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A GREEK ODYSSEY
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A GREEK ODYSSEY

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“BY THE BEARD OF ZEUS!” ⚡️🏛⚡️ “A

“A Greek Odyssey - Gods and Goddesses, Heroes an

DONE!!! ⚡️🔱⚡️ Pens down and the odyssey

DONE!!!
⚡️🔱⚡️
Pens down and the odyssey is complete! Clocking in at 5 months (20+ weeks) with over 1000 hours, this has been a monumental quest to have journeyed on! I’ve delved into the world of Ancient Greece and all its wonders surrounding mythology, and learnt a hell of a lot along the way! This has been my most passionate project to date and I’m so happy to finally share it with you all very very soon!
⚡️🔱⚡️
As you may be aware, prints will be on sale shortly (tomorrow) and the original isn’t for sale (for now anyway). For those of you whom have preordered limited edition canvases, they’ll be sent out hopefully later in the week. For everyone else wanting to purchase a print once officially available, they’ll be likely sent out early next week, depending how many orders I get through upon release.
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Stay tuned folks for the big final reveal in 24 hours where the prints will be released. You can get a sneak peek of it 30 minutes before if you sign up to my newsletter, link on the bio. Thank you all for sharing this journey with me, it truly has been the reward! Watch this cosmos...
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#AGreekOdyssey #GreekOdyssey #Odyssey #Complete #PensDown #Title #Border #Finished #Original #GodsAndGoddesses #HeroesAndMonsters #Heroes #GreekGods #AncientGreece #GreekGod #Goddess #BeardOfZeus #LimitedEdition #OriginalArt #Print #MountOlympus #GreekSea #GreekMythology #Mythology #Mythos #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“The final countdown!” ⚡️🔱⚡️ Puttin

“THUNDERSTRUCK” ⚡️🏛⚡️ Zeus, the god

“THUNDERSTRUCK”
⚡️🏛⚡️
Zeus, the god of thunder and ruler of the other gods, was the most famous of all and mightiest there was! He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, of whom he lead the other gods against them and the other titans during the great cosmic war known as the Titanomachia. Using his deadly weapon the thunderbolt, fashioned by the Cyclopes, he defeated the Titans and banished them to Tartarus, and became ruler over the entire cosmos.
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Zeus was married to his sister Hera, Queen of the gods. However, this was enough to stop him from getting “friendly” with others shall we say. He had dozens of children through various partners, such as Ares with Hera, and Apollo and Artemis with Leto. But he didn’t stop with goddesses, he also ventured down to earth on many occasions to get his end away with mortals, and often in disguise. He took the form of a white bull of with Europa, got through Danaë’s prison by turning into a shower of gold, and approached Leda as a swan. There are many more occasions like this, and Zeus became famous for his many sexual conquests, including goddesses, nymphs and mortal woman.
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Being the ruler of the gods, I have saved him until the end of this Odyssey, kind of like a big climax! I hope you have all enjoyed this journey that has taken nearly 5 months! Just a few finishing touches and it will soon be fully revealed! Stay tuned!
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#Zeus #RulerOfTheGods #Ruler #Sky #KingOfTheGods #GodOfThunder #ThunderStruck #ACDC #Hera #Lightning #Storm #Olympian #ChildrenOfZeus #Thunderbolt #GreekGod #God #BeardOfZeus #ByTheBeardOfZeus #Climax #King #MountOlympus #Ares #Apollo #Artemis #GreekGods #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“We are the night” 🌌🌕🌌 The Milky Way,

“We are the night”
🌌🌕🌌
The Milky Way, that bright streak of misty white we see across the night sky never fails to impress. The myth goes that it was created by when Hercules suckled on Hera’s milk. In some cases Zeus let him do it while she was asleep, to which she woke up in surprise, pushing him away and her milk shot out and became the Milky Way. Another version is that Athena was sent to retrieve Hercules after he was abandoned by his mortal parents, but insisted Hera breast feed him to which she agreed. He bit down on Hera whilst been fed, causing her pain, pushing him away once again and spurting our the milk creating the Milky Way.
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Other features in the night sky, the moon, which is parallel to the sun on this piece. I have already featured the moon goddess Selene in the border. I know that it would be hard to see the Milky Way if it was a full moon out, but I wanted to show all aspects of the night sky. Also, and most challenging is the constellations amongst the stars. Now, I know they may not be 100% accurate to their origin of location in accordance with the Milky Way, but they are at least the northern hemisphere constellations. You might be able to make out a few such as Orion, Taurus, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Cetus and Lepus. I’ve drawn in the lines linking the constellations, and some misty silhouettes that visualise a few of them. This is what the ancient Greeks saw when they looked up in the sky. Next up folks... ZEUS!!!
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#NightSky #NightTime #Night #Sky #Stars #MilkyWay #Constellations #Zodiac #Hera #Hercules #Hermes #Moon #FullMoon #Zeus #Orion #Taurus #Cancer #Gemini #NorthernHemisphere #WeAreTheNight #Leo #Aries #Pisces #Border #Midnight #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“The four corners of earth” 💨🔥💧🌱 H

“The four corners of earth”
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Here you go folks, all of the corners in place, connecting through the border. Mount Olympus (aka wind / day / summer). The underworld (aka fire / night / winter). The underwater temple (aka water / morning / spring). And Cyprus (aka earth / evening / autumn).
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These have given the frieze border a bit of depth, and showing some close up scenarios in Greek mythology that you can’t make out in the main map. I’m particularly happy with how they’ve turned out, an idea I developed mid way though the creation of the entire piece.
💨🔥💧🌱
Closing the gap now folks, with 900+ hours on this monster of a piece. It’s looking like I’ll have it complete within the next week, the odyssey is nearly at its end! Who’s wanting a print? Message for details if so, and for those of you that have preordered already, I hope you like what you see and your prints will be the first to be sent out! Exciting times!
💨🔥💧🌱
#Earth #Wind #Water #Fire #Elements #FourSeasons #Cyprus #MountOlympus #TheUnderWorld #UnderwaterTemple #Underwater #Aphrodite #Olympians #Zeus #Dawn #Dusk #Day #Night #Spring #Summer #Autumn #Winter #Frieze #Border #FourCorners #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“The Birth of Venus” 🌊🐚🌊 And for the

“The Birth of Venus”
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And for the last window, Aphrodite (Venus) and her birth place, Cyprus! Cyprus is one of the few places that doesn’t feature in the main piece, but plays a significant role in the origins of Greek Mythology.
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Not only is it supposedly where the goddess of love was born, out of the foam and often portrayed standing naked on a shell, but a few other love related myths also. On the beach I have portrayed two iconic figures related to both Cyprus and Aphrodite. On the left side you can see Adonis pleading his love for Aphrodite, and in the right side you can see Pygmalion with his sculpture, that he fell in love with. Aphrodite took pity on him and turned the statue into a real woman, Galatea, whom Pygmalion later married. And in the sunset sky a dove, the symbol of Aphrodite.
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The last window may not be what some of you were expecting, but for me it completes full circle of many things. With the first one at Mount Olympus, we have the sky, so air. Also it’s shown at daytime. Then the underworld, which is representing fire, and is shown as a nighttime setting. Thirdly the underwater temple, so water, with a morning light shining through, so dawn. And finally Cyprus, the only physical land in the windows, so earth, with the sun setting at dusk. These can also represent the 4 seasons, this one being autumn.
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And one final thing about this window, I wanted to give attention to the feminine side of Greek mythology, which as we all know is a very male dominated subject. The gods and hero’s get a lot of attention throughout, being put high on pedestals, whereas the females are often punished, raped, abducted and banished. This stands up for all the mistreated woman in Greek mythology, and in general!
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#Aphrodite #Venus #BirthOfVenus #Sea #OutOfTheSea #BornFromTheFoam #Cyprus #Pygmalion #Statue #GoddessOfLove #Love #Adonis #Sunset #Dove #Dawn #Dusk #Daytime #Nighttime #Spring #Summer #Autumn #Winter #Wind #Fire #Water #Earth #Jeff_Murray_Art

“Under the sea” 🌊🐙🌊 The ancient Greek

“Under the sea”
🌊🐙🌊
The ancient Greeks were a sea faring civilisation, navigating the waters that surrounded them and beyond. Poseidon was the god and ruler of the sea and when he drove his chariot across the waves and shook his trident, the seas would become a dangerous and unforgiving place, and so were to be treated with respect. But what lie beneath the surface of the water was what captivated their imaginations!
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The tales of mythical monsters and underwater cities features in numerous mythological origins, and Greece was no exception. The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the cataclysmic destruction of Atlantis, the supposed ancient civilisation that was lost forever to the seas. Some believe that Thera (Santorini) is thought to be where Atlantis once existed. There is no proof that it was there once upon a time, neither does it feature much in mythology, but it is certainly a myth.
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This underwater scene depicts a submerged and forgotten temple, surrounded by coral and sea life, implying that it has been there for sometime. And near the surface of the water, a silhouette of a merman, or Poseidon himself watching over his domain. Particularly happy with my little Octopus, one of my favourite creatures!
🌊🐙🌊
#UnderTheSea #UnderWater #SeaLife #Sea #SeaCreatures #Poseidon #Octopus #CoralReef #Turtle #Atlantis #Civilisation #Temple #UnderWaterTemple #Ocean #MarineLife #TheSea #Merman #Mermaid #CityOfAtlantis #LostCity #GreekGods #SeaHorse #PenAndInk #LittleMermaid #Diving #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“Seasons of the Abyss” 🌋🔥🌋 The Underw

“Seasons of the Abyss”
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The Underworld, the parallel world of the dead with its own deities and gods, ruled by Hades and his wife Persephone. It is realm is which you pass to once the soul has left its body in the real world. It descends to the dark kingdom to spend the rest of eternity there. Even though it’s depicted as a “hellish” looking place, all the dead ended up here (some did make it to the Elysium fields, a more heavenly looking place, but not many).
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Within my mini take on the underworld we have a few key figures and locations that are to be recognised in Greek mythology. Firstly and most iconically in the foreground we have Cerberus, the 3 headed dog that guarded the entrance to the underworld. Just in front of him is the river Styx, with Charon the ferryman escorting a new soul into the dark realm. For the fee of a single coin placed on the dead persons tongue, he would ferry them across. Occasionally though, Hermes the messenger god could escort souls to Hades, as he was a bit of a trickster. From the jetty a misty path leads off into the distance, where you can see Tartarus, the deepest part of the underworld (or in some cases, the underworld itself). And with a few volcanos, flowing lava, fire an overall unpleasant accommodating place, I imagined the underworld to look a little like Mordor from Middle Earth... my precious.
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#TheUnderWorld #UnderWorld #Hell #LandIfTheDead #Hades #Hermes #Cerberus #RiverStyx #Charon #Soul #DeadSoul #Volcano #Lava #Fire #River #GoingUnderground #Tartarus #DarkSky #Mountains #Persephone #GreekGods #Mordor #PenAndInk #MiddleEarth #LOTR #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“Going up to the spirit in the sky”
🏛🌥🏛
Mount Olympus, the first of the four scenes depicted in the corner windows of the border. As you can see, these are coloured in, which will break up the frieze style border somewhat, hopefully drawing your eye to them (not that this piece hasn’t got enough going on as it is 🤣).
🏛🌥🏛
In this scene, we have a close up of the Olympians simply hanging around in an open court style amphitheater. In the foreground we have Hestia with the fire on the bottom right, followed by Athena and Poseidon having a bit of a tiff near the pool. Then there’s Apollo sitting in the lower step playing his Lyre for everyone, followed by Aphrodite draping across the steps. On the left you can see Demeter looking up the steps towards Dionysus with his wine for everyone, with Ares and Artemis just behind them. At the top you have Zeus on his throne, with Hera by his side, and Hephaestus just behind her. And finally above Zeus you have Hermes with a message for the king of the gods. I haven’t drawn Hades here, as firstly he’s not technically an Olympian as he spends most of his time in the underworld, and secondly, you’ll see him in the next window for that exact matter! Stay tuned as we’re about to go underground!
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#MountOlympus #Olympus #Apollo #Hestia #Ares #Hermes #Hephaestus #Athena #Poseidon #Hera #Zeus #Artemis #Aphrodite #Dionysus #Demeter #SpiritInTheSky #AboveTheClouds #Sky #Mountain #HomeOfTheGods #GreekGods #Colouring #PenAndInk #Olympians #GreekGoddess #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

“Hold on to your butts” 🏛✍🏻🏛 Nearly

“Hold on to your butts”
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Nearly there now folks, on the home straight with a small section of the border to go, the night sky and ol’ beardy McBeard face.
🏛✍🏻🏛
However, before I reveal the big climax that you’ve all been so patient for, I’ve got one (or four should I say) last surprises for you! You see, you may have noticed in each corner there’s a window space amongst the ionic columns. Well, in each one I will be adding in scenes and locations from Greek Mythology that didn’t quite make it into the main map or border. Some of you may have already guessed this, or have enquired about it. But either way, I’ll be adding them in before I reach the finish line.
🏛✍🏻🏛
Happy October everyone, 800 + hours in and loving it! Aiming for a mid October finish, watch this space!
🏛✍🏻🏛
#GreekOdyssey #AGreekOdyssey #Apollo #Cupid #Psyche #Hermes #Hephaestus #GreekGoddess #GreekGod #Hera #Skies #GreekMyth #SunGod #Copic #Sunrise #Morning #WeOwnTheSky #Sky #Border #Zeus #GreekMyths #Colouring #PenAndInk #GreekSea #Helios #MyOdyssey #Jeff_Murray_Art

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