Animal Symbolism in Art
In art history the cat is cunning, the owl is wisdom, the deer prosperity, and the octopus strength. These animals have represented a variety of other things as well, but for generalized purposes, and ones that flow well with my own, trust the meanings I’ve handed you for now. Here, see the Octopus as strength.
Illuminance, 2021 
A Breakdown of this Image’s Symbolism
Notice the figure’s feet are pointed toward strength, she has one arm in the jacket, the other ready and reaching toward strength. The leaves below her feet part for her. The Sleepy Silent Eva bush behind her. Asleep in the day, awake at night, the plant is shy but ready. There’s a galaxy in the Octopus’s eye, a symbol of what’s to come, what will open up.
Setting the Scene
I put together this image, much like the one I broke down for you in Monday’s post. I put the figure, the gold animal, and the leaves into my photo set Friday night when my cat led me back to that area. Thought about returning to it Saturday, but instead didn’t until Sunday.
I had considered clothes for the figure during this time, settling on the oversize fuzzy jacket. The white kept the theme and being wrapped in luxury/comfort felt right. It was also this time that I began searching for more clothes for future images, as I’ve currently run out of new options. So, one item is ordered, and I’ve settled at attempting at making another myself.
The leaves were dull, so I sprinkled glitter to brighten them. I pulled the faux plant from its vase on my shelf and bent it just right, giving space for the figure’s face. I lit the scene, to again focus on the figure, etc. etc.
There was trial and error, more decisions on posing and lighting and then some editing, but that’s not primarily what this post is for.
In all, I’m trying to make sure I share every image I make, in some capacity, to this space. I want to track my images, their meaning, and at least to a point, what I put into them. I hope you’ll enjoy this process a bit along the way.
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Wow! Fantastic image. So much to see here, and beautifully done.
Enjoyed reading about the various things that were used in the process of creating this image.