...hel he cast into niffleheim, and gave her power over the nine worlds or regions, into which she distributes those who are sent to her; that is, all who die of sickness or old age. her hall is called elvidner. hunger is her table, starvation her knife, delay her man, slowness her maid, precipice her threshold, care her bed and burning anguish forms the hangings of the apartments. she may easily be recognized, for her body is half flesh colored and half blue, and she has a dreadfully stern and forbidding countenance... Thomas Bulfinch, the Age of Fable... this is a detail of the upper half of my portrait of hel... emaciated,colorless flowers have taken the place of the full blooms i usually enjoy painting and the background is the only area with any color, at best mustard but never well defined or even skillfully worked... these imperfections speak to the state of mind i inhabited during the months i was painting it... everything in limbo, neither here nor there, no resolution just a sad expanse of time that stretched out indefinitely... and then one day i just refused to work on it anymore... all the emotions that this piece holds are best left in the past, or sealed up by liquin and layers of oil.