Till Human Voices Wake Us

A digital painting, 48" X 36" on archival glossy canvas, gallery wrap. "Till Human Voices Wake Us" is the final line of T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, one of my all-time favorite poems in English.
The image is my meditation of these lines:
"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

The essence of the poem is lost opportunities by fear, unreasonably high expectations, overthinking, and self-sabotage. Sometimes we are so afraid of taking the leap that we'd rather disappear and die than find ourselves rejected or inadequate. I don't think that the image itself tells this story; to me, it just triggers the memory of Purfrock's failed attempt at love, the drowning of his grand plans to propose to his lady.

I tried two new things here. One was to juxtapose layers of figure drawings made with virtual yarn and the second is to paint with light. The texture of yarn and the manipulation of light are among my favorite obsessions.