497. JUNGLE HUNTRESS - An acrylic painting on a 16 x 20 size canvas board. It appears on the cover of, "FANTASY TALES, Summer, 1987".

This painting was a spare-time effort. When the British magazine editor of "Fantasy Tales" contacted me asking if I had any artwork he could use for a cover, I sent him several color transparencies of some spare time paintings I had on hand. This "jungle" picture was one of them. I was surprised that he used it because there is no "fantasy" element to it, I think it is more appropriate as a cover for a magazine featuring adventure stories.

I chose to put this picture on this web page after I looked at it for a while and began to think . . .

How modern life tends to deform human nature with artificial values, leading most men to waste their lives, finding it difficult to believe in anything . . .

While other humans believe in the power and glory of mankind, avoid crass materialism and strive to create the changes needed to make man immortal . . .

And how this lady of the jungle, that I painted, lives her life according to the ways of nature expecting that someday her immortal soul will leave her mortal body to take part in the bliss of paradise . . .

I looked at the lady in the jungle and thought, would I choose to be immortal and live forever, or choose to die and walk into paradise?

What would you choose? -