"After the Flood" an Original Oil Painting by Matthew Holden Bates
"After the Flood" oil on canvas - 75cm x 100cm ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved
Sometimes this happens to me, just when I am about to start a big project, another painting, in this case a painting that I have been working on for years, calls to me and I just have to finish it! This painting is "After the Flood" and it started out as a simple seascape of one of my favorite places, the island of Elba, right off of the Tuscan coast. The subject is a sister painting to another seascape called "Elba" that I posted in my Lanscapes post:
https://steemit.com/art/@matteopaints/landscape-paintings-by-matthew-holden-bates
"After the Flood" took on a life of its own. I was inspired by the idea of time passing by and the way that civilization can peak and then crumble, maybe even really quickly. I think that what we know about the past is very spotty, based entirely on hearsay and artifacts like statues and columns that we find lying around. But how did they get there, and what happened to make them crumble?
I am facinated by the flood myth of the Bible, and the fact that every civilization all around the world has a flood myth. I am going to guess that there was a world wide flood event that happened, maybe not too long ago. After all, our history only goes back 6000 years at best. If the world is really old, that's not much human history. I look at the pyramids in Egypt, and I think, no way that at the dawn of history did they make the most impressive monuments ever. I mean, we don't exactly make pyramids like those anymore.
So that is how this painting changed direction. I decided that the subject would be a bird's eye view of the aftermath of a massive floodlike event. The more I study the world around me, the less I am sure of anything that I have been taught. If I think about how many times I have changed my mind about what I believe, it makes me chuckle. We are really living in a strange world, full of mystery.
I will be back with my Duomo painting "Making Of" series very soon, so stay tuned. If you like my artwork and would like to see more, feel free to follow my blog on Steemit @matteopaints and visit my website at: http://www.mattbates.net
Happy Valentines Day!!!!
A presto, Matteo
What a spectacular landscape painting, Matteo! Brilliant work! 😄
I'd like to invite you to participate on my Art Curation Initiative #9
Grazie Amico Mio!!!
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Super!!!!!!😎
Extraordinary work @matteopaints!!
Thank You!!!!! :)
Nice these are great. Glad i stumbled across em 😎
Thanks Jaybird!!! :)
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Awesome, thanks @creativecrypto !!!!!!😀
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Grazie 1000!!!
Really well done and thanks for sharing some of the back story.
Thanks!!!!😀