Title: Makemake
Series: Stellae Errantes / Wandering Stars

Original oil painting by Sarah Soward. Oil on canvas. 36x36 inches, unframed. The canvas is stretched on 1.5 inch stretcher bars and is gallery wrapped.

Makemake is part of the Stellae Errantes (Wandering Stars) series. Makemake is a deity of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). He is regarded as an all-powerful creator. Images of Makemake located so far are carved into stone.

A dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt is named after Makemake. The planet is described on NASA.gov as being reddish-brown in color. Most of the objects in the Kuiper Belt are icy, rocky bodies.

This painting is meant to be a powerful elephant emerging from the depths of either space or water, viewers' choice of island reference or astronomy reference. I endeavored to make the surface of the elephant's skin look reddish-brown and reminiscent of a rock-like surface. The background is very dark on purpose so that the tie in between space and ocean/water is easy to make. The colors shift from black to blue to green. The use of paint in other areas of the elephant include watery overlays and intentional drips because Makemake, the deity, is associated an island and islets which are all land masses surrounded by water.

Because Makemake is a dwarf planet, the elephant in this piece is an Asian elephant, rather than an African elephant. All my paintings of dwarf planets feature Asian elephants, with their smaller ears and petite tusks or no tusks at all.

Please keep fine art and prints out of direct sunlight and UV light.