monthofloveart: Atum’s Tears by Jeszika Le Vye www.jeszika.com Atum (in some versions of Egypt

monthofloveart: Atum’s Tears by Jeszika Le Vye www.jeszika.com Atum (in some versions of Egyptian mythology) was the first god, self-created from the waters of Nun. Atum’s name came from the word, tem, meaning the complete one - Atum was said to be ‘the great he/she’ embodying both the masculine and the feminine. As such, Atum was able to create the first pair of gods - Shu and Tefnut - by making love with his shadow. Shu and Tefnut left to explore the universe, and Atum was lost in despair with loneliness. Fearing that he would be alone forever, he sent his eye to search for them, and eventually, they returned. When Shu and Tefnut returned, he was so overjoyed to see them, he wept tears of joy that turned into the first human beings. This painting was so tricky to get right! Trying to find a way to visualize such an abstract concept took me a lot of trial and error, but along the way, I kept finding little pieces I loved until it coalesced into a whole painting. The blue children from his tears, playing in the red dirt of the universe he created were such an important piece to get right to me. And keeping the figure himself androgynous - though Atum was most often represented as a male, he was also very clearly described as a hermaphrodite - so I wanted to be sure to include that visually as well. I originally started this painting in October for Month of Fear’s theme tears and was unable to finish it in time for that challenge. But over the months I have worked on this painting, I find that it fits even better with Month of Love. While Atum did fear being alone forever and not having his children return to him, the fear was born out of love. The tears he wept were tears of joy that his beloved children had returned to him - and those tears themselves, like acts of love, created new children. -- source link

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