This is my second finished painting completed as an artist in residence at Phoenix Athens in Greece! It depicts the wild sparrowhawk mother of the chick I previously painted. The Eurasian sparrowhawk’s scientific name is Accipiter nisus, with “accipiter” being Latin for hawk and “Nisus” due to the Greek myth of King Nisus/Nisos (who in most versions of the myth is turned into a raptor upon his daughter’s betrayal).

I’ve always been interested in syncretism and occasionally infuse religious references into my artwork. Working within various European, Greek, and Egyptian traditions and media and adding my own conservation-based values into the mix here, I was inspired to give this female sparrowhawk a halo. The word “halo” comes from the Greek language and is artistically used for Greek deities including Helios, Eos, and Eosphorous, but the stylization I gave mine is more traditionally associated with Christianity though it is believed to have originated in Iran.

This is Syncretism, acrylic on papyrus, 24x16.5”, 2023.