The making of "Yamaraja Answers The Questions Of Nachiketa", oil painting by Dominique Amendola

Yamaraja answers the questions of Nachiketa

If you click on the image, you'll get a larger view.

This image is under strict copyright to Dominique Amendola. 

This is a commissioned painting destined to illustrate the Katha Upanishad. The story goes that Nachiketa, a brahmin boy, went to Yamaraja's abode, Death's home, but the god was out, and he waited three days. When Yamaraja returned, he was sorry to see that a Brahmin guest had been waiting so long. He told Nachiketa, "You have waited in my house for three days without hospitality, therefore ask three boons of me". Nachiketa first asked for peace between his father and himself. Next, Nachiketa wished to learn the art of performing fire sacrifice, for his third boon, Nachiketa asked to learn the mystery of what comes after death.
Yama was reluctant to answer this question; he said that this had been a mystery to everyone. He asked Nachiketa to ask for some other boon, and offered many material gains.

But Nachiketa replied that material things will last only till the morrow. He who has encountered Death personally, how can he desire wealth? No other boon would do. Yama was secretly pleased with this disciple, and elaborated on the nature of the true Self, which persists beyond death. The key of self realization is that this Self (within each person) is one and different from the Supreme Lord, the vital force in the universe. Yama's explanation focuses on the following points:

The sound Om is the syllable of the supreme Brahman (Absolute Truth).The Vedanta-sutra says that Brahman is that from which everything emanates. It is that which maintains everything then re-absorbs it all, the ultimate source of all energies. There are many controllers or gods of very specific powers, but the Absolute Truth is one without a second.
The Soul, whose is the same as the omnipresent Brahman, but also different_smaller in quantity but same in quality.
The goal of the wise is to know the nature of the soul and the difference between soul and super soul.
After death, it is the Soul that remains; the soul is immortal.
Mere reading of the scriptures or intellectual learning cannot help realize the soul.
One must discriminate between the soul and the body, which is the seat of desire.
Inability to realize Brahman (Absolute Truth) results in one being enmeshed in the cycle of rebirths. Understanding the Self leads to liberation and freedom from this material world.
Thus having learnt the wisdom of the Brahman from Yama, Nachiketa was freed from the cycle of birth and death.

For this elaborate painting commissioned for a book called the Katha Upanishad, I started with a sketch. actually I worked on many sketches, and below you can see the final sketch:

                                                            If you click on the image, you'll get a larger view.

Once I am satisfied with the sketch, I transfer it to the canvas. In this case I had to follow guidelines where Yamaraja is described as having a greenish skin, wearing jewelry like a king, his cloth being red, holding a special scepter and Nachiketa being a brahmin boy wearing simple cloth and a few beads. It is not always easy to have to describe such things in a painting. Yamaraja abode is dark and forbidding. In order tp render this I try to convey this in the background, since he is living in a palace but he is the god of death after all....

After the sketches the painting itself starts in earnest:

                                                             If you click on the image, you'll get a larger view.

This is the painting photographed about half way done. You can see that there is not so much contrast, yet. Everything is starting to take shape and the focus is to keep everything balanced.

Lets have a look at the details for the finished artwork:

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Oil paintings executed in nature, with or without people, and beautiful color images, sometimes executed outdoors or in the studio. Some compositions are horizontal or vertical. Some pictures have beautiful skies with sunsets or blue horizons. Some paintings represent flowers, some water, some are green with grass and trees. Some will take you to exotic travel destinations, such as India.This is art. Figurative realism by contemporary artist Dominique Amendola : figures painting, landscapes painting and spiritual art, artwork for sale. Oil paintings for sale online. Virtual Art Gallery realism, figurative, landscape, spiritual art, by contemporary artist Dominique Amendola. Collection of figurative contemporary - Women - canvas oil paintings, acrylic paintings, pastel drawings. Oil painting on canvas, original paintings art. Artwork by Dominique Amendola for sale. Oil painting on canvas. Original paintings art for sale by Dominique Amendola

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Dominique Amendola-California, US, India, France, Classical realism and impressionism figures and landscapes painter