by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 2007
I didn’t want to just call this PRUDENCE 3, so I looked all over for a word that captured the idea of the painting and KAIROS is the only one that fit. The ancient Greeks had 2 words for “time:” “chronos” referring to chronological or... 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 2002
The Virtue of Faith. Constantinople burns in the background….a chance to reread some history lessons. 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 2000
As with so many others, this is a virtue I feel a lack of in my own life. The figure is meditating that equanimity is found in the contemplation of the fullness of time. Against the truely immense span of time, ephemeral material gains are but trifles to be discarded... 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1997
Not a classical Virtue, but based on observing my young son with our aging family cat. It’s how I hope we’ll care for all the earth’s creatures. 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1997
The painting was originally subtitled “Poem By The Sea,” from a track on the WINDS OF CHANGE album by Eric Burdon and the Animals. The lyrics mention the clouds, wind, and sea and they helped me characterize this obvious Virtue. 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1997
I got to thinking of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character John Carter of Mars….whenever it looked like the odds were hopeless and he had no options, his response was a defiant, “I still live!” As in all of the works in this series there are ammonite fossils,... 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1997
I feel now that they are reflections upon the transient nature of reality and the fragility of life. Ideal figures carved from stone, even they are subject to age, accident, and injury… yet the worn stone will eventually weather into soil and become reborn as... 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1997
Another take on what the ancient Greeks called “the Queen of the Virtues.” The one most essential to our collective future, yet the one least evident in human affairs. The red glass heart represents the lures of the material world, passion and the... 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1996
The classical notion of Prudence is an important theme to me, as it was to the ancient Greeks: Possessing knowledge of the Past, and a desire and ability to order the Present so as to bring about a more ideal Future. 
by Michael Whelan | Jan 1, 1996
All the virtues represented in my series of the same name are ones that seem to me to be in short supply today. 