I have had several people ask if the red and blue toddlers pictured in my newest drawing “50/50” was a nod to my love of 3D/Anaglyphic images.  While I do enjoy all things old school 3D, that was actually not my intent – though I do see how people could easily read it as such – especially with only one red and one blue toddler skeleton present in the image! However, in this instance, inspiration arose from my love of the right panel of The Melun Diptych (Jean Fouquet) – particularly, the red and blue cherubim that surround the enthroned Madonna and Christ Child. These odd and colorful cherubs are modeled realistically but impart a mood that is otherworldly – a mood best described by historian Roger Fry as “dreamlike.”

I have also always enjoyed Enguerrand Quarton’s – The Coronation of the Virgin, which too unitizes blue and red angels similar to those found in Fouquet's Melun Diptych.

As you can see, there are a lot of red and blue cherubs – while mine only has two. The reason being…this was only meant to be a test! Clearly, along the way, it developed in to something more. At some point I realized the time I was investing in it, and decided to just refine the whole thing out and experiment with a range of new ideas (such as the pink and green hypno-spiral and the flat gray pyramid/triangles). The drawing this was a support study for will actually have 7 of these little guys – 4 red and 3 blue!!! And I thought drawing two of them about killed me, ha!