This painting is a partial retelling of the mythical story of Bellerophon, which was first told in Homer’s epic narrative, The Iliad. Before the demigod hero Bellerophon flew the winged horse Pegasus and slew the fire-breathing two-headed monster, the Chimera had been terrorizing the people of the kingdom of Lycia. King Iobates dispatched his cadre of Amazon mercenaries in an effort to slow down the beast when it started to burn the palace. In this artwork, four of the fearless Amazons can be seen fighting the Chimera in a battle that they know they cannot win.
The Chimera had a very disproportionate body — depending on who the ancient Greek artist was — with a mixture of lion and goat. I just decided on a goat’s second head and a lion’s dominant head and body instead to make it more fearsome and uniform. There are many interpretations of its form. Even the tail was sometimes depicted as that of a dragon instead of a serpent. However, I wanted the Amazon warrior to hack off its tail, so I opted for a serpent instead.
I started this painting with a detailed sketch using a basic HB graphite pencil. Afterwards, I embellished the layout using a soft charcoal pencil in order to flesh out the shadows and texture. To protect it from smudging, I sprayed the canvas with an non-toxic organic fixative released from a pump spray bottle (SpetraFix SFX-31270). After a few days of drying period, I painted “The Chimera’s Rage” using acrylic ink (Daler Rowney FW).
