Description

Give Your Burdens to the Sky (Sirens Oil Painting) is an oil on board figure painting of a nude woman lying at the edge of a dark body of water with a threatening sky overhead. She is lying on her elbow with her back twisted as if she is trying to lift herself from the ground. Give Your Burdens to the Sky is a painting about feeling overwhelmed and isolated. But there is hope in this painting, despite the dark water and heavy sky. The sun is rising in the distance. 

This sirens oil painting is part of my ‘Sirens’ figure painting series and was done completely from life and from imagination, without the use of photography. I first drew a study of the pose with charcoal on paper from a live model before starting the painting.

The painting was built up with many subtle transparent glazes and scumbles in the traditional painting method.

The use of premium quality artist oil paints with large pigment particle size allows for more of an impasto effect, where the brushstrokes are clearly visible, adding to the overall expressiveness and energy in the painting.

Click here to read more about the Sirens Oil Paintings

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Damian Osborne

Damian Osborne is a fine artist from Cape Town, South Africa. Taking inspiration from the Old Master traditions, from nature, and from the people around him (especially his wife), he tries to push beyond the mediocre and aim for mastery in his paintings.

Latest posts by Damian Osborne (see all)

• What’s the Point of Creating When No One Cares? - 24th August 2025
• Fantasia No.6 in G minor (The Cockatrice) - 3rd May 2025
• Rebirth: Starting Over as an Artist — Part 1 - 17th April 2025