Acrylic on panel
16 x 20
no models or refernce
painted in 8 hours
riddle painting regarding the origins and history of the word "Moses"

To elaborate, all the items, pose, composition, etc are variations of the ancient word "Mes" or "Moses". The book of Exodus, every few words has a word game with the word "mes". The Tablets (in Egyptian) are a variation of the word "mes" as is, the portion where Moses is an enemy of God, or the basket of rushes, or the veil, or the annointing with the forskin, the Messianic pose, etc. This made the story of Exodus, when spoken aloud a repetitive chant of the word "mes". It was thought, at one time the more meanings a word had the more magic it was, so a word with many many meanings chanted was big magic. Maybe not so much today, but it does lead to some interesting ideas that have floated through history even into the present.