From the Sketchbook Archives: The Gateway

Here is another sketch for a larger piece.  I had a vision of a large arched gate that a dark river ran beneath.  My initial thought was of the Moon card from the Tarot, but upon time and reflection, I think this may be an incarnation of the river Styx and the entrance to the Underworld / Realm of Hades.  Considering the time frame during which this sketch was created and Pluto's inevitable ingress into Capricorn (my sign), Styx seems very likely.  Also, the two guardians are very much like grim reapers.  Of course, both visions can be true.  Intriguing.

In the Valley of the Mask

At the bottom of our lives,

the soulless urge waits.

We've no reason to fear this skin we've shed,

yet a shiver still comes at its similarity

to our reflection in the mirror.
It is only absence,
it is only emptiness,
echoing the beating of our hearts.

Fear wears only the clothes we provide.

Hell, Another Entrance

There are many roads into the Underworld...as many as there are names for it.  Hell, Hades, Underworld, Mictlan, Annwn, Niflheim, and on.  Sometimes, like it or not, you have to walk into it, because it is the only road before you.  All other avenues of escape have been removed and only darkness waits.  Pulsing darkness and pain that calls like an old addiction.  It wants you to believe that it is all there is.  The light was only a trick of your mind and only madness and blood are the truth.

Entryway

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."


ENTRYWAY.
{Digital photo manipulated in Adobe Photoshop.}