This piece came a lot later than I expected. With previous months laden with travel, I've been able to fit in enough painting time to be able to do two pieces, despite a busy schedule. October didn't have the same option. I was able to deliver it to Patreon backers on the 30th, with an official release day after taking Halloween off to spend with my family.

Baraqiel himself is less conceptual than some of the other Watchers. The themes he embodies are ones that are so popular in our society (energy, connection, electricity) that I kept pushing the design back to being very human in appearance. He represents that feeling we get of being charged, almost electrically by the need to express ourselves. The feeling of being pent up and needing a release.

To emphasize the extreme contrasts of energy, I decided to use pure black for once. This is something I've actively avoided with almost every painting I've made over the past several years. Partially because it tends to produce more diverse results and partially because black is hard to print.