Old Goat
Artist Ty Meier imagines a pre-history origin of biblical iconography where farmers had an easy time herding their docile sheep, but a much more difficult time with their mischievous and chaotic goats. Over the centuries the symbols boiled down to sheep as Christians and goats as the devil, and early Christians intentionally drew on Greek God Pan's imagery to demonize pagan beliefs.
This old goat is kind-hearted but crafty, wise but clever and wicked if need be. He sees right through you and is willing to teach you or kick you right off the mountain path, so have some respect.
Ty painted this old goat with long thin brushes called riggers and heavy-body acrylic paint, swirling the paint around and enjoying himself. It’s a fun artwork to do, you should try it!
Interestingly, hard-rock enthusiasts enjoy this artwork, mostly young men who listen to loud, angry music. Ty had meant to portray the goat as friendly and wise but the devil comes out.
Ty’s art frequently has a rock music feel because he was a screenprinter for years and thinks in vectors and spot colors. Classic rock posters were screenprinted. Since a screen had to be laboriously produced for each color the posters and t-shirts had a very limited pallet, frequently only a few colors.
Ty glued and pressed this 8”x10” print to a hand-painted craft board, used riggers to brush it with clear gloss acrylic brushstrokes and finally lacquered it until it glows.