The World Turtle

I heard an old chinese myth that the world sat on a turtle's back.  I also heard about an eight fold path.

 I love yellow tail and shrimp.  There is a disappearing blue fin tuna.  It is hard to see.

 The Blue Crab spawns, but will it be enough for my crab feast.

Don't get a bite from a coral snake.  Red touches black, friend of Jack.  Red touches yellow, kill a fellow.

The Anhinga (dedicated to my father)

This bird is catching a great fish.  It's tail is the symbol of the Maserati a sports car that borrows its insignia from the Trident of Poseidon.  I chose the Anhinga to represent my father because of its fan shaped tail.  The upwards facing triangles represent masculinity.  The clock which is breaking the neck of this bird represent hard work and long hours.  The ginkgo leaves represent wisdom, because I heard ginkgo leaves help your memory.

The White Crane (dedicated to my mother)

My mother loves flowers.  Particularly blue hydrangeas.  The eight fire flies represent guardian angels.  The moon, or circle is squared to represent the spiritual.  There is are downwards facing triangles and they represents femininity. 

Hamids_grandma

secretly the best portrait i've ever done

Hamid's Family

This is a family portrait rife with nostalgia.  The central figure is Hamid, my cousin and the patron of this piece.  He is now in his thirties living in America, but when he was young and in Iran his fondest childhood memories were on the road with his family.  We see Mom, Dad, Hamid, his Brother, Grandmother in the backseat and Hamid's pet chicken.  The chicken traveled with them.  This piece is based on a series of snapshots from the late 70's to early 80's. 

Pizza.  Might be able to get a little something going at Never on Sunday

The Ascension of Helen!

 The Ascension of Helen is complete.  Direct family portraits are meaningful and fullfilling but a family Dream-portrait runs deeper still.  The possibilities are endless.

 Dan's island in the sky is the oasis.  The soothing waters of home cool the burning hot nightmare.  Helen ascends peacefully, guided by her yellow balloon.  Yellow is the color of intuition.

 Jessica's magical trash truck is sucking up the terror and sprouting the tree of life

The nightmare!  The beast.  The fear of death.