Mother Of Faces acrylic painting on canvas

Today I finished a tribute acrylic painting for my favorite animation of all time: Avatar: Last Airbender.

"Mother of Faces"
16"x20"
original acrylic painting on canvas
by Chelsea Rose

This painting is inspired by “The Mother Of Faces” a spirit who only appears in the Avatar Last Air Bender graphic novel “The Search.” As with many of the characters in the Avatar world, Mother of faces is a fascinating and strong female archetype (IE: Compassionate Mother Protector and Gentle Giant) that shows great heart and generosity while still commanding respect and awe. The mother’s ability to emerge and become mightier than the very mountains around her sacred pool was especially inspiring to me. I enjoyed exploring and expressing her tremendous scale within my painting, while also aiming to capture her surreal beauty and grace. As an artist, I usually gravitate to subject matter related to the sacred feminine, warrior women, and the paranormal or metaphysical. I saw all of these things in The Mother of Faces and felt she would lend herself well to my painting approach as well as my existing body of work.

And...It all started with a pen and ink sketch:

Once I had the pen and ink sketch I projected it onto canvas and then began to load the canvas with color.

And then today I added the final touches:

I was in a bit of a rush to create this because only a few weeks ago did I realize that there was an open call to artists for the Legend of Korra / Avatar: Last Air Bender Tribute Exhibition showing at Gallery Nucleus in early March. The deadline for art submissions is Feb. 20th. Yikes! I submitted my painting today and I am crossing my fingers that they pick mine to exhibit( they are only choosing 15 pieces of art from all of the open call submissions. Eeep!)

In other news, I am currently working on creating a astrology sign series which has been lots of fun so far. I began working on the series because I am going to be a featured artist for Splendorporium's March show, which is Zodiac themed. I am also working on a painting for an upcoming "Sasquatch" themed group show at Good Gallery, opening in March. Oh! And, I will be doing a month long art install at The Bike Bar during March. Soooo, March is shaping up to be a pretty busy month! No complaints here. More updates and photos soon.

Much love and light,
-Chelsea Rose