Ganesh The Warrior: Watercolor Painting

Gods need interpreters too.

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Hi!

'Ganesh The Warrior' is in watercolor and pencil, drawn on hot pressed 300gsm paper.

This is my second watercolor painting ever! I know right? I hear the gasp too. :)
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My first watercolor painting is here.

Well, you can actually call this my first watercolor painting because it doesn't use any other medium to enhance any part of the artwork. I did use a regular mechanical pencil to add shading to the weapons.
I have always been more inclined to sketching or using oil pastels (that's my jam, by the way) or any forms of inks or pencils.

I have always been more inclined to sketching or using oil pastels (that's my jam, by the way) or any forms of inks or pencils.

Now, I am trying to explore watercolor, and painting in general, because I want to learn more. After watching countless videos and artists with mad skeelz wielding a paintbrush, I have been trying to think in color and not just lines.

To be honest, I have really been struggling with it. I am extremely slow and end up thinking too hard about if I have enough water. And then, oh no, it's too much water. Now, the brush is dry. Great, the paint on the palette dried up too? Crud! Let's add water everywhere. It's too much again. Panic. Repeat.

It's been a lot of fun though. Inking or outlining is something that comes naturally to me and it was a tough decision for me to skip that process in this painting. By the time I finished putting down the last of the pigment onto the paper, it became obvious that inking would make it look cartoon-ish and take away from the wholesomeness that it has at the moment (I think). So, instead I outlined with a fine lead pencil in some parts and left it as is in the rest.

'Ganesh The Warrior' took me a long time to research and compose, and probably the hardest I've worked on composition ever. Learning about Ganesha, the Indian god who has been symbolized in almost every narrative of Asian culture, and is considered one of the most popular deities in India. It's fascinating how Ganesha has been re-imagined again and again for over 3000 years.

THE INSPIRATION.

Though 3000 years would make it seem like he is one of the older deities, that's not actually the case. He is meant to be the "cool" gods whose rendition keeps changing as generations keep changing, which would explain why there are actually very few rules on how to depict him. Meaning, he doesn't "have to" have certain number of arms, weapons, or a pose. That freedom has made it easier for Ganesha to be adapted to different cultures and gain popularity. This irreverence to conform to a set of rules has unified many people because it is considered okay to have your own interpretation of Ganesha, because that's the only acceptable way to think of this deity.

"Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations."

Somehow though, that malleability in his interpretation made it harder for me to redesign his character, so to speak. The artistic license no longer seemed to be conceptually earned.

So, instead of trying to explain how Ganesha is usually depicted, I am going to instead talk about all the elements and symbols I have incorporated in my interpretation of this very versatile deity.

Here's some more information about Ganesha from Wikipedia.

THE ICONOGRAPHY.

There are some notable characteristics that are traditionally identified with Ganesha. Here's the breakdown of how I applied some of those in this piece:

Elephant Head.

The one thing that anyone who has ever heard of Ganesha, the Indian god, is that he has an elephant head and is often called the elephant god. Interestingly, though there are many tales that explain him having an elephant head, it turns out that Ganesha too, like most Indian gods, has many forms, eight of them are considered significant and have guided his popularity. One of those incarnations is where he has an elephant head, called Gajanana (meaning, the one with the face of an elephant) and another incarnation where he has a broken tusk or tooth, called Ekadanta (meaning, the one-toothed). These two incarnations are usually depicted together in the form of an elephant head with a single whole tusk and the other broken and he is shown to be holding the broken half in one of his primary right hand.

"Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta."

Now, this is where we understand another reason why Ganesha has so much mass popularity. He wasn't technically born a god.

He was born as a human when his parents, Shiva and Parvati, were serving their time on earth as humans (because karma and what not). Since he was a human and gained the powers of a god as he proved himself worthy, people automatically feel closer to him, like he is one of us. I think it also goes back to the superhero complex of Batman vs. Superman. One has superpowers naturally, and the other works hard to hone his skills and still manages to show that he is one among the superheroes. Which is why, though Superman clearly is more powerful, Batman has a lot more mainstream appeal.

Pot Belly.

We gotta say it! 😅 Another notable thing about the beloved god Ganesha is that he is expected to be fat and chubby, with a sizable pot belly. In fact, that also comes from one of his "incarnations" where he is dubbed "Lambodara" which means "the one who has a pot belly or a hanging belly" and another incarnation called 'Mahodara', meaning "the great belly". That's 'Maha' combined with "Udara".

Now, this might sound radical but the 'Big Bang' theory is actually written and explained in the Vedas (ancient Indian scriptures) where it's explained in the form of the "hatching" of a 'cosmic egg' or 'Brahmanda' that holds the past, present, and the future of all the universes in it. This egg is also believed to be golden so it's also sometimes called 'hiranyagarbha', meaning 'golden womb'. This concept is repeated throughout most ancient Indian scriptures and variations of this is found in mythologies and cultures all around the world.

Now, part of the legend of Ganesha is that he was bestowed this cosmic egg at some point to hold and carry causing him to appear as if he had a large belly.

In my rendition, I have obviously (emphasis on the 'obvious') departed from showing him as a large chunky man. Instead, I've drawn a symbol of a cosmic egg on his large gold belt (I'm a wrestling fan, whatchu gonna do?)

Arms.

Ganesha has been shown with anything from two arms to twenty arms. And, there isn't exactly a specific difference in symbolism either way. I could potentially draw a cool dude and still somehow make it okay to call him an interpretation of the god. That's how flexible his presence is in Pan-Asian cultures.

He is most commonly depicted with four arms in smaller sizes of his idol, to eight arms when he's sculpted to almost a hundred feet in height.

Weapons.

One of Ganesha's forms is that of a god of war, just like his older brother, Karthikeyan. After all, he is supposed to be the son of the destroyer and creator of the world, Shiva. This means that Ganesha has his own set of weapons that he carries on his person and each of them have a very specific and distinctive significance.

Having said that, I've shown him with the most common weapons he's shown to carry, which is an axe, an elephant goad (kinda ironic), and a noose. Although a lot of English translators over the years have called this a 'noose', it's actually more like a lasso because Ganesha was intended to be the lord of all animals and therefore, could tame them...explains the elephant goad that he is often shown with.

Some of the modern versions of Ganesha also show him, similar to Krishna or Vishnu, twirling a discus (or chakra) in one of his hands. So, in this version, he has a shield in the shape of a giant chakra that he has stowed away on his back.

Animals.

I tried to integrate as many references to animals as possible because all them are related to Ganesha's incarnations: a mouse (or shrew), a lion, peacock, snake (Shesha, the divine serpent), tortoise, ram, and of course, elephant.


The rat or mouse or shrew has always been placed close to his feet, which is why I've shown him here having it as an ankle tattoo.I was originally going to draw the snake as if it was holding the cosmic egg tied to his waist but wasn't able to pull it off convincingly.

Marks on his forehead.

I'm not sure if it's clear but the marks on his forehead are a combination of three different marks that he is usually found with: three horizontal lines called the 'tilaka', a crescent moon, and the third eye.

Pose.

"He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations."

In this painting, I wanted to show Ganesh as a god of war turned into a mascot of peace, which is why the pose is that of a man not going to war but willing to employ diplomacy in order to bring about peace.

Colors.

It's amazing how deep some symbolic associations are in Indian art. While doing research on colors of this piece, I learned that the monochromatic versions of certain depictions represent a version of that god. Blue is used to show that the character during meditation, red is to represent a war stance, and white shows freedom (as in fighting for freedom or releasing from bondage).

Finally.

Now, I am trying to explore watercolor, and painting in general, because I want to learn more. I'm learning more about how to watercolor. Learning to watercolor is like appreciating personalities; because we too are made of layers of colors.

Thanks again for reading and watching!