Malkuth, Body of Earth - Works in Progress (Patreon)

Wait. Why are all of these hitting at once?

I couldn't release the works in progress while I've been working on this painting because I made a promise to a new friend that I wouldn't share this piece until launch day. That's not going to be the standard going forward, but we're working on a compressed timeline this month so it's gotten a bit weird.

Wait. Launch day?

Just now, this painting has just launched on Makers Place as one of their featured drops. This means that collectors are lining up to take a swing at trying to buy a one-of-a-kind digital token that represents a unique form of digital ownership.

Minting 1 of 1 NFTs is going to be a regular occurrence from now on, but I wanted to collab with Makers Place for this first one in order to kick off interest in the crypto market.

If any of you are crypto investors or are interested in collecting rare originals from me, this is a good opportunity to pick something up from my first major drop!

Wait, What about the art?

This is my second time dipping back in the Emanations well after doing alternate art for Chesed last year.

The original art for Malkuth is actually a vestige from an earlier part of my career. I had done a handful of darkly surreal paintings back before I starting making Angelarium my full-time job. When I launched the site, I repurposed a handful of paintings to help fill in gaps and kick off the project. Most of them were replaced within the first year, but now seven years later "City of Man", remains as the sole survivor and the oldest piece of art published in the Angelarium books.

In a way, City of Man can be credited as the reason why I created the Emanations series in the first place. Years ago at the Dragoncon art show, I fan pointed at the painting and asked "Is that supposed to represent Malkuth?". I figured that name was a pop culture reference I was unfamiliar with, but when he explained what Malkuth represented, it immediately clicked!

"Yeah!" I told him, "That's exactly what that painting is supposed to be about."

I've been meaning to go back to this concept again for years in order to put a more precise point on this concept. 

With 2020 coming to a close, I'm thinking a lot less about what's been lost this year and a lot more about what I'm building toward in 2021. This coming year is one where I hit the reset button on a lot of things in my life but instead of waiting for the calendar to tell me it's time, I've been jumping the gun and heading into a period of new growth immediately.