Gaurdians

I was thinking about the strange power of art and artists.  As a visual maker you have to listen to yourself and trust yourself.  Oddly though, you also have to listen to others and look at other artist's work.  It's tempting to take advice or borrow someone's ideas.  It's difficult to stay firmly rooted.  These two images come from two different Memling altarpieces.  I was interested in the subject matter.  St Michael and St George slaying demons and dragons.  The metaphor seems simple.  We all need protection sometimes.  I used charcoal made from my Minnesota willow tree applied with my fingers.  I was thinking about what CR said many years ago, "Ha, painters are always trying to find the fingerprint of God."  Well...if not God, at least myself in time.