Vampire Goddess

This drawing is a fusion of the vampire bat in nature and the vampire of folklore. The common vampire bat , Desmodus  rotundus , (Desmos, meaning “fused together” and odus from the Greek odontos or tooth, and rotundus meaning “round”) , is so named because of its large pointed incisors and canines which are so close  that they appear to be “fused” together within  its dome-like skull. The headdress worn by my vampire goddess is similarly fused to her own skull. So there’s a lot of fusion going on here in this drawing.

I named my vampire goddess Desmodea.  She has no eyes (borrowed from the old wives’ tales regarding bats as being blind---which they are not, by the way) because she is so old and powerful that she has no need for them. I figured she could hunt for blood using her highly developed sense of smell or have servants do the work for her. The little bat-winged creature (perched on her elaborate choker) flies around and collects the blood for her, feeding it to her from its tube-like tongue.

This piece was sold to a private collector in January, 2013.

Charcoal on paper, 2012.