Constellation of Lupus – the Mythology of Werewolves

 

The past year has seen pets, perhaps especially dogs, grow closer to their human partners. In my case my daily walks with my 3 year old, 50 kg Akita have increased benefiting both of us. And he is now everywhere I am – just a wolf-like animal who checks on me no matter what I do.

So, I was wondering if some of my paintings of tigers and  mountain lions (cougar) have been influenced by the look my dog or example he will suddenly bolt into the brush a second after he was calmly walking next to me to chase deer or peccary. I have been injured a number of time by trying to hang onto his leash!

So, here is the picture that convinced me that he has influenced my painting:

He was sleeping atop the stairs to my studio and I realized that the tiger I had painted had his looks! I went back and found similar traits in other paintings as well.

Ok, so since tiger and cougar are of the cat family, I decided to paint a wolf with traits of my dog to make it fair in having comparison within the dog family.

.. As always I started with a hare skin for canvas. I had no idea what I will be painting other than wanted to start with the eyes and the amber color wolf and Akita have. Next, I wanted to have the ears one-up and one-down as my dog’s ears are.

Here is the initial profile: 

Suddenly I saw a wolf peeking out of a vast space. No, out of SPACE! So, decided to check on the Constellation Wolf about which I recalled very little.

Here is the background: The Constellation Lupus was discovered in the 2^nd century the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. Although it is an old constellation, there are no stars named in it. Nor are there meteor showers associated with the constellation. So it is a lonely and forgotten constellation… But, there is one mythology associated with its wolf-like shape and hence the name -:

It seems that the people of Arcadia, a region in ancient Greece were involved in wicked behaviors that displeased Zeus. So he came to Arcadia and met with its king Lycaon. But the king, perhaps a wicked men himself, ordered Zeus a meal made from the remains of a sacrificed boy.  Enraged, Zeus turned Lycaon and his sons into wolves and threw the king into the sky! It is said that werewolves were descendents of Lycaon’s sons.

Great!

So I decided to have meteor showers around the constellation, and a patch of fur growing on the forehead of the wolf as a reminder that it can be transformed into a werewolf any celestial time. But wanted to show how it still is sad by Zeus’ decision, so I had two turquoise tears drip from his left eye… 

Finally, I painted shades of yellow and orange around the wolf to assume that the lupus is constantly trying to tear the universe and return back to Arcadia (another myth in the making?)

The final touches are shown in the framed work at the top of this entry. I put the frame in front of my dog that was sleeping under my workbench to get feedback.

He rolled on his back and asked for a belly rub!!

 

March 9, 2021

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2021