Development of a Painting: Hera and Zeus

I just finished a new painting, Hera and Zeus.  It is another in my series of myth paintings, which I will be exhibiting at the end of July this year.  Zeus, king of the gods on Mt. Olympus and Hera, the most powerful goddess were also brother and sister, children of the titan Kronos. Zeus lusted over his sister Hera, and like in so many of his conquests tried a bit of trickery to have her.  Zeus created a rain storm and then took the form of a cuckoo.  He flew to Hera and stood before her stiff and cold in the rain.  Hera, taking pity on the bird, picked it up and held it to her warm breast.  It was then that Zeus turned back in to his true form.  Hera resisted Zeus at first until Zeus promised that he would marry her. The two were formally married after the victory of the Olympians in the war against the titans.

I wanted to depict the point in the story when the unsuspecting Hera has the small shivering bird within her robe.  Here is a quick sketch I did of this scene:

Sketch of Hera and Zeus as a cuckoo

In the painting I wanted to show a very heavy rain, the kind that Zeus would create in an attempt to trick Hera.  I also wanted the figure of Hera to be almost lost in the mist of the rain, without any sharp delineation in her features.  The look shared between Hera and the cuckoo is very important as well — at any moment the cuckoo would transform in to Zeus. I also wanted to keep the color palette quite simple. I had an idea of silvers and grays with just a slight accent of gold to portray the god Zeus.

Here is the finished painting of Hera and Zeus:

Hera and Zeus, oil on canvas, 2009

Here is a detail of the painting:

Detail of Hera and Zeus