wanted so I drew it.
But designing it was a long-winded affair, and with so many changes that the best way to show it was with an animation (scroll down).
Above it is a photo of the work in progress, impasto gold paint on black drawing paper.

 

Designing a leafy border, Soni Alcorn-Hender

 

The design process for an Elf border, Soni Alcorn-Hender