“It was a silence that had nothing to do with the absence of noise. “
Krishnamurti.
Here, my first goal was to paint an unconventional self-portrait, theatrical kind, where the hands, rather than the face are highlighted.
As almost always, the inspiration came to me in a dream. In this dream, I went to the closet where I keep the fabrics that I use to drape my models, took a very large and flexible voile of golden yellow and covered myself with it.
When I woke up, I could easily decode the meaning of this as I consulted a book on dream interpretation. The fact of covering our head is a message that the superego directs us to be silent; even if the truth is on our side, it is often wiser to keep it to yourself. It is a gesture of tolerance. Here, the imperative of silence is amplified by the golden color of the veil: “silence is golden …”.
About the title: I sometimes use and by intention, titles in double senses. Here, “observed” may be derived from observation (watch carefully) or observance (comply with a rule of conduct).
D.J.