Crimson Threads, Tao, Snakes

and Playing Cards.

Crimson Threads: Drawing Series – pastels on acid free paper.

This haunting and expressive portrait, titled Crimson Threads, evokes a sense of mystery and layered symbolism. The figure—a woman with a solemn, almost mournful gaze—appears to exist at the threshold between reality and the symbolic, her features rendered with bold, almost bruised contrasts of purples, blues, and reds. This use of color suggests an inner tension or depth of experience, perhaps sorrow or wisdom gained at a cost.

Her eyes, wide and dark, seem to hold a world of unspoken truth, as if she is a seer who has glimpsed too much. The elongated neck and stylized form enhance her otherworldliness, placing her somewhere between human and archetype.

The most striking element of the painting is the collar of her garment, which features a series of symbolic tiles. Each icon—snakes coiled around spades, the yin-yang, spade, diamond, heart, and a cluster of black spades—functions like a tarot spread or prophetic necklace. These symbols allude to dualities: life and death, chance and fate, love and power, balance and chaos. The repetition of spade and heart imagery may hint at the clash between intellect and emotion, or perhaps the burdens of choice.

The two snakes on either side of the collar mirror each other and are adorned with skulls—ancient symbols of knowledge, danger, and transformation. Their placement suggests that the wearer of this collar holds—or is bound by—the knowledge of mortality.

In sum, Crimson Threads is a meditation on fate, feminine intuition, and the cost of insight. Through its surreal palette, intense gaze, and coded symbology, it invites viewers to question not only what they see, but what lies beneath their own masks.